Middle Oak Creek Trail, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, NV

Note:  I still don't have a hang on this new editing interface.  Landscape-oriented shots are getting truncated in the blog view.  If you click on the photos, they exhibit in full.

Hiked Friday, July 24.  This was last month, which seems a lot longer than that.  My original plan was just to scout the area out, take a short hike, figure the angles, then come back that night and try to get some Comet Neowise shots, above the Red Rock Escarpment.  Criminals, however, had other plans.

I parked at the Middle Oak Creek trailhead.  Pulled out my phone to run the planetarium software, then slowly walked along the trail.  Looking back, I noticed a dark sedan parked next to mine.  Oddly, no one came out of the car to join me on the trail.

I gave some though to taking a telephoto lens shot back at the car, to try to catch a license plate and a person, "just in case."  I've done that, on occassion.  But that seemed paranoid.  Instead, I continued, walking just about a mile and a half out, then back, just far enough to decide where some possible angles and foregrounds could be framed when I came back to photograph NEOWISE.

I came across some broken dishes, with writing on the plates.  I assume it's a cleansing thing.  Then, it was back to my car.

When I got there, I discovered my front passenger side window was broken.  Oddly, what they took were my two reusable grocery bags worth of "stuff."

I had just driven up from southern California, so one bag was full of snacks, but also my maintenance medication for diabetes and cholesterol.  I also had some pills to help with lactose digestion and some non-preservative eye drops.  Also in the bag, was a Swiss army knife, three wildlife calendars, and assorted other stuff.  Oh, yeah, my Pilot-Flying J, vacuum-insulated, refillable mug. But mainly, it was food.  That's my road trip bag.

In the other bag were mostly sugar-free and low-sugar sports drink.  That's for hiking, which I hoped to do a lot of, that weekend. Except I also tossed one my ultrawide angle zoom lenses in there, since I knew I wouldn't need it for my short walk, and didn't want to carry the extra weight.  My camera body and a few other lenses were with me.

Also, they took my bifocals.  Yes, my bifocals  I assume they thought the case contained some sort of pricey sunglasses.  But, no.  Prescription bifocals.

That kind of ruined my weekend.  Spent most of the next day getting my window replaced (Charleston Auto Glass, located, perplexingly, at Sahara and Lamb.  They were cheap, and could get me fixed on that Saturday.  Other places were more expensive, and would not be able to get me fixed up until well into the next week.  So they get a free plug, here. 😀

I also had to get an "emergency" supply of my maintenance medications -- Many hours at CVS and on the phone with them and my home pharmacy.

This meant no hiking for me, and no last chance to see Comet NEOWISE against a relatively dark sky and interesting foreground. With my bifocals gone, all I had were the prescription sunglasses I was wearing on my hike, which don't work, for astronomy!

Moral of the story:  Don't leave ANYTHING in your car, not even food!

Good news is, they got the guys.  They're part of a regular crew, that was also breaking into cars in Griffith Park.  I know, small world.

At any rate, eventually I'll get my camera lens back.  Probably won't get anything else.  The bifocals, especially.  Dang!

No serious harm, however, the criminals got caught, so that's something.