Sunrise on Mt. Scott, April 19th, 2019
Note: Lengthy Post here. But I promise most will be shorter in the future!
As of April, 2019 I realized I had officially been doing commercial photography for over 15 years. Perhaps it was because I recently turned 40, or because I had a moment of reflection, but the tough pill to swallow in my assessment of what I’ve achieved is that in those 15 years was that I had created very little “art.” Growing up as an artist, I never thought I could go through a drought of not creating anything like this.
Almost like a prescription from God—both timely and perfect, I received an invitation. My parents had driven from KY for a visit, and for reasons I don’t quite understand, Mom said “Why don’t you and Kelsey take a day and go somewhere. We’ll watch the kids.” I immediately accepted that offer, and started scheming of where we could go. At first, I mentioned to Kelsey that we could go out for a nice dinner somewhere, and maybe I could take her shopping in Dallas, but she shot that idea down. This, I also don’t quite understand. That’s why I know it was God ordained. What woman would shoot down going shopping with no kids?
Kelsey said, “We need to get outside somewhere, maybe go hiking or something.” Of course that was music to my ears. Now admittedly, I’ve explored an embarrassingly small amount of Oklahoma considering that I’ve lived in the state for nearly a decade. So I did what any first time OK tourist would do and typed in “Best hiking in Oklahoma” into a search bar. Immediately I found The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Ok.
According to some of the first reviews I read, it offered some of the “best views in Oklahoma.” So with a sense of adventure and a hint of having no clue what I was getting us into, I quickly booked a hotel in Lawton and we had our hiking trip set. It was only while I packed my clothes that I got a sudden urge to pack my camera. Of course I had to run it by Kelsey to see if she thought a camera would be an interruption to our time together. I expected her to reject the notion instantly, but once again for reasons I may never understand, she said, “Sure! I think you should bring your camera. You haven’t shot nature shots in a long time. It may be fun for you.” Did I mention yet that I love my wife’s endless wellspring of patience and support for my artistic pursuits?
We arrived in Lawton completely clueless of what the region had to offer. It was only upon our approach during the final stretch that I realized that in fact, actual mountains exist in the “Wichita Mountains!” I fully didn’t expect to see bonafide peaks reaching up in the sky on the horizon. I’ve learned not to underestimate Oklahoma’s terrain. It changes quickly.
Of course my first impulse was to find out the name of the largest mountain and immediately I had a pin dropped on Mt. Scott. I even discovered it had a paved roadway, winding all the way to the summit like a miniature Pike’s peak. Unfortunately, our timing was such that we were arriving in town right at sunset, so we didn’t have time to catch a sunset from Mt. Scott upon our arrival. But it did get me thinking. I asked Kelsey if she might want to get up early in the a.m. with me and catch the sunrise from Mt. Scott. This time I wasn’t surprised by her response, “No way! I’m sleeping in! But you can go if you want.” At that, I had my plan. After a nice dinner and a little shopping in the area around our hotel, I packed my camera bag with fresh batteries and set my alarm for 5:15 a.m., just in time to make it to the gate at Mt. Scott which opens at 6:00 a.m.
I woke up surprisingly refreshed and I so looked forward to getting out early with a fresh cup of coffee and spending some time with God. I listened to some J Vernon McGee, and a few minutes of “Grace to You” with John MacArthur during my drive which really set my heart and mind on the right track. However my idillic morning plan was thrown off track when the gate at the base of Mt. Scott was closed and locked. A posted sign read “Road closed to vehicles. Bicycle and pedestrian traffic only.” This definitely didn’t go along with my plan of a leisurely drive up to the mountain summit, allowing me plenty of time to scope out a good spot, set up a tripod and watch for a sunrise photo.
I pulled up the location on Google Maps and dropped a pin at the top. It estimated well over an hour hike around the road to make the summit. The problem was that sunrise was supposed to be at roughly 7:06 a.m. and it was already 6:19. The Appalachian boy in me woke up and looked at the map with a different set of eyes. Ignoring the paved roadway, orbiting the mountain in a seemingly endless spiral, I looked keenly at a rocky ravine that appeared to be a straight shot up the mountain, connecting the lower roadway to the higher roadway, near the top of the mountain. A shortcut! Now I knew boulder hopping would be especially challenging under tight time constraints and also in the dark, so I left my tripod behind. I only took my backpack, my phone for a flashlight, and of course my spill-proof Contigo coffee cup.
I hopped the gate and walked a little way up the paved road until I reached the boulder river. My phone wouldn’t illuminate too far ahead of me, but all I could make out was a sea of huge boulders that seemed to go on forever, straight up. A part of me said it was insane to boulder-hop in the pitch dark, but my resolve to get to the top pushed me. I hopped the curb and began leaping from boulder to boulder, not looking back.
It’s definitely more adventurous to actually climb the mountain vs walking the roadway. However I’d recommend going down the road at least once, as it does give you a 360º view from every direction on the mountain. The road will be closed to vehicle traffic indefinitely unless funding is allocated to redo the road bed due to weathering and breaking down over time.
I became winded quickly and I felt very vulnerable. It was steep. I had a pitiful excuse for a flashlight. I didn’t know if I’d make the sunrise. But I kept climbing. I used Google Maps to make sure I stayed on course on this very “uncharted” trail. To my surprise, I covered ground quite quickly. It’s amazing how quickly you can gain elevation when you’re climbing straight up! However, as I got higher, the boulders became larger, the cracks more dangerous. It actually got a little technical at times. I’d have to wedge my coffee cup in a crack so I could use my hands for free-soloing in a few places. Amazingly though the conditions were perfect for my crazy climb.
Had the granite been the slightest bit damp, this trek would have been crazy-dangerous, as my hiking shoes were sticking to the steep rock faces like glue. At times I’d step through a patch of wild grass which was damp from the morning dew, and that little bit of moisture broke my traction, making the next few steps treacherous until the soles became dry again. I carefully avoided foliage of any kind, clawing and scraping my way up the granite. I found a false summit to the roadway and felt a little panic setting in. The light was becoming brighter and I could make out my path without the assistance of my phone flashlight, so I picked up my pace.
Finally I reached the roadway near the top of the mountain and as I trotted onward, I could make out the aura of the sun, just about to break the horizon. I got intense for a few minutes, searching for a perch where I could see into the valley below, without obstructions of roadways or obviously man-made turnouts. I didn’t have time to make the final summit, so I found a rocky shoulder facing East and hopped the guardrail again, making my way down through some scrub brush to a granite boulder with a pretty clear view.
And it was epic. Finally I could breathe. I had made it…mostly. I wasn’t on the absolute summit, perhaps another 50 feet higher, but this was one amazing place. I sat and watched God put on a show—one that I felt like I had arrived to, after the previews and the opening credits. I likely needed a substantial drink of water at this point, but I hadn’t had an opportunity to drink coffee, so I indulged. Then I grabbed my camera.
I felt so unprepared to shoot any photos at all. It was a new camera. Of course I hadn’t read the manual. I barely had gone through the menus and had it set up for shooting portraits with off camera flash. I literally didn’t have time to fuss with much, so I just cranked up the ISO a little, focused on the distant mountains and began firing away shots like a machine gun.
I had briefly investigated shooting panoramic shots with a Nodal Ninja or similar parallax gimbal head, and purchased one a couple years before, so I knew from an earlier experiment that the “nodal point” or “parallax point” was about halfway down my wide angle zoom lens. So I turned on my camera’s digital “leveling bubble” and positioned it vertically (portrait style) on my thumb. I made a fist with my left hand and a hitch-hiker thumb and placed it on my knee for stability. Then I sort of balanced the camera on my thumb and keeping the bubble green and level, I slowly spun the camera, snapping shots at where I guessed each frame would have ample overlap. I repeated this process so many times, my wrist felt like it was about to fall off.
Finally, I was had exhausted my neck and wrists, and the morning glow fell apart, giving way to a bright, direct sun. It was really only then that I finally connected with God. I truly was awed by the show he had just put on. The mountains. The valleys. The clouds. The distant lakes with light glistening from them. The little wispy patches of morning fog that lingered in the valleys. The glow of the morning sun, illuminating the boulders on either side of me. It was one of the most peaceful, healing moments of my life.
It lasted just long enough too, before I heard people behind me. An older couple approached, and yelled to me from the guardrail. “We took your picture!” Early risers, the must have been, as they’d hiked around the roadway and made the summit long before I got to my rocky perch. They said they watched the sunrise, but watched me more as I took pictures. They wondered what I was doing, positioning the camera in ways they’d never seen before. Granted, I had no idea people were watching me, but I’m actually glad I didn’t know or I’d have been distracted. I offered to take their picture too, and we exchanged information so they could send a photo of me.
As I packed up my camera and walked back down the mountain (along the roadway this time) I wasn’t sure what kind of photos I was coming away with. I just hoped I had something that would come out ok.
A view of the boulder ravine from the roadway, and the false summit.
Kelsey and I finished the day with a wonderful hike, spending time together and from time to time, I’d stop and snap a few photos of things that caught my eye. She may or may not have collected a few samples of wildflowers, but I do know we both collected some grand memories of spending the day in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, now one of my favorite places of all time.
I didn’t realize what I had on my camera.
When I got home, I brushed up on stitching panoramas together in Lightroom. To my absolute amazement, I had a shot that would change everything for me. The magic of that morning, and so much more came rushing back to my heart when Lightroom finished processing the panorama I shot from that rock. It had some pretty creative wavy seams, and the top and bottom would have to be cropped pretty aggressively due to me not having a tripod, but I came away with a shot that would change everything.
I suddenly realized that I didn’t have to really craft the content of the image at all. God was the creative director this time. He art directed the colors of the scene. The positioning of all of the key characters in the story. The expressions, mood and message was all perfect. All I had to do is frame it up on my camera and capture it. This one single panorama was the birth of my landscape career.
I love being with God, out in his creation, exploring and finding all of the wonder he has given us. Each and every day it’s a little different. As unique as every one of our faces, God has something special for us with each place, no matter where you find yourself. What I’ve realized is an infinite world of wonder and constant messages from God, if only we can break away from the distractions of life and just get out to see and hear them.
I thank God for arranging the whole trip for me. I couldn’t have scripted it out any better than he allowed it to happen for me. Now, I’ve found a new hunger to shoot landscapes that apparently was there all along, but it had to be awakened within me. No matter where God takes me in my career in the future, I am now and forever will be a landscape photographer whenever I’m blessed with the opportunity. Thank you for reading this rather lengthy blog post, and I hope you will be encouraged to hop closed gates, jump a few guardrails and go on the adventure God has planned for you.
And at the end of the day, hopefully you’ll be blessed like I was to come away with a shot that we’d gladly look at and say, “That’ll print!”