California

Some adventures in snow

by Kurt April 4, 2010 in Sierra Nevada, Winter 2 comments

As part of my experience with the excellent and highly recommended Wilderness Travel Course from the Sierra Club I was able to experience snow shoe travel and snow camping. I had never really thought to participate in either of these activities before, but in my quest to expand my photographic horizons it has been really eye opening to learn how to safely travel in the wilderness and in wintertime and I look forward to using these skills to take photos in new and interesting locations all year round. Theo following series of photographs were taken on the snow travel and snow camp trips with the WTC. First up is snow shoeing on Mt. Pinos.

Our journey began with overcast conditions and snow, but on our way to the summit we experienced a very brief clearing in the clouds, snow and fog to reveal a beautiful blue sky from 8400 feet.

Ski, hiking and now show tracks abound on this popular peak. I have visited this mountain numerous times in the summer and to see it like this was really a profound transformation. It was absolutely beautiful.

A lone tree became silhouetted against a sea of white as the snow picked up and the clouds skirted across the top of the mountain. We flirted with whiteout conditions on and off for the whole trip.

Here the snow was coming down pretty hard.

And finally a shot of our crew traveling single file with snowshoes and trekking poles.

On our way to our snow camp destination, we stopped at Lone Pine. I snapped a quick shot of Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. Whitney is about dead center of this picture and due to its distance from camera appears smaller than the closer Lone Pine Peak on the left. Perhaps with a little luck this summer I will have some pictures of Mt Whitney from far closer.

A view from the southern end of our campground reveals a beautiful scene. The rest of these photos are from the area around our campground at Rock Creek Lake. The afternoon the weather would bring us on and off snow showers with constantly changing light patterns. It was a really beautiful winter landscape.

Looking towards the shrouded peak of Mount Morgan

A few from Joshua Tree National Park

by Kurt February 25, 2010 in Desert, Joshua Tree, National Park System, Riverside County 0 comments

During my time in southern California, I have often wanted to go to Joshua Tree National Park. Often I have been deterred by the summer heat, but just somehow never managed to go out there. Finally, thanks to the WTC I was able to visit this park for the first time and brought back a few pics. With a huge storm hitting Los Angeles, I knew the weather would be interesting and it did allow for some dramatic skies. Here are a few from the trip.

Mojave National Preserve Time Lapse

by Kurt December 20, 2009 in Desert, San Bernardino County, Video 0 comments

While I was exploring the Mojave National Preserve, I shot a couple bits of time lapse video. I was inspired to do so after I noticed how fast the clouds were moving. I knew that if I sped up the motion even more it would be interesting.

As I headed south I noticed the clouds were interacting with the mountains. Here is what that looked like:

Both videos were shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and sped up 15x faster.

Mojave National Preserve

by Kurt December 14, 2009 in Desert, San Bernardino County 0 comments

Driving along I-15 on my way to Las Vegas I came across a sign that said to tune to 1610 AM on the radio to hear information about the Mojave National Preserve. Being quite bored along the 4 hour drive I decided to take a listen to see what info they were offering. After listening to the descriptions of various parts of the preserve, I decided to take a drive through on my way back. I decided to get off I-15 at Nipton Road and cut a diagonal path down to I-40 to continue my drive home.
I was impressed with the sheer desolation. It’s not the same as Death Valley National Park, as the vegetation is more dense but the wide open spaces are amazingly desolate. One thing the park did boast on the radio is the largest Joshua Tree forest in the world. I-15 cuts through part of this forest, and I soon met up with it again driving down Morning Star Mine Road.

Part of the largest Joshua Tree forest in the world

I only drove through the eastern fringe of the forest, however. The majority of the forest lies in the Shadow Valley area to the west.

Continuing on through the preserve, I spotted these towering dunes in the distance.

These dunes tower up to 640 feet — These dunes tower up to 650 feet

These giant dunes are visible for miles and miles around. I figured I’d take a closer look if there was suitable road access. Fortunately the turnoff for the dunes trailhead is a very well maintained dirt / gravel road that any car can drive on. I decided to take a closer look. There were a half dozen or so other people there exploring these dunes. Fortunately motorized vehicles are prohibited here.

I’ve read that these dunes are quite varied in their composition. The largest ones shown here (which are the closest to the trailhead) appear to be mostly vegetation stabilized and do not drift. I found the sand in some places was quite solid. I could walk over them with all my gear and hiking boots and would only leave impressions in the top centimeter or so of loose sand. In other places it was just as soft as a sand dune on an ocean coast. I ventured about a mile towards the tallest dune before deciding to head back.

Looking towards the Providence Mountains

All together it was a very nice diversion. The preserve has many other features that I did not touch on, including a nice cave system, volcanoes and other interesting bits. I’ll definitely go back for a proper photographic expedition.

Snow-capped Sunrise

by Kurt December 9, 2009 in Los Angeles County 0 comments

In Los Angeles we have two seasons. The season when it won’t rain and the season when it might rain occasionally. This week we have definitely entered the latter with the arrival of a winter storm which produced snow levels down to just 1500 feet and sent temperatures down into the upper 30’s for the greater LA area. For this climate, that is very cold. For where I grew up, that would seem a rather balmy temperature about now as that same storm system slams the midwest. The thing about LA though is that the rain is very cleansing to the air and to the streets.

I set my alarm to wake up early on Tuesday morning with the idea being that I would head to Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook and take a glorious picture of downtown LA with morning glow lighting up the fresh snow covered peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains and crystal clear air. Not having done any research I did not end up with what I wanted. I think what I was envisioning in my head is more apt to come at sunset if at all. If you look closely you can see the snow behind downtown LA in the early light. The first time it rained after I moved here was the first time I caught a glimpse of Old Baldy, the 10,068 foot peak on the eastern border of LA County. This behemoth was completely invisible the first month I was here. The next day the LA times had a picture of downtown LA with beautiful snowcapped mountains behind, and I’ve always wanted to take a shot like that myself. Now I know where to take it.

The Hollywood Sign showed some nice snow-capped peaks behind it. The light on the San Gabriels behind is what I had envisioned behind the LA skyline. The picture will also be better framed from a little further east at Kenneth Han park.

A fellow photographer with his hasselblad

Always nice to see people shooting film, even if I don’t do much of that anymore.