50th Video in a Year

I had a goal a year ago to put up fifty videos in a year in the then new channel. This meant about a video once a week, and then a few weeks I just wanted to leave open. I could have added more in the past few months, but decided to wait. The one thing I have learned is there is no need to rush the editing on the videos I want to do since I always pick up new techniques I can use.

This one is an oldie I did for the original Youtube channel a few years ago. In fact, it may have been my first location video I did. So, I thought it was time for a new version in HD. So, enjoy...

Youtube Version

The Old Blog Entry

Most of the videos I have done I like, some are intentionally "throw away" videos that I do not take too seriously, but there were some that could have used some extra editing. What is going to happen in the next few weeks is I am in the process of taking down a few videos I put up on Youtube a year ago. I liked what I had at the time, but I have learned so much about the editing process since last year that those videos I have in mind could use a few tweaks. I am not sure at this time if I am going to change those videos on Vimeo. For most of the videos, it really is just minor editing enhancements and not anything too dramatic.

Finally, I have lots of new stuff that will be going up in October...things are going to start getting really dark around here. ;)

Harding Canyon Falls

(GPS: N33 43.520 W117 35.140)

The previous two blog entries show some of the hike getting to this point. This was the main reward getting here. Here is what these falls look like:
I went underneath them as close as possible.
The interesting thing is there is a rope there you can climb up to get above the falls. I do not know how long that rope has been there, but I made sure to NOT depend on it going up. I made sure I had solid footing and grips as I used it. I should point out someone did die somewhere out here some years back which I will link to here.
This is looking back down from above.
One can go up higher beyond the falls and it does become a flat stream again. Here is the way:
I did go a little further, but decided to turn around since this was really all I was after. It really was a long ways back here and I really wanted to make sure I started heading back for the long way out.


So, this was an interesting Orange County, CA back country hike. I would not say it is the most beautiful terrain one could encounter compared to some of the other areas I commonly post about. The colors are not that dramatic. However, considering this is not too far from the big city this was a nice hike to just get away and see something that is not too common in this area. I never saw another person while I was back here until I was at the very beginning of where I started this hike.

Harding Canyon Falls (Youtube Version)

Harding Canyon Falls (Vimeo Version)

Much Further into Harding Canyon

In the last blog I showed you that this one starts out with wide terrain, but after some distance it gets a little more compact. It was not as bad as the previous Jungle Adventure #1 where I usually had only one option to continue. On this one if I did not like what I saw then I had a few other options. Usually, I could stay out of the water, but not always.
As I mentioned last time, the stream did get a lot faster here. The sound of the stream was much louder because of it.

One thing about this hike compared to Jungle Aventure #1 is that although there is very little elevation gain, nor is it as compact, but it is a lot longer! It is about four miles to get to the falls. Although I could go a little faster than the week before, it was still at a slow pace due to the terrain. At about the half-way point, maybe a little more, the area opened up some so I could see some of the canyon sides.

It then went back to a more closed in hike walking with the stream, across boulders, and through the stream.

As I went along there were some interesting small waterfalls to look at.

In the next blog I will cover where I ended at the falls. I will go ahead and post the links to the video that cover the hike:

Harding Canyon Falls (Youtube Version)

Harding Canyon Falls (Vimeo Version)

The Buried Tree (The Beginning of Harding Canyon)

(GPS: N33 42.915 W117 37.250)

In this blog I thought I would start my hike into Harding Canyon, which I refer to as Jungle Adventure #2. The previous week I did the 1st Jungle Adventure. After that I thought I would do this one so here I was again in the Santa Ana Mountains.

After driving into Modjeska Canyon and parking at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary I was up and over the short elevation gain. Before I continued I looked back at Flores Peak. It turns out that mound of land is a Calfornia Historical Landmark (No. 225). Juan Flores and his gang fled to this peak after killing Sheriff Barton in the 1850's. The posse found him here, but Flores escaped. The biggest manhunt of that time was after him, and he was eventually captured at Santa Susanna Pass (near Corriganville).

Sometime in the future I may visit all the areas involved in that manhunt. It turns out one of them, Robber's Roost in Anaheim Hills, CA, I have been on before a few times, but it recently became restricted to the public since some idiots decided to leave their trash and graffitti there.

Not too far into the hike I came across this tree. I just wonder how far this tree goes down under the ground.
I had been here a few years before this, but do not recall this tree being like this. About three years ago there was a fire in this area that kept the public out for about a year. My guess is that a lot of sediments have built up around here.
There is very little trail on this one. Basically, I walked beside the stream, crossed over it at times, crossed over boulders, and bushwacked when I had to. In the picture below this is right before the area of hiking starts to get a little more compact. It is a lot more covered by trees and the canyon walls. The stream is not very big, but here is looks really small.
The stream does get bigger and moves a lot faster. After hiking a while I moved past these rocks to see something that blended in down below. It looked like a small piece of mud.
Wait a second, let me take a closer look!

I will continue this in the next blog or two. I have the video done for the main hike, but what I decided to do is just show what I am calling the "preview" video at this point. This is footage I wanted to include on the main video, but decided against it since it slows the pace of the video down and makes it a little too long. It shows the tree and some alternative footage, so take it for what it is:

The Buried Tree (Youtube Version)

The Buried Tree (Vimeo Version)

End of Summer Thoughts

Technically, we have a few more weeks of summer where I am at. Traditionally, in the U.S.A., Labor Day marks the end of summer since most young ones are back in school and vacations tend to cease about now. In any case, I am already starting to see fall conditions and look forward to the next few months. I did not always like this time of the year when I was younger, but love it now. I am starting to work on some things to show that reflect this time of year. Those might not come up this month, but should be up soon.

I kind of know the direction the blog will be taking for the next year and half. So, I thought I would mention my current thoughts on Youtube and Vimeo. As some of my old readers would know, I did not start off doing videos right away as I started the blog. It was something I wanted to do and took some time in trying to figure out how I would integrate something like Youtube into the blog.

Originally, and it is still the way I view this, the video aspect were just to supplement the blog. At the time, I wanted videos that were silent other than having some music or special effects involved. I later compromised and started adding speech while filming. However, I have found that the less speech given is usually for the better for the type of atmosphere I am trying to create. Like the most recent video, some stories can be told without words, but it is difficult.

Now, apparently, Youtube being run by Google is doing it at a loss. Google must think that there is a profitable future for Youtube or whatever it will become in the future. I do believe that television and the internet will start to combine with each other at some point. I have my doubts that the way Youtube is now will be the same in the next few years. This is part of the reason I have had my doubts of getting too committed to it. At the present time, I think the video quality has gotten a lot better. On the other hand, what you have to put up with in regards to their policies and some bad users can make it a less than pleasant experience.

So, I think they need some healthy competition. I decided to upgrade to Vimeo Plus for this reason. Most of my videos on Vimeo are the same as the ones on Youtube. It is up to you to watch on either; I don't really care on which provider you use to view. Recently, I have been experimenting with various videos with a different frame rate on there to figure out if I can squeeze out more quality with the bigger file sizes I can use as a Plus member. I have been reuploading some of my old ones.

There is a video or two I did when I began the new channels a year ago that I have thought about doing over. The one thing I have been thinking about doing on Vimeo is adding some older footage once in a while. For example, I never did put up the Mt. Whitney hike I did for the old Youtube channel. It would not be HD, but I still think it would be fun to put something like that up. Only on Vimeo, not the Youtube channel. I would still announce it on here.

That brings we to Twitter. I actually have had the Twitter account for over year so it is not really new. Honestly, I think things like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc. are a little silly and can be a little too narcissistic. When people start feeling they need to tell me they got out of bed after a good night of sleep on Twitter I think my brain will explode with too much meaningless information overload.

Currently, I am just using this as a way to point links to this blog whenever I have a new blog entry. If you subscribe to me here on a reader, the video channels, or whatever you can avoid what I am doing on Twitter. You are going to see the exact same thing. On occasions I will add preview tweets, for example, there is a link to a video on there that will show up on here in a few days. For the time being, they are just link "alerts" for what I do on here.

That about covers everything I want to mention. I think you will at least like a few things I am going to show over the months ahead.