A Fine February Walkabout

As I recounted 2017 it was with frustration I acknowledged that I utterly failed to post trail logs and tales for basically the entire year. I have resolved to start the process of working toward a trail channel on YouTube. I do NOT want to get in the habit off making those four-hour drag-you-along-with-every-step hiking videos that currently eat untold bandwidth on the internet. No. I used to produce tv and, by George, you do it with a plan…an outline…serious audio quality…no copyright-infringing music…tough editing in post…a time limit!

So here we are in the first phase. My initial question is: can the video functions found on my trail SLR be good enough? And what about audio? And should I go with iMovie (current versions of the software are horrible); FinalCuts; or Sony Video Editing Studio?

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February 4 it was overcast and bleak in Forest Grove and with few hiking options here, we scan the radars and TripCheck to see where it wasn’t raining. In theory the Gorge should be OK so our plan was to either hike the Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail before the poison oak becomes active for the year, or travel further east to the Deschutes River trail. Never mind theory, the weather in the Gorge was terrible! With that we kept driving to the Deschutes and by the time we reached there, we saw an inviting partly-cloudy sky.

We’ve hiked this great walk-about several times before but had never gone up on the ridge to the spring, so that was our plan this time: a lollipop trek along the bike trail, up to the spring, down to the far point of our trek—where the riverside arch is if you’ve ever been there— and back. Along the way I tortured Jason with video commands. He was such a good sport! I got him to do an introductory on-camera part, an intermediate one, one at our turn around point, and one as we were wrapping up. I also shot trail video of him walking past, proceeding over ridges, pans of the landscape and such.

So how did it go? In the way of a trail log, I should mention on this early February day the winds were fierce on the higher parts of the trail to the spring and the temperature was nearly 60. We were surprised to see small flowers blooming here and there—sparse but surprisingly present! And mayflies, very tiny half-inch ones were being blown about; many sticking to Jason’s jacket.  For a winter day, it was a wonderful dose of sun and a great energetic walk sure to combat cabin fever. A few meadowlarks could be heard and we spotted a bald eagle overhead.

On the photography and video front, I found the video from my SLR is image quality representing no extra trail gear weight gain—except for additional batteries. It seem video eats batteries! Once home, I discovered the camera has a microphone jack so audio can be vastly improved with the addition of a lav mic. The auto focus kept ticking back and forth–unacceptable–so I need to locate the camera’s manual online (didn’t get one when I bought the camera used) to see what options are available other than full manual focus. Finally, between some beautifully amazing clouds and some super high contrast scenery here and there, it’s time I try out my trial of Aperture. I held off until I had a few images that would convince me one way or the other on a purchase–now is the time.

I can start playing with post production software, but I figure I’ll troubleshoot the front end first. And size up Aperture…which I think is going to be GOOD! The fun continues…