So first, yeah its been 6 months. My bad.
In the meantime I’ve been making up for last year’s lack of hiking. Now that we’re into the fall shoulder season I’ve actually accomplished most of my goal hikes for the year. (For once.) A lot of the focus has been on western Iowa. Unfortunately, the flooding of the Missouri River that crushed Nebraska, also effected 4 of the parks I had on the list for this year. In fact, Wilson Island State Park was so damaged that it’s unknown when it will get to reopen.
As far as content, I’ve been been working on my backlog of parks where I have completed the trail reports, but hadn’t finished the videos yet. I posted updates on Instagram and Facebook for most of them once I got them done. I’ve only got a couple left, so I should be completely caught up soon. Here is the list of the new ones since March:
Mesa Verde National Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5LglDT8Gbo&t=58s
Royal Gorge Bridge and Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxlSV9ayu2M&t=58s
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0QF33oLOGY&t=60s
Pikes Peak Road Ascent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCdlKHcj5SY&t=434s
Palisades State Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXJ48cqnr7o&t=2s
So what else have I been up to since editing videos can’t have taken up that much time? Well I’ve been pushing Chris Pettit Photo as much as I can. My primary focus currently has been real estate and drone photography, with a smattering of family portraits. I’ve been researching food and product photography as of late, since the craft just looks interesting. When I’m not wielding my camera in the professional realm, I’ve been out walking the dirt, capturing what I can.
This year I’ve completed 8 new parks so far, and crossed over 100 miles already. Feels good to be back out there on a regular basis again. With winter creeping up I’ve only got a few more weeks left of weather I can trust in order to review new places. It’s challenging to sell a place once the leaves are gone and the snow blankets the ground. I’ve only got a couple goal hikes remaining for the year, so I should be able to visit them as long as the weather holds out. After that, it gets easier to get out since I can just go for a walk and not have to worry about capturing footage.
Now that being said… I have probably 10-15 parks worth of media to start working on. So with the weather getting chillier, it does help to sequester myself in the office and get back to editing and posting once I’m done with Chris Pettit Photo work. But like I said in the title, this is just a hobby, sort of. So I try to keep it out of the realm of “required work”… until someone starts paying me to review the outdoors. LOL
Anyhow, I hope you all had a fun spring and summer. Now get outside and enjoy the fall leaves while they last!
The Iowa Hiker 