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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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Mojave Wildflowers 2019
“The Mojave Desert gets a Yellow Ocean for the season” Saturday, March 23rd 2019 Today I took a drive into the massive desert expanse between Victorville and Palmdale. I had known from years ago that certain patches of the desert would become covered in beautiful, vibrant clusters of the tiniest yellow flowers. The clusters were scattered however and due to the recent barrage of drought that California had suffered, they were not very common. This year was very different, with all the snow and rain that had pummeled the state in the last 3 months, I had a suspicion that the wildflower clusters would be back, but I never imagined…
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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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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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Journey to Havasu Falls 2018
“Taking The Long Way Down With 40+ Pound Packs” DAY 01 Friday, April 20th, 2018 Several months ago, my excellent girlfriend and amazing travel partner, Jenn, invited me to join her and her friend Karin on a journey to Havasu Falls. I had only ever read articles about that place and the images were like something out of a dream. Beautiful aquamarine colors only seen in the most tropic of settings flowed deep at the bottom of a canyon through one of the most arid desert regions in the American West. The canyon is part of the Grand Canyon which in turn is a part of the Colorado River basin…
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Snowblast in the Mojave Desert 2018
An Evermore Rare Event in the Mojave Desert – “Snow!” Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 The year of 2018 started with a rather large period of hot spells and dryness. The approaching storms that encroached on the Mojave Desert always managed to dissolve before getting the opportunity to quench the Mojave’s insatiable thirst. The transverse range that separates the desert from the coastal valleys is mostly to blame for this as it creates what is referred to as a “rain shadow”. Now, I am not a meteorologist by any means, but I do have a very fundamental knowledge of how it works in this area seeing as how I have experienced…
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Grand Canyon Caverns 2017
21 Stories Underground – “Grand Canyon Caverns” Saturday, October 28th, 2017 The weekend before Halloween I took my mom and pops out for a day trip to a place I had not visited since 2007. I wanted to share the experience of traversing some deep underground caverns with them so we hit Route 66 and made our way to Grand Canyon Caverns just east of Peach Springs, Arizona. The place seemed just as it was ten years ago, but naturally the fee did go up a tad. We did the regular tour which is a 45 minute guided walk over a 3/4 of a mile path through the caverns for…
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The Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017
One Gigantic Northbound Journey - "Totality Awesome!" Sunday, August 20th, 2017. For the last six months, I have been studying and researching all available information regarding the total solar eclipse that was
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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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The Towers of South Tufa 2017
How much are they? – “They’re tufa one!” Tuesday, June 6th, 2017 After having spent the previous day Hiking the Rush Creek Trail, I wanted to spend a little time at an old favorite place of mine, South Tufa. I have been visiting this location since 2007 and it never gets old. The only thing I would be doing different this time is actually hanging around at sunset rather than the pre dawn visits I have made to this place. Golden hour at South Tufa would definitely have some pretty spectacular lighting results especially when shooting with a circular polarizer. As always, I had all my gear in hand and…
