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In Search of Liquid Turquoise 2018
“Hiking to 10,000ft in search of pristine Alpine Lakes!” Saturday, September 1st, 2018 Today was the day that Jenn and I had been talking about for some time. The relentless heat of summer in the Mojave Desert had pushed our venturing ideas into the cooler regions of the Eastern Sierra Nevada. We had known about the lakes at the foot of Temple Crag for some time and had only ever seen photos of them. We wanted to experience one lake in particular, Big Pine Lake or as it is often called “Second Lake”. The hike is nearly 5 miles (8 km) to Big Pine Lake and over 3,000 ft (915…
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Autumn Adventures at Lava Springs 2016
Tuesday, October 4th, 2016 Today I set off on a journey to the Eastern Sierra Nevada to see if I could capture some of the beautiful autumn scenery that was setting in before winter. It was going to be a 328 mile (528 km) drive to the place I had wanted to explore. From there I would start my way back south over the next day to capture the effects of autumn at various locations along Highway 395. I took all my camera gear and started early. The drive would have me traveling for well over 5 hours and the scenery after a couple of hours provided such awe inspiring…
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Mini Venture – Giant Rock at Landers, CA
Sunday, December 28th, 2014 For years I had heard about a massive rock that stood out in the southern region of the Mojave near the small desert town of Landers, CA. There were lots of stories about how it was as big as an office building and dwarfed any of the other free standing boulders in the area. Naturally I had to get a look at this thing in person so I invited my mom and pops out for a local adventure and made way to Landers, CA. To get there from Victorville, I had to travel about 64 miles along Bear Valley Rd, then Highway 18, and finally Highway 247 (a.k.a. Old…
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Coyote Canyon Venture 2016
Saturday, April 23rd, 2016 After almost a year since we last met up at Hollister, CA, My buddy Rich invited me and a few others to go camping somewhere in the Anza Borrego Desert. This would be a very new experience for me as I had always wanted to visit that neighboring southern desert. We met up at Pala Casino and it would just be Rich, myself and his coworker Matt. Unfortunately, the original date schedule had to be moved two weeks ago due to severe flash flood warnings in the area. The others couldn’t make it, so it looks like it would just be the three amigos for this…
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Southwest 2015 – The Grand Canyon Railway
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015 Julia and I got up very early to get ourselves some breakfast and prepare for a ride on the rail to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We were so close to the train station that we could walk there. When we arrived, I picked up our prepaid tickets and we made our way to a small arena where we could catch a quick gun show before we boarded the train. It was a comedic gun slinging performance between the infamous Cataract Creek Gang and the Sheriff. They even got someone from the audience participate as they cheat on him in a game of poker.…
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Southwest 2015 – Chapels and Cathedrals
Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 Julia and I woke up in some very cold weather that morning. We spent our first night at the Roadway Inn & Suites in Williams, Arizona and the night was a very balmy 16ºF (-8.8ºC). Fortunately for us, the heater in our room was blasting heat out like summer’s day. Our room was literally on Old Route 66 and everything in town was a quick walk away, so we got ourselves up and ready. Our breakfast was actually more of a snack as we decided to just hit the road for Sedona that morning and figure out what to eat for an actual meal when we…
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Leap Day Adventure
Monday, February 29th, 2016 Of all the Leap Days that have come and gone in my life, I felt that it was about time to start doing something special on that rare day that only appears on the calendar every four years. There were many ideas going through my head about where I could possibly go including some places I had already been to, but that would not work. Today had to be about something “New” and “Unexplored” so I decided that I could head back to Joshua Tree National Park and visit the Hall of Horrors and the Barker Dam loop hike as a follow up after that. I had recently been to Joshua…
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Succulent Life Forms of Joshua Tree
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2016 Today I ventured out for another day trip after the successful one I had last week to see the Death Valley Super Bloom. Like last time, I was armed with my camera gear, water, snacks, and a full intent on bringing back some fantastic captures from the day. Today I had my sights set on the closest National Park to my home, Joshua Tree. With only 80 miles to my destination, I would be reaching the park in less than half the time that it took for my previous trip to Death Valley. “This timeless rock structure marks the east end of Bear Valley Road and the junction to Highway…
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Coastal Adventures
Davenport, CA Saturday, May 16th, 2015 My long time friend Julie from the days when I was in a band had come up to visit and hang out with me this weekend to explore the coastline. We had gotten up and out on Saturday and started our way to Santa Cruz via Hwy 17. Once we hit Santa Cruz, our journey would take us northbound on the PCH 1. The scenery started off with very little view of the ocean as most of the land west of the highway was covered in dense foliage and farmland, but eventually that strip of land became more narrow as we approached our first…
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Hike to the Devil's Chair
MOJAVE DESERT, CA Saturday, May 9th, 2015 After a trip out to the mountains the day before on my travel blog post: Winter in Spring 2015, I decided to take my parents out for a hike to the Devil’s Chair located in at the Devil’s Punchbowl Natural Area. I had done this trail once before when I was 60 lbs heavier and completely out of shape and I remember feeling like I was going to pass out, so I wanted to make sure and create a reasonable pace with many breaks along the way for my parents. The elevation of the region is 4,750 ft at the ranger’s station, however…
