Trail Option

A personal geography of landscape and place, art and geo-science.

California

Winter’s Coming to the Eastern Sierra, CA

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Plutonic glow. A storm clears at dawn in the. Alabama Hills, Eastern Sierra, CA, USA

We were closing out the 2021 field season in Owens Valley, and I had been on a long circuitous road trip working on projects in San Diego, California, visiting with colleagues in Henderson, Nevada, and traversing Death Valley to return to our team working on the fans of the Owens Lake basin. While we wrapped up our fieldwork, the first solid winter storm bore down on the Sierra. Travel home was not possible. The storm meant steady rain in Lone Pine, California, our lodging and logistical base, with the Sierra massif clouded over. I took some time to wrap up some field mapping in the southern valley, taking advantage of the road closures that precluded a homebound journey.

Eastern Sierra – Winter’s Coming Collection

Inyo squalls. Strom clouds clearing from the Inyo Mountains, Great Basin Desert, CA, USA

Soon, however, the storm caught up with me and the graded roads of the Olancha and Walker fans were flooded. I retraced my way around to the east side of the valley and visited the falling dunes of the Centennial benches, a small dune-set on the Highway 190 as it climbs out of Owens Valley. I really enjoy this small falling dune and adjacent sand ramps as they move across the dramatic black basalt of the local rimrock benches. Today, the wind was the subject. I was pushed by gusts and polished by grains as a worked low on the dune to tell the story of the wind and its motive power. No changing lenses in these conditions, but I chose well, and I am happy with the results.

Aeolian rush. Reworking of a falling dune, Owens Valley, Great Basin Desert, CA, USA
Ripples repose. Storm winds rearrange the falling ripples, Owens Valley, Great Basin Desert, CA, USA

The rains finally reached the desert side with the Inyo and Coso mountains soon engulfed in clouds and sheeting rain. I was not quite finished, however. I worked my way into blue hour in the Alabama Hills looking for small scenes in the fading light under the stormy clouds – only the lower mountain-front was visible. The barrel cactus seemed to bend the blue light into a kind of warmth, needles glowing against the cold rocks and sandy grus. Looking for a different perspective, I crawled into a tight cave-like alcove to keyhole small cactus. I am not sure it works but the contortion effort of lifting the camera into the slotted crevices to frame a hoped for subject had me laughing out loud; I am sure a strange solitary sound in the windy evening.

Barrel window. Blue hour and cactus in the Alabama Hills, Eastern SIerra, CA, USA
Storm ball. Alabama Hills, Eastern Sierra, CA, USA

I returned to the hotel to hope for a break in road conditions so I could get home. I had logged over 1600 miles on this outing, and the first pangs of homesickness are more acute when conditions change the plan. Clearing skies of the following morning brought reward. Forecasting the changing conditions, I hurried back into the Alabama Hills before dawn. I once again patrolled Movie Road. Driving its full extent and returned eventually to the newly restricted ‘Day Use’ area where the road first bends sharply east. The Sierra crest beckoned, and I had great pleasure watching the refreshed skies on Lone Pine Peak. The light of the Sierra, a gift accepted once again.

Eastern Sierra – Winter’s Coming Collection

Interior pipes. Early sun and texture in the Alabama Hills, Eastern Sierra, CA, USA

Keep going.

Please respect the natural and cultural resources of our public lands. #naturefirst #keepgoing

Whitney Views – Owens Valley, CA

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Sierra sunstrike. Early morning in the Eastern Sierra, Owens Valley, CA, USA

After coming down from the crest of the Inyo Mountains, having wrapped up our small project at the Saline Valley Salt Tram, I set up camp at a small playa on the east side of Owens Valley, north of Dolomite. Desna met me and we circled the wagons in a quiet spot – we had planned a quick tour of the Owens Lake ponds to see if what birds might be late in the fall migration, and I still had some work to do with our team working on the west valley fans of Cartago Creek.

Crest late evening. The long-set sun kept us watching, Eastern Sierra, Owens Valley, CA, USA

It turned out the sky over the Sierra decided to put on a show, evening and morning. The east side, beyond the Owens River, provides a long view of the Sierra crest. The view of Whitney is rather iconic, with easy, attractive compositions coming from Alabama Hills, at shoulder-side on Highway 395, or further out in Owens Valley, where I sat now. There is not much of a story here, just my opportunity to share sunstrike with Desna and enjoying some nice light on the Eastern Sierra and its high point (a summit I have yet to reach, by the way – although my attraction is weakened by the necessary permit process).

Whitney Views Image Collection

Whitney and the needles. An approaching storm brings changes in the early morning of the Eastern Sierra, Owens Valley, CA, USA

The long lens allowed me to sit in camp and wait. The colors of blue hour, just after sunset, when the fading glow reflected by the western glows, filled the sky from the Sierra to the Inyos but lasted about five minutes. I settled on a crest view of Lone Pine Peak and the crags south of Whitney. It was sunstrike in the new drama of the following sunrise that proved magical. I climbed out of the camper with the portent clouds scudding above the dark peak, my tripod already set up above a cold, unused fire ring. Even when I am not photographing, sunstrike on the Eastern Sierra is wonderful. Today, and tomorrow, was special.  

Whitney Views Image Collection

Whitney morning highlights. Sunstrike brings contrast and depth to the Eastern Sierra, Owens Valley, CA, USA

Keep going.

Please respect the natural and cultural resources of our public lands. #naturefirst #keepgoing

Saline Valley Salt Tram – Inyo Mountains, CA

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Moving over mountains. The remnant superstructure of the Salt Tram Summit Station above Saline Valley, Inyo Mountains, CA, USA

In early November, a few colleagues and I traversed the challenging 4×4 trail that skirts the ridge line of the Inyo Mountains, from Cerro Gordo high above Owens Lake, to the remaining historic-era structures of the Saline Valley Salt Tram. Although subject of a heroic restoration project several years ago, the summit structure remains exposed to the elements, of course, but it is also exposed to the rigors of heavy visitation. While most visitors are impressed by the remains and awed by the effort required in its construction, vandalism, whether purposeful or simply irresponsible, is an on-going concern. Our task was to map the summit structures using three-dimensional photographic tools with imagery obtained by drone. After the adventurous but grueling drive, we set up camp and prepared for some early morning flights. I am not an authorized drone operator, so I spent much of the time exploring the ruins and photographing from the ground.

Saline Valley Salt Tram Collection

Out of Saline. A tram stanchion above Saline Valley, Inyo Mountains, CA, USA
Salt feed. The summit station feeds Owens Valley to the west, Inyo Mountains, CA, USA
Salt intake. The receiving end of the summit tram station above Saline Valley, Inyo Mountains, CA, USA
Cable guide. Superstructure in the summit tram station, Inyo Mountains, CA, USA
Joinery. Hardware and wood in the salt tram summit station, Inyo Mountains, CA, USA
Mapping tools. Photo transects by drone, documenting the summit station, Inyo Mountains, CA, USA

The tram transported salt from Saline Valley over the ridgeline of the Inyo Mountains and down to Swansea at the shore of Owens Lake. Dozens of stanchions in various states of preservation mark the route from one side of the mountains to the other; the stanchions, leading to and from the summit station, supported and guided cables and their swinging carts; they can still be traced today across the distance. It is an amazing story of engineering and effort, for a relatively short-lived operation.

Saline Valley Salt Tram Collection

I am not typically interested in photographing structures, but these stoked an interest, especially given the uninteresting light and weather on the perfectly blue-sky, fall days we experienced on our little project expedition. I would have better luck during the changing weather once I was back in the valley bottom – I was headed back to the landforms of the Olancha and Cartago margins of Owen Lake at the foot of the eastern Sierra.

Keep going.

Please respect the natural and cultural resources of our public lands. #naturefirst #keepgoing

Fall Color: A Rainy Evening in Hope Valley

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Aspen mosaic. Autumn’s passing in Hope Valley, Carson Range, USA

Finally, rain. I spent the last week in the Mojave Desert, gouging around Las Vegas Valley, walking several ranges, and spending too much time in a casino conference center. I cannot complain about returning to in-person gatherings with colleagues and friends, but I still felt I needed the solace of Hope Valley among the first storm clouds of the fall. I had missed the peak colors, it seems, but the aspens and willows of Hope saved something for me.

Holding still. A lone aspen at the edge of the grove, fall colors in Hope Valley, CA, USA.

I found, however, that a darkness had settled in and the compositions, to my eye, today, were few. I worked among the trees and hiked between scattered groves of color. Two images stood out and I was happy to get the simple shots as the light faded further.

Fall Colors – Hope Valley Collection

As I walked, I reflected on the week and month as the pandemic appeared to fade. Our meetings had been an apparent success and I wondered if I could dare feel some relief (Omicron variant was still in our future). In my hand my camera fired, with the settings of a relatively slow shutter speed. The view on the screen was a blur, reminding me of the potential creativity of Intentional Camera Movement (ICM). I began to play and started to see things unexpected; things that seemed to relate to my daring sense of relief and recovery. Certainly not to everyone’s taste, but I like the creation in the moment when abstraction meets emotion, even when it is simple and personal.

Recovering. Hope Valley, Carson Range, USA
At the edges. Hope Valley, Carson Range, USA
Is there an after? Hope Valley, Carson Range, USA

Fall Colors – Hope Valley Collection

Please respect the natural and cultural resources of our public lands. #naturefirst #keepgoing

Landscape Photography: Snow Recce in Antelope Valley CA

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Snow filled the valleys of the western Great Basin at the end of January, when lake-effect squalls, energized as they traversed Lake Tahoe, cycled through the valleys southeast of the lake. We approached two feet of coverage at St0neHeart, with deep drifts along fence lines and out-buildings. So early on a Sunday morning, I decided to chase the light while the snow was still fresh and deep in the fields and foothills of Antelope Valley, across the state line but not far from home.

There had been rumors of fog in the forecast, but the the pre-dawn sky was clear. As I traversed the ranch roads that crisscrossed the ranchlands of the valley bottom, little motivated me to leave the warmth of the truck, it was 18F (-8C) along the Walker River. Cattle barely noticed me, refusing to lift their heads from their early-morning feed.

I ventured into the pinyon hills of public land on the valley’s east side, but the deep snow and bunchy trees turned me back. As I regained the truck, I noticed a heron gliding along an irrigation ditch banked in snow and willows. It disappeared on wide wings, seeming to drop into the snow. I eventually found the bird patiently watching riffles in the flowing water, a slight bit of turbulence at a confluence of ditches. It made sense that any morning meal would have to pass this now-dangerous intersection with a great blue heron (Ardea herodias) in waiting.

Waiting. A Great Blue Heron patient in the cold.

I too waited. The heron never moved. I finally crept slowly away. Full disclosure: I never left my truck — resting my long lens in the window and sharing time with one of my favorite birds.

Antelope Valley Collection

I had basically given up for the morning and turned for home. I had the one image of the heron (or, at least, I would get one from the several I’d captured) and was happy with that. But from the highway I saw strange patterns, starting with perfect circles on the ice of Topaz Lake — still frozen at its southern shore. I’m still not sure how they form, but the simple pattern turned me around and I found a pullout above the steep drop to the lake.

Topaz spots. Abstractions in the ephemeral ice of Topaz Lake.
Connection. Some patterns are too cool to explain.

I was happy to have stopped to check the patterns. For a popular lake typically overrun with boats of all kinds, I have had some very good, quiet images from its shores. And it can be very nice that it usually presents these things as one passes on Highway 395.

Further north I caught sight of a string of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) moving slowly in their beaten trail. Bounding occasionally to clear obstacles I could not see. It was the spacing that caught my eye. It’s a wide image, so give it a click and get the full view (note: you can do this with all images at Trail Option, usually).

Leading line. A well-spaced group of mule deer on slopes of the eastern Sierra.

Antelope Valley Collection

Some times short trips, with few expectations, give the best results — all within 30 miles of home.

Keep going.

Please respect the natural and cultural resources of our public lands. #naturefirst #keepgoing

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