During my stay in Moapa, Nevada, I was doing some research on the local area when I came across a map to a spot known as “Little Finland.”
My friend, Don Davis, whose RV park we were staying at, said he had heard of it but had never been there himself. It was a great adventure just waiting for us!
It took an hour to drive to the beginning of the un-maintained road and then the map showed another 15 miles to get to Little Finland. We figured we would arrive an hour before sunset.
It’s a good thing we were in Don’s four wheel drive truck or we never would have made it to the end of that bumpy road at all! It took us well over an hour to travel those 15 miles and by the time we got there we had missed sunset all together, but at least we found a cool spot to bookmark for a future trip.
Ray, agile as his is, quickly scrambled up the steep rocks. I tried, but with my back already sore from the bumpy drive, I couldn’t make it even with Ray’s help, so I told him to go ahead and I would try to find another way.
There was a muddy river so I decided to walk along the path beside the river to see if it led anywhere. The rocks got less and less steep and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this off in the distance:
Please click the images to view larger versions.
It immediately reminded me of the Inuksuk, a navigational marker used by the Inuit which we often see back home in BC. They mark a place of interest like a good fishing spot or a trailhead. While this isn’t an Inuksuk, when I saw it I immediately thought “this is the way.” And sure enough from the spot on the river to the balancing rocks was the easiest way to get up to the higher rocks, and once I got to it I could see the beautiful rock formations beyond it.
By this time there was very little light left in the sky and I only had time to photograph my navigational marker and take a few more shots before I had to head back.
Thank you, whoever made these balancing rocks! I would have gone home without any images had I not seen it.
These are utterly gorgeous, Anne!
Laurie MacBride, Eye on Environment recently posted..The Pull of Two Worlds
Thanks Laurie!
You may have missed the golden hour, but these blue hour pics are still great. Are you going there again on this trip?
Hi Tim! No, I am back in BC now but I’m planning on going back down to Nevada in November. The blue hour is my favourite time to photograph!
amazing what erosion can do for the pleasure of the eye..
It is, isn’t it? Thanks for your comments Kaz.
Really cool shots. Even with a bad back. I know the feeling but I don’t get any shots like yours… Aloha, Steve
Aloha, Steve, and thanks for your comments!
Very interesting about the Inuksuk, Anne. I had never heard of that. Love the composition of your photos.
Thank you very much, I appreciate that.
Fascinating location Anne – it really gives Valley of Fire some competition! Despite missing sunset you captured some beautiful images in the dusk light.
Russ Bishop recently posted..Monet’s Garden
Thank you very much Russ! Little Finland is much more difficult to get to, I have to say! You can drive right up to the beautiful scenes in the Valley of Fire. But the added effort to get to the out of the way locations always pays off.
Nice! the first one – balanced rocks are awesome. The last (3rd) image is good too. thanks for sharing.
regards
Arun recently posted..Making of a star trail
Thank you very much for your visit and comments Arun!
As I read I was imagining Ray running up the hill and creating that little sculpture for you. Disappointed to read it wasn’t his creation – LOL! Hard won images, Anne, but so worth it. The sculpting and almost molten feel in the middle image is remarkable and captured beautifully. What a find.
LensScaper recently posted..Extreme Window Cleaning
HAHAHA! That is so funny! I think it gave him some ideas for our next hike 🙂 Thank you very much for the compliment Andy!
beautiful images – I think I’d like to visit Nevada now. Tom
Tom, I had no idea how nice Nevada is until this trip!! We might not have gone if I wasn’t invited by an internet photographer friend and we ended up discovering all sorts of beautiful places there. Isn’t the internet wonderful? I appreciate all your comments Tom, glad you are enjoying the blog.