California
After weeks of suffocating heat and smoke from the Tamarack, Beckworth, and Dixie fires, Aubrey and I decided it was time to make a trip the California coast, one of the only places within a 7 hour drive that could promise cool and clean air. We followed the long and windy roads to Salt Point …Read the Rest…
Continue reading about Petrified Sea — Salt Point State Park, CA
Many months ago now, Aubrey and I were fortunate to have found time to go on our annual adventure. For about 10 years I had wanted to explore the Gardiner Basin in the Sierra, which is the basin that the popular Rae Lakes loop circumnavigates. It takes quite an effort to get in, and out… …Read the Rest…
Last weekend Aubrey and I joined the rest of Southern California in Anza-Borrego State Park to enjoy the desert wildflowers. It was beautiful out, but wow, never have I seen that many people there, or anywhere in the desert. We mostly avoided the high traffic blooms of sand verbena and dune primrose along Henderson Canyon …Read the Rest…
Continue reading about Desert Springshine ~ Anza-Borrego Wildflowers
In our backyard in Pasadena we have a huge Agave americana, also known as the century plant, which decided this year to put out it’s one and only bloom. The agave is native to very arid environments in Mexico and the southern US, and it has evolved to spend 10-30 years (no, not a full …Read the Rest…
Last weekend Aubrey, my father, and I spent a few days exploring the Inyo Mountains. Inyo county, the second largest county in California (just behind neighboring San Bernardino County), is home to the lowest and highest points in the contiguous US (Badwater, -279′; and Mt Whitney, 14,505′). Between those two famous points are the Panamint, …Read the Rest…
Type II fun: A horrible experience while you’re doing it, but rewarding after the fact. Examples include: mountaineering, bushwhacking, extended winter trips, etc. A few weeks ago, in the last week or so of March, Aubrey and I completed a week long ski tour from Mammoth Mountain to Tuolumne Meadows, roughly following the PCT / …Read the Rest…
Continue reading about Type II Fun – Ski Touring (part of) the PCT / JMT
I’ve been quite busy this summer, and unfortunately have not had the opportunity for quite as many adventures as I (and Aubrey) would have liked. I have, however, visited Mono Lake in eastern California several times for a research project I’m working on. Although most of those images will have to wait, I thought I …Read the Rest…
Last weekend Aubrey and I found some time to go backpacking in the Sierra. Coming from the heat of Pasadena, it was nice to cool off in the mountains again. The weather was a strange mix – we simultaneously had 65° temperatures and warm sun, while graupel (a cross between snow and hail) blew in …Read the Rest…
Continue reading about Beauty in Austerity – Inspirations from the Eastern Sierra
It had been a while since I’d had a breath of fresh air (the Pasadena air isn’t quite up to par with what the northwest offered), so I recently spent some time researching unique views of beautiful mountains. I settled on a quick visit to Yosemite, driving through the night straight to the GPS coordinates …Read the Rest…
I recently made two trips to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, in southern California, with some good friends to enjoy the desert sun, rain, cacti, flowers, and oases. In our wanderings, I was reminded of one of my favorite Edward Abbey quotes, from Desert Soltaire. After re-reading some quotes, I decided to pair an appropriate quote …Read the Rest…
Continue reading about Portraits from the Desert ~ Anza-Borrego State Park
