Beauty in 14 Miles.
Have you ever seen a photo of an interesting place that had you convinced on adding it to your Bucket List of places to visit? How long did it take you to actually fulfill visiting it? How far do you live from there?
What if you lived relatively close? What if you were only 25 minutes or so away, a road trip, (super mini short road trip honestly) from where you live? Would you be more motivated to pack your needed supplies and go? Sometimes it’s not that easy, I’ve had Dubai on my list of places to capture for as long as I can remember, but that’s nearly 7000 miles away and even by plane would take over 16 hours.
But no, for me this interesting place only 14 miles away was a place called Chickies Rock located in Columbia, Pennsylvania.
One of my first, unpublished wedding highlights actually took place at the Chickies Rock Breezyview Gazebo location. One of my close friend’s cousins was getting married at the time and it was filming the wedding when we first set foot in the area. I still remember the first time parking and walking towards the gazebo and seeing over the wooden guard rails the beautiful riverside and mountainous peaks. This was over 4 years ago. With all that being said, however, it’s one thing to see see the mountain peaks from a distance and admire them, but it’s another to take the time to hike and lay claim to its beauty from a more scenic vantage point.
© 2017 AntBurgos.
WHAT MADE ME VISIT
Scrubbing forward to today, the word’s “Chickies Rock” coincidentally came up in conversation a handful of times from people in different facets of my life all within the matter of a week. Either they live close by, they are avid hikers or even saw pictures online and were looking to visit themselves. It was then I just knew I had to make time to take a trip there and finally mark it off my bucket list.
I began reminiscing and thought about friends who have visited themselves to help guide me to the right spot to capture what I already anticipated as a breathtaking experience. One of my good friends Melany (Instagram: melany_lozada) had mentioned doing some photoshoots here previously and I thought was the perfect person to collaborate with. Marking off the Bucket List down one item was nearly at hand. Oh, the places you’ll go. Life is too short to not explore.
PREPARATIONS
I would consider myself a busy person. Between going to school part-time, working two part-time jobs, my volunteer work as well as freelancing. My calendar app is filled with different colored and categorized activities throughout the week. This is primarily why finding time to accomplish this seemingly easy task was delayed. In conjunction to the blast of references of visiting the place, it’s what further motivated me to make some time to do so. I was in the mood to do a photoshoot and with Melany being just as excited and willing to collaborate both in front and behind the camera, it made the trip more worthwhile. The first item was to pack all my required gear for the shoot, next was to meet up at Park City Mall, then carpool to our location.
NEXT STOP, CHICKIES ROCK
We started by visiting the gazebo where I had initially visited years ago. Not even a minute away we traveled further and we parked where the hiking trail began. Upon arriving, we grabbed our gear from the trunk and set off. The hike didn’t appear that bad at all. The autumn and fall leaves were beautiful and really accented the landscape nicely, not to mention the cool fall breeze. There were two locations that had scenic overviews of the landscape. Finally arriving at one of two lookouts there, we safely and carefully ventured near the rock layers onto the cliffside. The view was breathtaking. Looking down you could see train tracks tracing along the river banks as well as mountain climbers climbing a smaller section of mountain further below. Further down the river, you could see a bridge crossing the river, the other mountain peak across the river as well as the valleys with farmland and houses along the horizon. It was all incredible to witness.
We took our time and took photos while on the rock ledge as well as during some pathways in between lookouts. It was a wonderful location to experience and capture. It really did serve as a means to reflect on the wonders of the world and other places worth visiting and seeing. I’m glad I could finally mark this adventure off my bucket list, but with many more places to go, this only marks the beginning. And yes, one day, I do plan on visiting the wonderful city of Dubai. Best believe that when I do, I’ll definitely document and capture the experience to treasure always.
With countless places both widely and locally known, there’s beauty to be found nearly in every corner. What places have you marked down and plan on visiting?
© 2017 AntBurgos.
