Upper Craig Creek

[PFMcFarland]

Craig Creek in Montgomery County, VA begins draining the valley between Brush and Sinking Creek mountains just east of US 460 before it rolls into Craig County. The area is completely within the Jefferson National Forest boundaries, and is a lovely drive after a storm has cleared the skies.

Caldwell Fields is a camping area named after the three Caldwell brothers who walked the valley on their way to the Virginia Agricultural and Maintenance College in Blacksburg, which would later become Virginia Tech University. The parking lot is named for Addison, the oldest of the three, and the two campgrounds are named after Milton and George.

I took these with an Agfa Karat 36 I overhauled a couple of years ago, on some Kodak Elite Chrome that I had forgotten was in the camera for about a month. As I recall, the weather turned lousy the day I was going to use it, and I set it back for later. Maybe that influenced the way it turned out. But the bellows is springing leaks too, so I'll be retiring it. The Karat 36 is a nice camera, and I put a lot of work into it, but I don't want to have to be chasing problems on it every time it gets used.

The panorama shot is a six-image stitch.


National Forest Sign by br1078phot, on Flickr



Info 1 by br1078phot, on Flickr



Rail by br1078phot, on Flickr



Caldwell Fields by br1078phot, on Flickr



Blooming By The Falls by br1078phot, on Flickr



Forest Falls by br1078phot, on Flickr

PF

[Dennis Gallus]

Nice shots, Phil, your panorama is particularly appealing. I also like the redbud. You must be overjoyed that Spring has finally arrived after the Winter you had.

[PFMcFarland]

Well, it was a cold one, and we did get that one nasty snowfall, Dennis. I'm just glad my fingers are working again in the warmer temps.

PF

[r-brian]

Phil

Thanks for bringing back memories. Never was on the upper end, but spent many an hour on the lower end by Blacksburg trout fishing and hunting when I lived in Blacksburg.

[davela]

What a nice color set! Good work.

Just curious, any trout in that stream?

[flatop222]

Nice set of pictures.

I'm always amazed at the quality of the lenses in these older cameras.

George

[titrisol]

I'm following your adventures in CLA of these cameras... and the bellows is what I found failing

[PFMcFarland]

I'm following your adventures in CLA of these cameras... and the bellows is what I found failing

Yeah, I started getting bellows leaks too so I gave up on the camera. One of our members was hawking a wrap to go around the lens mount but I figured that defeated the purpose of being able to collapse the lens for compactness. I do kind of miss using it though, especially after all the work I put into it.

PF

[titrisol]

It is a nice quirky camera, heavy but well balanced and the split-image RF is wonderful
I have one with the Xenar 50/2.8 (5 elements) that I just want to try

PS. I think there are no more light leaks, shutter is clicking nicely and RF is well beahved... It is loaded with some XX