Long time, no blog. I was so busy last week with my show opening and all, and then I had a little personal problem that left me flat and lifeless and not very creative, so I just didn’t blog. But here I am again, feeling better after a few days R&R up in Alta Sierra.
I came up to the cabin on Tuesday and have spent my days doing one of the things I like best: driving and taking pictures. I can pretty much drive just to see what’s out there and find some adventures. And I had some – between my days up here and my husband’s and my trip to Los Angeles over the weekend. Over the next few days I’ll blog and share the Moon Festival in Chinatown, Los Angeles, and Burning Man Decompression; Downtown Los Angeles landmarks and art along with Olvera Street; and Fossil Falls in Eastern Kern County. In no particular order, I should add. I’ll also throw in some photos from my show opening at Metro Gallery.
Today was Kern County road trip day: I took Highway 178 from Isabella Lake out to Highway 14. This drive took me through the Kern River Valley to Red Rock Canyon State Park.
About half-way to Highway 14, the valley becomes high desert. I love the desert – and I love Joshua Trees. In fact, that’s me in front of Joshua Trees. (I had my tripod and put the camera on timer.) I could stop at every trail and walk and walk – and with my 4WD Ford Escape Hybrid, which I bought a few years ago and love, I could drive up those trails.
I drove up one trail as far as I could and found this little forest of Joshua Trees. It really was forest-like.
I was hoping to see some snakes and looked everywhere, but the only one I saw was dead in the road. It’s rattlesnake country out here.
Joshuas are very particular as to where they will grow – the elevation has to be just right. This road went from 3,000 to 5,000 feet in altitude, up and down, up and down. Joshuas would be thick, disappear, reappear, denser and lush or more scraggly depending on altitude.
Here a lone Joshua appears – a rather young one I would say based on the branches, or lack thereof. I finally had to stop pulling over and press on to my destination – Red Rock Canyon.
Once again, I manage to arrive at an extremely photogenic destination at midday – terrible conditions for photos with the strong, relentless, harsh light. But sometimes we do what we can and make the best of it. I was careful in how I lined up shots, so instead of regretting all the fabulous shots I could have had, I enjoyed what I could get.
It’s quite stunning.
Remember the movie Jurassic Park? The opening scenes, where they are out fossil-hunting in Montana, were actually filmed in Red Rock Canyon. The other side of beautiful formations is bleak, and bleak is where the filming occurred.
I concentrated on the formations, although I did eat lunch at that picnic table – in the hot sun. And then, as I drove and got out and walked, then drove some more, I found a table in the shade!
Didn’t matter. I ate my peanut butter sandwich pretty quickly anyhow, and managed to make my diet pepsi last all day.
If I were a geologist, I could tell you why these formations differ, how old the rock is and all that, but I’m not. So I’ll just show you.
There are some great big dramatic formations at Arches National Park that are called Fins. These are reminiscent so maybe these are baby fins – I don’t know. But I like them.
This pinkish rock was astonishing. And there were white, ghastly ghoulish rock formations also.
In the midst of these barren conditions, there are plants that find a toehold, like these flowers.
On the way home I found a turnoff into Black Canyon and Last Chance Canyon. I drove in a little ways, but since no one knew I was there, I didn’t think I should continue on alone. It gets pretty convoluted in there and the roads are iffy, even for 4WD. My husband and I tried it once in my little Chevy Corsica, on a hot desert day with no water in the car, and at one point I was driving while he was tossing rocks out of the stream bed. Even with a higher clearance vehicle, I didn’t want to go far.
So back up Hwy 14 to 178 West, and I stopped for flowers this time. The color on this bush amazed me – this is it, folks, not color-enhanced or anything.
This was swarming with bees so I didn’t hang around long. But the road was lined with these. Higher up, I found some lovely rust-colored flowers.
And then I saw my wildlife sighting for the day – a coyote.
So today I blogged about today, and tomorrow I’ll blog about yesterday. And yesterday’s wildlife sighting was really spectacular.
