I went hiking at Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center last week. I saw all sorts of stuff including a couple of shadowy trail bridges
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Shadowy Trail Bridges
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Shadowy Geocaching
Those who have been following me know that I am a geocacher. Geocaching is a hobby where people go hide containers out in the world, recording the GPS coordinates and then get on geocaching.com and post the coordinates and other people try and find the containers using the coordinates. Geocachers both hide and find containers. Here is a help page at geocaching.com that explains it a lot better than I can on what the hobby is about and how to participate. There are two kinds of people in the world I have found. Those who once they find out what it is about find it fun and fascinating and those who find it pointless and illegal. I have been doing it for almost twenty years and I love it. I appreciate the generosity of the American taxpayers who have spent billions of dollars launching GPS satellites into orbit so i can find tupperware containers in the woods.
So this is an account of me finding a geocache last week. I haven’t done much finding this summer mainly because I have found almost all of them in my area and it’s been hot
So I started looking for the geocache near this playpark. This cache was a mystery cache that required me to solve an online jigsaw puzzle. I had been working a table at an environmental festival earlier that day so I wanted to get home, hydrate, and solve the puzzle in the comfort of my home A/C and cold drink in hand.
The tree and shadow behind the playpark.
So the next day I showed up with the coordinates and proceeded to head to what is called “ground zero” (aka GZ) the immediate area of the cache. GPS coordinates for civilian use are only accurate to +/- 15 ft or so geocaching is not just going to GZ and picking up the cache. You can end up looking for hours for it. One problem is that there is an art to getting accurate coordinates. It is not uncommon for objects to be 40 or 50 feet away from GZ. Anyway, I digress. This park had a food forest and a community garden. That was cool.
A shadowy tree
Entering the woods.
And a video of my search. I lucked out, the search only took me less than a minute and I didn’t encounter any snakes, spiders, wasps or other fun crawly things. In the container is a log book that you sign and date. Later, you get back online and log the find there as well. I have been to urgent care for several things in my geocaching career. Wasp stings lead the list, in Texas I got into a bunch of fire ants, I have had numerous thorn cuts. I have tripped and fallen, all sorts of fun stuff. Plus I have had several conversations with the police, sheriff’s deputies, and security guards about what I was doing and have encountered several unhoused people. In general, park authorities support geocaching because it gets people into remote areas of the parks. If I see signs of unhoused people living nearby then I just forget about the cache. The homeless have to live somewhere and I don’t want to upset them. Most of them just want to be left alone.
Walking back to the car, I came across this tree with a swirly shadow. If you look to the right sidebar of this page you will see a running count of my finds. This was my 2394th find. Sounds like a lot but I know people who have found more than ten times as many as that. I will kick up my activity later in the fall when the snakes go into their brumation.
So that’s an introduction to the world of geocaching. In geocacher circles, people who don’t know about geocaching are called muggles. From the Harry Potter book series where people who were not magicians were called muggles.
Sorry this took so long. I am linking with Shadow Shot Sunday.
Shadow Shot Sunday – The Sun is What Makes Shadows
Last week I had to use photos from my archives for my Shadow Shot Sunday post. Why is that? It was because I wasn’t getting outside very much in this heat. Usually when I am outside, walking, hiking, in the backyard, etc I take pictures of almost everything and almost everything outside, during the day, casts a shadow. If nothing else, I cast my own shadow. Now as I write this, it occurs to me that this is the lamest Eureka moment ever. I’m almost embarrassed for myself. But that is alright. I embarrass everyone I know my mere presence, its okay if I embarrass myself every once in a while.
So with my newfound comprehension I went in the backyard and took a photo of this spinner casting a shadow on our fence. I kind of like the light on the spinner also.
A few days later I was at Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum looking at an exhibition and afterwards decided to go on a spin around their gardens even since it was a little early and the heat had not showed up. First thing out the door is this shadow of a decorative feature on the cast iron rails.
And then I turned left and went down this long “tree tunnel” with its shade along the whole length.
And out into the gardens and first thing is this shadow cast by a planting.
And some restful chairs in the shade of the a large tree. I think it would be cool to take a book and read there once it gets a little cooler.
Philbrook recently opened their Tandy Pavillion out in the garden. It is mainly an event space but I love how much shade is on three sides of the building. Plus the air conditioning is heavenly and they have restrooms. When you are in your 70’s it’s nice to have handy restrooms instead of trudging back up the hill to the main building. They also have a small exhibit of bird photographs on display.
They have all sorts of art on display in the gardens. I’ve always loved this. It is called Talisman by Oded Halahmy
I’ve always loved this structure in the gardens. It has a fountain to the left and it is always shady and restful.
And headed back into the main building I found this shadow on a bit of a patio. I love the contrasting pattern of the shadow and the pavers.
So anyway I have resolved to spend more time out of doors during the day even though my dermatologist tells me that the sun is trying to kill me. Sunscreen and wide brimmed hats are my friends!
And to be clear, many of my fellow photobloggers make great shadow photos indoors. I’ve done a bunch myself.
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Shadow Shot Sunday – 13 September 2026 Edition
One morning during a dog walk
Eleven years ago when I was still working in downtown Tulsa. Many of the older art deco buildings were empty. They were not abandoned just empty. Many of them, including this building were remodeled extensively for apartments and condos. Downtown Tulsa used to be abandoned after 6 pm and on weekends. It is a hopping place now.
Son Logan on a hike with me on Turkey Mountain eleven years ago. He finally got old enough to “just say no” to hiking with me. I miss those days. I used to give him a steady dose of dad jokes which I loved and he didn’t appreciate.
Some old water infrastructure on Tulsa’s Reservoir Hill. I hid a geocache close to that building. The building is still there but now there is a razor wire topped security fence around the whole area. So that is a no go now.
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Shadow Shot Sunday – Town and Country Archives
Today I reach back ten years ago for shadows.
Trees turning color in downtown Tulsa.
The deep shadows of Guthrie Green, a popular event space in downtown.
A shadowy guest house of some family friends out int he country. Notice the chicken!
Riding bikes on Tulsa’s RiverParks Trails. That’s my wife, Heather, up ahead of me. She is usually ahead of me in many areas besides bicycles.
A “tree tunnel” at Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center.
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Shadows from Space to the Neighborhood
Here’s the biggest shadow I have ever photographed. The lunar eclipse earlier this week. I made the image small because otherwise it is just kind of big and blobby. (Blobby is a word here in Oklahoma, just so you know.) Did you get to see the eclipse. Did you get a non-blobby photo of it!
Here is a Lost and Found shadow. Somebody at the Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area here in Tulsa had the good idea put a lost and found basket at the base of map stand at the park. I think the drilled hole shadows are cool.
And here is a trailcam photo of our backyard. That is Sadie the rescue terrier in the sun and I am in the shade behind her. Both our dogs are sun dogs. They love laying out in the heat of the day. Note the temperature, note the burnt grass. Here in Tulsa we average eleven 100+ days a year, so far we have had 22 and we have a solid 7 day forecast for over 100F temperatures coming up this week.
The mornings are cooler though so I have been taking Sadie for a walk. I love dog walking shadows.
Here’s a variation on a dog walking shadow, a picket fence shadow overlaid on a dog walking shadow. Who says I cannot do two things at the same time?
You can tell it was early. Here’s a long morning shadow of a tree in our neighborhood greenbelt.
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Shadows -At Home and on the Trail
Do you have a messy corner in your backyard. Surely not, it’s only us. Where we have utility boxes, stumps of cut down trees, and wheelbarrow. We have that and it has a whirlygig so here is video shadow, a fence shadow, and shadow shadows. Don’t mind the pipeline signs. They are from past employers of mine before I retired.
And a combination dog and fence shadow. Sadie likes to give the yard a good sniffing when she’s back there.
Also from the backyard. Earlier this month we had the deal we get once in a while at almost sunset and the light takes on a reddish hue. So I thought it was cool and took a photo looking up into the tree. No filter used. I use filters a lot so if I did use I would tell you, maybe.
You have heard about the miracle weight loss drug GLP 1, right? Well I am on a clinical trial for GLP 1HX. An experimental variation that makes you lose weight and get taller. It is working fabulously. I hear that is a variation of that called GLP 1HXYX. You lose weight, get taller, and younger. Let me know if you are interested. I will hook you up.
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Finding Cool Places on the Trails
The sun is bearing down on Oklahoma hard these days. Every day is over 100F for the high and mornings are high 70’s/low 80’s. It’s brutal. It’s too warm for a dog walk in the morning especially with our little Pomeranian. I’m trying to get out early on my once or twice weekly hikes on Turkey Mountain.
Fortunately on the mountain it is very shady. And you you shadows make good photographs.
The new part of Turkey Mountain is “The Sanctuary.” It’s off by itself and has the newest trails, all single track and many of them fairly technical. You have to watch your feet is what I say.
This is one of the old landmarks on the Mountain. Everyone but me calls it the washing machine. I call it the clothes dryer cuz is what is if you look closely. But you can ignore me if you want, everyone else does, and call it what you wish.
This is the main trail to the Mountain from the lower parking lot.
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Shadows of New Mexico and Colorado
Mornings in Santa Fe are always cool and shady.
A shadowy pedestrian bridge at Bandelier National Monument about an hour or so from Santa Fe.
Shadows are welcome at the sunny Chimney Rock National Monument near Pagosa Springs, Colorado. The woman on the left is my wife.
A mano and a metate on display at Chimney Rock National Monument. The metate is the big rock and mano is the small one. These are used by the Ancestral Puebloan People to grind maize, nuts, and seeds into flour. This takes grinding labor into a whole new realm. Can you imagine the work that would be needed to make a meal? As a side note, these stones are found all over the southwest. My brother found one while we were hiking out in the desert of central Utah. I don’t know what happened to it. We moved a lot and these things are heavy. It probably got left near one of the houses we lived in. It’s not like you could throw it away and I don’t think most of them are worth much. Nowadays if I saw one on a hike I’d take a photo and leave it be.
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The Magical Shadows of Santa Fe
The light in New Mexico is different. The sun is intense, the trees in the desert areas are sparse and small. The shadows are wonderful.
A bench with shadows at an art gallery on Canyon Road.
Tree Shadow we saw on a hike on their Dale Boll Trails just outside of town.
Also on the Dale Boll Trails, prickly pear cactus makes for interesting shadows.
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