Tag: landscape

The Other Side

The Other Side

With spring here, the hills are green instead of brown, there are flowers by the roadsides, and we have been enjoying 50+ F for several weeks – more to come, and perhaps even rain! Living in a dry land is dull at times, and as it becomes dryer, it becomes duller. So, when the poppies and lupines bloom, it is indeed a time to celebrate.

I came to Wildwood Park looking for them. Did I miss them? I think I must have, but I have seen them along a nearby road.

Despite that, it was good to get out. I took one of our dogs, too; they always enjoy an outing. Today was cool enough for a jacket and shoes and socks. The wind kept blowing my hair into my face and sometimes I would line up a shot only to see my hair in the viewfinder instead of whatever.

Here, I am one side of a deep ravine while the houses in the distance are on the other side, easily a half mile or so from my viewpoint. The bottom of the ravine is a creek which fills with flood waters and can easily kill anyone foolish enough to be in it – a few people have died over the years when the winter rains come. Today, no rain, but the sky was rather leaden, the breeze quirky, and the day just glorious.

Dry Land to the East

I was in the passenger side of the car, in the back seat. The land was barren and dry, filled with rugged rocks and sparse vegetation – beautiful and lonely.

I like to have my digital camera (here, X100V) set to a fast exposure and point and shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot out the car window. It is always surprising what you get and rather fun, too.

A View from the Owens Valley

The Easter Sierra from Hwy 395

The Owens Valley has an interesting history.  Essentially, Los Angeles, the city, took all its water for itself.  It is also where the Manzanar Concentration Camp interred thousands of Japanese American citizens during the dark and scary days of World War II.  While not the horrific camps of the German Nazis, these internment camps were still horrors in their own right, and a blight on America’s history of human rights.

On the Road to Bodie

On the Road to Bodie

We spent a day in Bodie, California, a silver-mining ghost town in the middle of the high desert in northern California off Hwy. 395.  It’s a photographer’s paradise, a state park, and a place with a very interesting history.  The dry air keeps it preserved – as preserved as it can be – and the drive out is lonely.

A View to Mono Lake

A View to Mono Lake

We spent the last week up in the area of Mammoth Lakes, located on the eastern slope of the Sierras, up Highway 395.  Can you believe I have never been up that road?!?

We hiked and ate and took pictures and saw the sites.  The weather was superb.  We had to adjust from living at 800 feet above sea level to going up to 8000 feet and higher – shortness of breath (SOB!), dry eyes and nose, and so on.  We got comfortable at 8000, but moving up, like in walking uphill, became a challenge at times, so we would rest and then continue.  This gave for a lot of wonderful opportunities to look around, take in a breath of sage and pine, and snap away.

This view of Mono Lake is from the Parker Lake Trail, and is created from a montage of about 8 images.  Click on the image for a bigger version.