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To the Poppy Fields or Bust!
“On the Edge of the Mojave Desert is a place of Momentary Vibrance. “ Saturday, April 15th 2021After being pummeled by numerous atmospheric rivers, California has been mostly pushed out of it’s persistent drought status. With the fall of so much rain, comes the after effects in the western most regions of the Mojave Desert. A super bloom of wildflowers that Jenny and I would not allow ourselves to miss out on. The California Poppy was the main attraction at this location. There were acres and acres of them splashed along the hills and open fields along with a few other wildflowers. The saturation of color was almost uncanny and…
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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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Hiking the Rush Creek Trail 2017
Rush Creek Trail – “Living up to its name!” Monday, June 5th, 2017 Most days, the idea of a Monday morning spawns images of another dreadful work week. For me however, It would be a very different Monday. I was fortunate enough to wake up on in the Eastern Sierra Nevada with a beautiful destination to venture to. I have been visiting the June Lake Loop for well over a decade, but never actually hiked the trails that are in and around this lovely region. I was going to change that by taking on the Rush Creek Trail to Agnew Lake. “The Starship hits up the June Lake Loop for another glorious Eastern…
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Exploring the Alabama Hills 2017
Visiting the Arch Trail Loop – “Venturing out for a good round of shots.” Thursday, March 23rd, 2017 On this new spring day, my travel companion and I traveled to the wonderful land of Alabama Hills for some exploration and photography. The weather was very clear and the sun was shining as bright as it could on us, but no more than a typical sunny day in Winter. Julia and I wanted to revisit the Mobius Arch trial loop and being a weekday, we had the place all to ourselves for a little while at least. “Lone Pine Peak rises high over the Alabama Hills.” Arch Trail Loop GPS Coordinates:…
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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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Night Venture – Perseid Meteor Shower 2016
Thursday, August 11th, 2016 Tonight is to be the apex of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower and I was going to make an extra effort to capture some of it with my camera this year. From what I have been hearing, this year’s would be the biggest meteor shower in decades. Every year around August, the Earth travels through a debris field left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle which has its own orbit around the sun of about 133 years. The last time the comet passed through our planet’s solar highway was in 1992. The Perseids Meteor Shower event is named after the constellation Perseus which is where the source…
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Independence Day at Big Bear Lake 2016
Monday, July 4th 2016 I took a drive up to Big Bear Lake to catch the legendary fireworks show that I had often heard about for the last twenty years. The show was not scheduled to start until around 9pm, but I wanted to get there early so I embarked on the one hour drive via Highway 18 (a.k.a. The Back Way). It seemed that many had the same idea and where heading up that same way, primarily high desert locals like myself. There are a few other ways up to Big Bear from the Mojave Desert which include some off road access, but this was the most direct method…
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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.…
