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Cellpic Sunday – Independence Rock

Independence Rock.

Alcova, Wyoming.

With the Fourth of July less than a week in our rearview mirror, I created a panoramic view of Wyoming’s Independence Rock. On a chilly day in October, we stopped at the rest area near Alcova on our way to visit friends in Wyoming. In the distance, a large rock outcropping stands as a historical landmark and a prominent feature along the Oregon, Mormon, and California emigrant trails during the mid-19th century. Rising above the prairie, the outcropping provided a well-known reference point for travelers on the long and arduous journey westward.

The name “Independence Rock” originated from a group of fur trappers who camped and celebrated Independence Day near the rock on July 4, 1824. Thousands of emigrants subsequently camped at the foot of the rock, carving their names and messages into the granite, essentially turning Independence Rock into a giant message board for those traveling the Oregon Trail.

Today, Independence Rock is part of the Independence Rock State Historic Site, managed by the Wyoming Division of State Parks and Historic Sites. The site features a footpath that circles the base of the rock, interpretive exhibits detailing the history of the trails, visible wagon wheel ruts, and the numerous emigrant inscriptions etched into the rock. Visitors can hike on the rock, although touching or stepping on the inscriptions should be avoided as they are fragile. I featured a more detailed set of images from an earlier visit to the historic site here.

About the photo: I selected two pictures of parts of the outcropping from my Samsung S23U to create a panorama. I could have used the camera’s panoramic mode to generate an image wide enough to capture the entire rock while we were at the site. Still, I prefer to let Adobe Lightroom Classic stitch two separate photos together as I’ve found stitching provides a better chance of a distortion-free panorama.

I then sent the image to Luminar Neo for minor tweaks in the Develop module to reduce clipping of the highlights and blacks. I also tweaked the Enhanced AI tool to redistribute light between the foreground and sky. For a close-up pixel-peep in 2K HD on my Flickr site, click on the image.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s also acceptable. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

39 comments

  8. Great panorama, the stitching is very effective! Thanks to you I’ve come to realise how much better that is than using the pano setting, although I still resort to that on occasion, or even try both!

    I have photos of the messages left by those on the Oregon Trail, and the wagon ruts, but didn’t think to get any of the rock itself 😦

    Reply

    • We could combine our photos. I never got any of the images of the messages. >grin<
      I should probably experiment with the pano setting on my cell phone. I've never used it. I'm sure it's a lot better than the phones of several generations ago.

      Reply

    • A few years ago, we stopped at the Ice Caves and did a Travel Tuesday post about it. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time that day to visit El Morro. Now I see what we missed. It’s not far from Grants, IIRC.

      Reply

    • Thanks, Terri. I used to routinely avoid photographing people in my travels and even removed them from scenes when I could… I’ve since learned that their placement provides a real sense of scale. I don’t do that so much anymore.

      Reply

  16. It’s amazing to see the entire scope of the rock. It’s even better on the Flickr site. I love the people interest on the bottom left. My dad taught his students, including me, to try to get people in scenic shots to show perspective. I guess that is why I like this one and your Niagara Falls original picture so much. Did you have close-up pictures of the inscriptions? That would be interesting as well – historically-speaking.

    Reply

  20. I did my student teaching in Rawlins, Wyoming, just 60 miles from Independence Rock. I remember passing it on the way to visiting friends as it was part of the Oregon Trail.

    Reply

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