landscape photography

Playa and Pottery – Black Rock Desert Region, NV

D. Craig Young · January 4, 2022 · 2 Comments

**Calico morning**. Black Rock Desert, NV, USA

The playa passes quietly beneath the truck, a narrow path traced by the headlights in the predawn darkness. I had left Desna at Planet X to see what the sunrise might bring on the Black Rock Desert playa. A canopy of bright stars suggested that the desert sunrise would be quick; a transition from an early glow to generally blue skies. I had been spoiled by a few Sierran storms and had hoped for something, anything to add some variety to the vast skies above the expanse of the playa – even as the forecasts had ridiculed my fervent wishes.

Black Rock and Planet X Collection

**Playa before dawn**. Black Rock Desert, NV, USA.

I rolled to a stop as the eastern sky brightened and turned to brewing coffee on the tailgate as a trolled for mud cracks to highlight a foreground. The regular patterns revealed little other than general chaos; I tried to stack a few frames in the long vertical panorama but was unsuccessful. It was the distance the drew my newly caffeinated awareness. Nothing overly dramatic, but the dusty sky held its own glow and I played a bit in the quickly changing light. I was happy that the playa was relatively quiet, only a few camps this late in the season.

**Playa horizons**. Black Rock Desert, NV, USA

It is time for some winter rain and runoff to rejuvenate the playa surface. With the quickly harsh light, I returned to Planet X Pottery to browse among the artwork as John and Rachel prepared for another day of the holiday show and sale. Always a quiet pleasure to visit the oasis that is Planet X.

**Greeters**. Planet X Pottery, Smoke Creek Desert, NV, USA

**Dragonfly**. The art of Planet X Pottery, Smoke Creek Desert, NV, USA

**Pendulum desert**. Planet X Pottery, Smoke Creek Desert, NV, USA

**Four horses once**. Planet X Pottery, Smoke Creek Desert, NV, USA

Black Rock and Planet X Collection

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

Nevada High Points #96 – Sahwave Mountains

D. Craig Young · January 4, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Rains leave a playa lake at Bluewing, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

Juniper Mountain

7475 ft (2278 m) – 1960 ft gain

2021.11.27

Juniper Mountain – Sahwave Mountains Collection

Desna, my wife and partner, was at Planet X for the weekend, it is winter sale time. Although the forecast remained stable with blue skies as far as any meteorologist could see, I figured it was a good day to get into the Black Rock area and explore the Sahwave Mountains. This small but interesting range is tucked into what I call the Bluewing Triangle, that expanse south of the Black Rock playa, east of the Nightengale Mountains, northwest of Interstate 80 and the Humboldt River. There are lots of little ranges in here, and very few people.

There are many access points with roads often straight-lining across the long and wide valley bottoms. I work up to Kumiva Pass, a west-to-east route north of Winnemucca Lake. It has been a while since I was across this road. It is a little worked over from recent rains but a nice route into Kumiva Valley where the Bluewing playa spreads before me. I have a future target peak over there; I look forward to it because I have used the Bluewing drainage on the east side of Kumiva Valley as a model landscape for alluvial reworking of dust – it might be good to walk it for real!

Juniper Mountain – Sahwave Mountains Collection

Straight-line roads lead from Bluewing to the Black Rock Desert, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

I turn south and find some good, grus-packed two-tracks leading to the mountain-front. The walk up Juniper Mountain is straight-forward. Small outcrops and benches of plutonic granite are struck through be volcanic dikes, but the slopes are generally open and grussy. There is evidence of sage grouse but I see no birds. A herd of horses curiously follows me, cuts my path, and then wanders down a drainage.

**Jump off point**. The truck sits on the fan below Juniper Mountain, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

**Juniper Mountain**. A good walk in Sahwave Mountains, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

For a few moments I think I have veered toward the wrong summit. The map seems correct, and I consider why so many ranges have often discrete summits that reach a similar altitude, as if there is a control on the buoyancy of the mountain block, plutonic intrusion, or erosion. I think of these things walking around and forget to delve into the questions later.

**Trinity Peak**. The Trinity Range rises above Granite Springs Valley, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

**Sage Hen distance**. The southern view from the summit of Juniper Mountain, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

The summit has open views into Granite Springs Valley to the east, nice overlooks of Bluewing, and fading ranges into the Sierra to the southwest. Snowy peaks rise from the Sweetwaters to Mount Rose, looking more like clouds on the horizon than mountains where I have stood.

The drop back to the rig is quick. I have yet to see another car, not a dust trail in the distance. There is no one out here – a gift of the triangle. Back in the truck I work my way northward to the Black Rock Playa, finding the first of several little crowds at Frog Pond at the playa margin. I am not in the peaceful setting of Planet X soon enough.

Juniper Mountain – Sahwave Mountains Collection

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

Whitney Views – Owens Valley, CA

D. Craig Young · January 3, 2022 · Leave a Comment

**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

D. Craig Young · January 3, 2022 · 7 Comments

**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

Nevada High Points #95 – Palmetto Mountains

D. Craig Young · January 3, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Sierra view from the Palmetto Mountains, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

Harvey Peak

9285 ft (2830 m) – 1775 ft gain

2021.11.12

Harvey Peak – Palmetto Mountains Photo Collection

I had planned to get out early for Second Friday, but because my brother, Darren, could not join this weekend and my back had spasmed oddly yesterday, I slept late. The schedule had changed anyway. I now planned to meet colleagues in Owens Valley for a drone mapping project in the Inyo Mountains, so my journey into the Palmetto Mountains and their high point of Harvey Peak is a prelude to that.

I take the ‘fast’ route to Fish Lake Valley, through Yerington and Hawthorne, then around the Candelaria bypass. The length-wise traverse of Fish Lake Valley, below Boundary Peak (Nevada’s highest summit) and the White Mountains of California, is always longer than I remember, and I was just through here on my way to the Spring Mountains a month ago. I am pulling the trailer, and not looking to camp in the Palmettos, I stash it in a turnout along the two-lane highway. The rig now works its way through straggled mining camps, Harvey Peak rising in the northeast. I am running out of daylight, but it is a perfect day otherwise – clear and bright, not so perfect for landscape photography, of course.

The Garmin map is inaccurate, so foregoing the indicated road, I take a good turn that I soon think is a wrong turn, back out and turn around, go further east. That is no good. I go back to find my original instinct was correct and continue up-fan, parking below steep slopes. There are clearly roads to the top, but I always want to be at least 1.5 miles from and 1500 feet below from a summit, even if I could drive the entire route. That is no way to experience a mountain.

Evening light on Clayton Valley, Palmetto Mountains, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

I begin in a thick band of pinyon, a broad apron on the slopes of the Palmettos – the range’s name comes from a slightly inaccurate description of the region’s Joshua Trees, a few of which gather on slopes to the south. The sun is fading as I make open slopes near a bumpy ridgeline that wanders up-and-down as it climbs to a rocky summit. Groves of Curl-leaf Mountain Mahogany shelter in alcoves and indented swales in the hillslopes. Two beautiful mule deer exit as I enter a protected grove that had drawn my attention. I have exposed their hideaway.

Montezuma Peak from the slopes of Harvey Peak, Palmetto Mountains, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

I regretted my trespass as I turned around an outcrop to find a pair of trucks and several pedestrian hunters scouting the ridge, looking in scopes, or, in one case, sleeping in a truck cab. The sleeper’s truck was not parked on a road but looked as if it had just rolled to a stop like any other local, slope-stalled boulder. I crept past the slumbering man and approached the several other scouts, impressed that all their scopes were pointing in directions other than that of the tip-toeing deer I had so recently flushed. My secret seems safe as I say hello and, heavily out-gunned, wave shyly, the oddity of a camera-toting hiker strolling out of the blue hour.

There are two hunters and a Toyota from Tonopah at the summit register. I have not had company like this on a summit since the summit of Mount Rose, the beautiful dog-route above Reno. We chat about other hills and I get info on a good route on Lone Mountain to the northeast. I can see Montezuma Peak above Clayton Valley, and Lone Mountain just beyond is a future goal.

**Hunter Uber**. Hunting scouts offering rides on the evening descent, Palmetto Mountains, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

I head down into the dark, but I am soon followed by the truck, which seems to be picking up all the other hunters. I leave the track to follow game trails, night closing in around me. Bats flicker among the pinyon as an ATV intercepts me just above my truck. “Wow, you’re getting in the mileage.” Maybe. My watch just turned over 5.0, and I could probably seem my rig if it were light.

**Toward the Sierra**. Palmetto Mountains, Great Basin Desert, NV, USA

Harvey Peak – Palmetto Mountains Photo Collection

The photography was uninspired as I was made inattentive by all the activity along the ridge. I enjoyed the walk, noticing that my back muscles, freed from the desk and chair, had warmed to the walk and I drove into the night painfree. I camped at an artesian well on a broad alluvial fan on the Nevada-California border, ready for a short expedition into the Inyo Mountains.

Keep going.

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

#naturefirst #keepgoing