Havasupai, XE3, SOOC

KillRamsey

Hall of Famer
Location
Hood River, OR
Name
Kyle
Ok, I’m back from a 2 week vacation, the first bit of which was to the Havasupai Reservation at the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Briefly…



- Took only the X-E3, XF23 f2, and a ’69 Rokkor 55 f1.7. Rokkor got used for maybe 25 shots, but it was nice for those shots and I had the room for it, the 23 being so tiny.

- These are all straight out of camera jpgs, as shot. Don’t judge me, I’m busy!

- It’s a 10 mile hike where you lose 3,000 ft of elevation on the way in, then have to slog back up it on the way out. Most of the pitch is the first 2 miles / last 1 mile coming in. The attraction is super-clear turquoise waterfalls and swimming holes aplenty.

- We were experiencing cold temps (20s at night, highs in the 40s) and solid rain for the first 2 days. Instagram is full of vacant-eyed bikini models frolicking there in summer. This was not our experience, though I did see more than a few…



A) Selfie sticks! Good lord do I hate these.

B) People who had obviously never hiked before (brought only the wrong fuel for their brand new stove, were wearing down coats in the pouring rain, etc)!

C) And trash! So, so much trash! Some people dump anything they didn’t need before hiking up, including fuel, food, tarps, tent pieces, whatever. We cleaned up what we could, bringing anything useful to the ranger’s station. I packed out about 6 meals’ worth of other peoples abandoned food that was still sealed up. In retrospect, I could’ve walked in alone with nothing but clothes, a sleeping bag, and a water bottle and been fine.


The XE3 was a dreamboat. I wished for a larger magnified view when using that manual focus lens, but with the 23 it’s just … fast, easy, crisp, and useful. In bright sun, the circ polarizer filter was great. I used 1 1/2 batteries to get 700 shots?

Here are some...


You start off here, parking, and beginning the long hike in.

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KBRY2958 by gordopuggy, on Flickr



Your view:

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KBRY2969F by gordopuggy, on Flickr



You descend from open switchbacks into a valley that eventually narrows into a slot canyon.

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KBRY2994F by gordopuggy, on Flickr



At mile 8 you go through their village (no photos allowed), then descend into the waterfall section. It was raining on us pretty hard here, and continued for the next day+. I don’t recommend it. 😊

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KBRY3089 by gordopuggy, on Flickr



Most of the camp sites are in this braided river valley, barely above water level. We almost didn’t go because of flooding concerns, but we were ok. But it flooded just a few days ago, after we were gone. Tents and bags soaked, gear washed downstream, nobody hurt but 170 people stranded, wet, cold.

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KBRY3227 by gordopuggy, on Flickr



Some shots of a pretty difficult climb down to a waterfall. Some people balk and can’t do it, I magically had no issue. But’s soaking wet, slick, vertical, and legit risky.

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KBRY3291F by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRY3308F by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRY3326 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRY3385F by gordopuggy, on Flickr



The payoff:

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KBRY3443 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRY3447 by gordopuggy, on Flickr


What’s never on Instagram:

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KBRY3221F by gordopuggy, on Flickr


And some generic scenery, mostly from hiking out in full sun:

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KBRY3591F by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRY3623F by gordopuggy, on Flickr

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KBRY3639F by gordopuggy, on Flickr
 
Awesome set!!! Looks like you had a great vacation.

On the battery usage. I’ve been noticing the same performance since the switch back to the fujicrons. I’m guessing very small glass paired with a fast, efficient af motor is huge factor.
 
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