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Hunting the Rare Snow Plant 2018
“In search of a rare, red, plant hiding in the woods!” Saturday, May 26th, 2018 During a hike along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) a few days ago with my mom, I spotted an extremely vivid plant growing out or the pine needles littered all over the forest floor. The elevation where I discovered this strange plant was 7,452 feet (2,271 m). There were no others like it in the vicinity, so I snapped a few reference photos with my iPhone 6s camera and decided to make an effort to return within a few days. I learned that the strange plant is referred to as a “Snow Plant” or “Snow…
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The Tokopah Valley Trail 2017
Voyage into the High Sierra – “Camping at 7,000ft is awesome!” Saturday, June 10th, 2017 The Sequoia National Forest is a place that I had visited very briefly one day in 2007 and have been wanting to return ever since then. I got my opportunity to fulfill that wish when a good friend of mine invited me on a last minute venture to go camping with him in the Western part of the High Sierra. The drive would rival some of my recent Eastern Sierra travels in terms of distance and time. My buddy Richard had reserved a place at the Lodgepole Campground in the Sequoia National Forest which from…
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Point Reyes Lighthouse
Inverness, CA Sunday, May 17th, 2015 Of the many trips I have made to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse in Pescadero, I had always wondered how many other significant lighthouses are nearby and after doing a little research I discovered that almost 30 lighthouses still stand along the California coast with just over a dozen that are open to the public. Point Reyes Lighthouse was the next lighthouse to visit on my list and with that came the inevitable road trip. With batteries all charged and camera gear bagged up, I loaded my rig with equipment and snacks, then hightailed it northbound. Unfortunately for me, I had a really rough night,…
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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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Winter in Spring
MOJAVE DESERT Friday, May 8th, 2015 After taking a few days off from work, I traveled back to the Mojave Desert to spend some quality time with my parents. It had been over 4 months since I last seen them over the holidays, so this was very much needed. When I arrived, there was a very powerful wind blowing through the entire High Desert region and by the next day, the local mountains were being capped by clouds attempting to roll over the tops and on occasion you could see what appeared to be snow hiding on the partially hidden peaks. The weather in the desert was in the low…
