Wynn Worlds

Vagabond Photographer, full-timer in a tiny trailer.

California

Campground Review: Silurian Dry Lake

Campground Review: Silurian Dry Lake

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For some reason, I really felt drawn to the dry lake near the Silurian Hills, about 20 miles off I-15 and the town of Baker. I ended up staying one night with friends and then went back for two more nights on my own, bookending my stay in Death Valley with some way-off-the-grid boondocking.

On the weekends, I bet this dry lake is rocking with ATVs and trailers, at least judging from the tire tracks left in the dried mud. Both times I was here, it was me and 2-3 other rigs, each of us staking out a spot far away from each other. It was the complete opposite of the Furnace Creek campground at Death Valley, stuffed full of big boxy RVs with generators going from 7AM till 9PM.

This was the view out my door on the second stay. I did nothing but look at that till the darkness was complete and the only lights were the trucks on the highway picking their way through the passes to get to I-15.

The second day, I totally relaxed in the stillness and the silence, far enough away that the traffic on the access highway didn’t get to me. I saw a guy in an ATV at one point, but he was just going from somewhere to his rig off on my left, and other than casual wave, we didn’t exchange words and I’m pretty sure that was fine with both of us.

As the sun started to slide below the horizon, the Silurian Hills were a beautiful display of golden hour light and I couldn’t resist getting my Alto into the frame.

I almost missed sunrise the next morning, it was so quiet out there. No generators firing up at 7AM, yay! I did open the window blind long enough to see this version of the sun coming up and then promptly closed it and fell back asleep.

This last image is for everyone who thinks that desert means brown and dry. It does in the middle of August, but in January, with a bit of rain, life emerges and makes for a bit of greenery in the middle of all that dry lake dust.

I’m definitely keeping this spot on my list of favorite places. It’s easy to find, uncrowded, and the scenery is fantastic.

More Information

Campendium information and reviews

Silurian Hills (wikipedia)

Already, he was dreaming of a refined solitude, a comfortable desert, a motionless ark in which to seek refuge from the unending deluge of human stupidity.

Joris-Karl Huysmans

Desert Days: Photo Walking

Desert Days: Photo Walking

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I was having a down day, which happens, even in a really amazing place like Death Valley. Everything was getting on my nerves: generators firing up at 7:01AM, noisy campers the night before, people walking through my site on the way to the bathroom… it was just one of those days.

I decided to go for a drive and grabbed my Sony A7 on the way out the door. I thought maybe today was the day to hike Golden Canyon, but as I drove by it, I could see the parking lot was so full there was no way my car would fit in, and I wouldn’t want to hike a crowded trail anyways. I went about a mile more and saw this out my window…

It looked like the hike I needed: a long walk with no one near and not much to see, so I could think out loud and maybe pull myself out of this funk. I parked on the side of the road, checked the camera had battery and memory card, and started walking.

It took me about five minutes to actually notice what I was walking through instead of what I was walking towards. This dried out little bush caught my eye and I felt like I had to take its picture.

I ended up sitting in the dirt, lowering my camera and getting as close to level with the ground as I could to get the tree in the foreground in focus, framed by the Panamint range of mountains in the background. I don’t know how long I spent, maybe 10 minutes, but it sparked something in me and I started looking for more bushes.

This one is looking the other way, toward the mountains I had first picked out as my destination. Again, I had to get down in the dirt for the shot, but I didn’t mind at all. I was having fun and lost all track of time.

I kept walking, looking down at the ground more than I was looking out at my destination. I had thought I was looking for geology photos but the keepers from this photo walk turned out to be the bushes.

Isn’t that the way sometimes? You think you know what you want, but then you actually needed something else. My hike turned into a photo walk and it made me feel so good to be creative and attentive that my whole day turned around.

And just to give a sense of scale to the hike, that little dot at the end of the red arrow in the photo below is my car. It was about 30 minutes of serious walking from where I took this photo to where my car was parked. Death Valley is all about scale; feeling so small in such a vast space.

What draws us into the desert is the search for something intimate in the remote.

Edward Abbey

Desert Days: Afternoon Hike

Desert Days: Afternoon Hike

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The desert is one of those places you have to slow way down to experience. I pity the people just passing through, either on a day trip or a one-night camping stop on their way to somewhere else. You have to let the desert in to your soul slowly. Sit and listen to the silence and you’ll start to hear the faint birdsong, the buzz of insects in the bushes, the wind through the branches of the cottonwoods. 

One of the best ways to get to know the desert is to walk through it. So let’s go on a hike on part of the Ring Trail in Mojave National Preserve. The trail starts at the parking lot of the Hole in the Wall Visitor Center, deep into the eastern side of this wonderful land managed by the National Park Service. 

Look up as you walk along the sandy trail. These rocks are the remnants of a volcanic eruption about 18.5 million years ago. A groundswell of ash and rock fragments blew out along the ground for more than 200 square miles, cooking everything in its path. The ash and rock welded together as they cooled and entombed remains of birds, plants, and mammals. 

Over time, weathering from wind and rain have worn away the softer materials, causing rocks to fall and that’s what you see from the top all the way down to the trail.

As we wend our way west, we can see mesas formed by that volcanic tuff and ash. Looking up and out, you start to get a sense of how large that volcanic eruption was.

The trail takes another curve, a bit north, and this canyon comes into view. The trail continues…

…until you’re inside the canyon, looking at walls of rhyolite tuff, with tafoni created by weathering. Tafoni is the geological term for those “holes” you see in the rock, created over lifetimes of wind and rain. Yes, there is enough water in the Mojave Desert to weather rocks like this!

Sometimes the weathering looks very much like modern art. This one below reminds me of a Picasso face. 

We turn around to retrace our steps and get home before sunset, but not before enjoying one last few to the south. It’s hard to imagine that one of the most violent volcanic eruptions ever took place here. We stand in silence looking out at the landscape, letting the sun warm our faces before it slides behind those mountains for the night. 

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.

Edward Abbey

For more information on the volcanic eruption, click on this link.  

Campground Review: Mojave Preserve

Campground Review: Mojave Preserve

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You’d think growing up in Southern California that I would have seen just about everything within a few hours of the place, but you’d be wrong about that. I didn’t know about Mojave Preserve until several years ago, when I convinced my roadtripping Jedi master, my Dad, that we should take backroads from Hemet to Vegas to visit my sister. One of those backroads ran through Mojave Preserve and we were both amazed and delighted to find some amazing geology as we drove from Amboy to Kelso to Baker.

I vowed to return to Mojave Preserve when I had my trailer, and while it took me more than three years to get back, I finally made it. And, boy was it worth it! I stayed with friends at Hole in the Wall campground for four nights and fell in love with the whole of the Preserve.

This was the view from my campsite one morning. Seriously beautiful.

Here’s my Alto (on the right) and my friends are right next to me. The campground is in a beautiful area for hiking and photography and just sitting outside enjoying the silence and the views. And the jackrabbits and desert wrens, too. (Stacy, I remembered the name of that bird after all!)

The whole of Mojave Preserve was, about a zillion years ago, a hotbed of volcanoes, which blew tons of ash into the air, but little lava. The ash settled, with air trapped inside like bubbles. Time, wind, and water worked their erosional magic and the rocks today are beautiful in their details.

One day, I drove to the other side of the mountain range with my wide angle lens, and got this shot. Sand dunes, snow-topped mountains, wide open spaces with joshua trees – Mojave Preserve has amazing diversity and although it was a 4 hour drive, it was worth every minute to see all those things.

I don’t often show my campsite, but here you go. I could have cleaned up the clutter a bit but then it wouldn’t really show what things look like on a normal day!

If you find yourself driving down Interstate 15 coming south out of Vegas or north out of the LA Basin and you see a brown road sign that says Mojave Preserve, think really hard about diving for that exit. You won’t regret it. (But do fill up with gas before you start exploring, there’s no gas stations in all that wide open space!)

Night poured over the desert. It came suddenly, in purple. In the clear air, the stars drilled down out of the sky, reminding any thoughtful watcher that it is in the deserts and high places that religions are generated. When men see nothing but bottomless infinity over their heads they have always had a driving and desperate urge to find someone to put in the way.”

Terry Pratchett

52 Frames: B&W Minimalism

52 Frames: B&W Minimalism

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Last week’s challenge was two-fold: black and white and minimalism. Hmm. I was in motion a lot of the week, making my way down from the central coast of California to the LA Basin, so I didn’t have a lot of time for searching out excellent locations or unique places.

This shot was from my campsite at Pismo Beach, just after the sun went below the horizon. Venus is in the upper right area, but darned if I can see it in the photo 🙁

When I was still up in the Santa Cruz area, I found this little spiral of kelp on the beach and had fun with it in post-processing.

But, in the end, it was a beach at sunset image that became my entry for the week. Something about the simplicity of water and sky made me pick it over the others, for no particular reason. Sometimes, the weekly selection is random, and that’s how it went this week for me.

The simplest things are often the truest.

Richard Bach

3 for Thursday: Water View

3 for Thursday: Water View

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One of the best things about full-timing in my tiny trailer is that I can go where the water is. Sometimes, like today, this is not all that exciting, because the water is all rain and it’s all the time. But I digress…

Some images don’t make it into a post about a place but I love them anyways and want to share them. This surfer, headed out on a cold but sunny afternoon, is one of those images.

Then there’s the Northern California coast on a stormy day, between the rain showers.

And we’ll end with an image from the one sunny day last week, when the Russian River was beautiful, indeed.

With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live. Most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea.

Sylvia Earle

(Images: Cover photo and surfer, Bandon, Oregon; Blind Beach viewpoint, California; Russian River, Duncans Mills, CA)

Sunday Serenity: Redwood Cathedral

Sunday Serenity: Redwood Cathedral

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There are sacred spaces built by humans: the ancient ruins at Stonehenge, the majesty of Chartres Cathedral in France, the great Pyramids of Giza. And then there is Earth’s cathedral: the soaring heights of trees in forest, creating a canopy of shelter lifted skyward by massive limbs and the trunks that support them.

Photographs cannot truly capture what it is like to walk among the California Redwoods, completely alone, the forest silent except for late-season birds and the sound of my footsteps meandering down the narrow dirt trail. I crane my neck up at every bend, the trees soaring so very high above me.

The golden gothic era of stone cathedrals, with their high, vaulted ceilings and expansive windows of stained glass were designed to direct the eyes upward to heaven. In the cathedral of redwoods, the tallest of the trees do the same.

I feel so small walking among them, looking upward to appreciate their true majesty and measure my true size on this planet. May the redwoods survive forever, a sacred space for me, for you, and for generations to come. Namaste, redwoods. 

The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe.

John Steinbeck
Travels with Charley: In Search of America

For millennia the two-million acre redwood ecosystem thrived and sheltered myriad species of life. In the last 150 years, 97 percent of the original redwood forests have been destroyed by timber corporations. … Big business cut-and-run logging operations have instilled a false dichotomy: jobs versus the environment.

Julia Hill

Ode to Monterey Bay

Ode to Monterey Bay

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I spent last week hanging out in my old hometown of Aptos, a quick visit sans trailer to catch up with some friends and celebrate the birthday of one newly-minted teenager. And get some beach time along the shores of Monterey Bay. 

It’s beautiful in the morning, when few but the wanderers and runners are out on the sand at low tide.

And it’s lovely in the middle of the day, especially when the surf’s up a bit.

It really is best at sunset. Crowds gathered almost every time to enjoy the show. Can you blame them?

The beach is gorgeous even in cold and drizzling rain.

When the blue skies show up with streaky white clouds, it’s breathtaking. 

Yes, any time, any weather, beach is a very good thing. 

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonders forever

Jaques-Yves Cousteau

Sierra Foothills

Sierra Foothills

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I’ve been spending the last few days in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. With the right light and some hiking, I’m amazed how beautiful this area is.

Horse Creek Campground, Lake Kaweah, CA

Wandering around the campground in Sequoia National Park and found this watery shot after scooting down the rocky hillside.

Literally on the side of the road for a different shot, and saw this as I got back in my car. It turned out to be the much better shot.

And, well, you can’t mention being in Sequoia National Park without showing an actual Sequoia. The branches start at about 120 feet from the ground, to give you a sense of scale.

Sentinel Tree, Sequoia National Park, CA

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. 

Henry David Thoreau

Redwoods State & National Park

Redwoods State & National Park

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Warning: This page has two video clips, so it may take a while to load. It’s worth the wait, trust me!

The California Redwoods are truly amazing things so if you are EVER near the Jedidiah Redwoods State and National Park, go see them! The park is way up in the farthest northwest corner of California, but it’s worth the trip. And I’ll do my best in this post to convince you of that.

It’s hard to get a sense of how wide and how tall these trees are. In this photo, you can see a person to the far right. So that gives you a sense of bigness.

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They are also massively tall, to the point where a camera really has a hard time getting the whole tree in the shot, as you can see from this photo.

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To help resolve this technical issue, I took a short video starting at the base of a group of redwoods and going up to the top: redwoods-up

When you look straight up while standing in the center of a circle of redwoods, this is the video view: tops

Fun facts about Coastal Redwoods:

  • Can grow to over 370 feet
  • Some are nearly 2000 years old
  • Bark can be 12 inches thick
  • Diameter can be up to 22 feet

The redwoods need moisture year round, so that’s why you find them by the coast, and only along a narrow strip of california and southern Oregon. It’s also why you see lots of ferns around them, too. It’s like the best of a rain forest combined with really big trees. Pretty cool combination!

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The National Park has rivers like this, making for wonderful campsites. I could walk all the way out to the edge of the river and watch rafters and fishermen enjoying the day.

Imagine seeing this view in the morning as you rub the sleep from your eyes. You might feel like you’re back in the 1700s or 1800s, no trace of civilization, just you and the big redwoods outside your door.

For more on Redwoods National and State Parks, you can check out their website.

The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It’s not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time.

John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

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