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Lone Pine Winter Storm 2017 – Chapter 03
DAY 04 – “That morning light on high sierra granite.” Tuesday, January 24th, 2017 I woke up at 6 AM again on the nose and took a quick look outside to see what the weather was like. It was mostly clear and the Eastern Sierra peaks where definitely in view. I geared up fast and loaded everything into the Starship. I knew that I had to get out to a decent point along Whitney Portal Road if I was going to capture some Mt. Whitney alpenglow. Once it begins, good alpenglow will only last from five to eight minutes tops and the rose-pink color then becomes typical daylight. The sun had…
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Lone Pine Winter Storm 2017 – Chapter 02
DAY 03 – “A break in the storm brings some blue skies.” Monday, January 23rd, 2017 The past couple of nights were rough due to the sound of howling winds blasting ice pellets at my door and window. The wall heater also joined in the midnight orchestra by occasionally popping loud enough to startle me awake when it cooled and then roared when it fired back up. None of that mattered however because I was having a wonderful time and looking forward to what the weather would bring for the following day. I got up at 6 AM again without the need for an alarm. My body and mind were in “Venture Mode”…
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Lone Pine Winter Storm 2017 – Chapter 01
Saturday, January 21st, 2017 DAY 01 – “Journey to the north.” For weeks the Eastern Sierra has been pelted over and over by multiple storms being swept in from the Pacific Ocean in the form of what meteorologists are calling an “Atmospheric River”. As a photographer, the one thing you get very good at is watching the weather forecast like a hawk and predicting more or less what kind of photo opportunities you will be getting. I had taken notice that the Eastern Sierra was scheduled for one last big winter storm. The forecast after that revealed nothing but sunny days for a while. I knew this was my last opportunity to venture into…
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The Aspen Goldrush – Silver Lake Instameet 2016
Saturday, October 15th, 2016 Enter the height of Autumn in the Eastern Sierra Nevada and you get scenes of aspen gold littering the alluvial fans and lakesides from Lone Pine to Lava Springs and beyond. As an avid fan and frequent visitor of California’s beautiful granite backyard, I learned that Josh Wray of Visit Mammoth had assembled the third in a series of Instameet socials to be held at Silver Lake this year and I wanted in. The popular Instameet events are a free and open invitation to all who love photography. They’re a great way to meet new people, share ideas, and make fantastic memories. There is no restriction…
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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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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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Death Valley Super Bloom 2016
Thursday, February 18th, 2016 Death Valley is a place of extreme heat and desolation with wide valleys well below sea level and surrounded by tall and eccentrically featured mountains of the Amargosa Range to the East and the sierra like peaks of the Panamint range to the west. Of all the times I have visited this beautiful park, never have I had the opportunity to catch the annual flower bloom, let alone the even more rare “Super Bloom” which was happening this year. The last Super Bloom occurred over a decade ago in 2005, so I was certainly not going to miss this! Victorville My day started off somewhat later than…
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Charlie Brown Farms
Thursday, January 28th, 2016 Today I took my mom to visit one of the local gems in the high desert, a place that’s had me visiting the small town of Littlerock, CA for well over a decade. Charlie Brown Farms is a place that has it all and I mean “ALL”. If you can think of any confection, they most like have it or at least some variation of it there. If you are traveling to Littlerock via Hwy 18 from the 395 like I do, just be aware that Hwy 18 is closed past Oasis Rd. The old bridge that overpasses a set of railroad tracks is being demolished and rebuilt.…
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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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Eastern Sierra New Year 2015
Wednesday, December 31st, 2014 DAY 01: “Victorville to Lone Pine, CA” On December 31st 2014, I made a last minute decision to hit the Eastern Sierra Nevadas yet again. My mission was to get a lot of pick up shots that I may have missed on my last great adventure there with the talented Julia Starr. Our previous excursion took us on a Giant Eastern Sierra Photo Venture for seven days and resulted in the biggest blog entry to date. Although I had the time of my life with Julia, unfortunately I would be flying solo on this trip. “The Starship was ready to hit up some serious highway travel.”…
