Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, Friday, March 22

Couple of cell phone shots from a visit to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. Came about 9:30am. Since it was relatively early, on a workday, and before the park had arrived on social media radar, I was able to park in the park. When I left, they were encouraging people to park on the road, south of the park. Long backup coming from the east.

Having read that the bloom was starting from the east, and knowing that the rising sun would warm the poppies facing southeast, first, I walked that trail. Limited time due to work obligations, so no time to see it all.

It was pretty cold that morning, and the poppies didn't unfurl until about 11am. Lots of buds visible in these shots, so you can see that peak was a bit in the future. But pretty nice, already. Not sure if I will try to squeeze in a return in a few weeks.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, March 8, 2019

I have a few wildflower hikes to post, still, but this one should be faster. I drove up into the Las Vegas area on a Saturday. I had previously checked sunset times and the hours the scenic drive in Red Rock was open. I had been wanting to get some night sky shots of the area for a while, but was stymied by the limited road hours. They really don't want you here after dark!

But it turns out, based upon the changing sunset times and shifting road hours, there are a few windows of opportunity to legally be on the road when the sky is significantly dark. The first window I was aware of was in early March. On March 1, the road hours extend from 5pm winter hours to 7pm. If you visit before the change to daylight savings time, you have (by March 8) over one hour after sunset to get out off the road.

Took about a dozen shots, mostly relatively short exposures. The sky is far from dark, so a fast lens and long exposure would blow out the sky.

Earlier in the afternoon. I had intended to hike Icebox Canyon. I figured with all the recent rains, it would be impressive. But I forgot to assure a pair of socks to go with my hiking boots. Given all the rock hopping, I definitely wanted my boots. But I wasn't willing to use the boots with no socks.

With either flip-flops or sockless athletic shoes, I chose the latter. With that set up, I was willing to walk from the Icebox Canyon trailhead, back up the one-way road, then along the stub road, then the short and easy trail to Lost Canyon waterfall.

Round trip walk was probably about 2 miles.

Then I drove to the Pine Creek trailhead, and waited for dark. Shot with my Nikon D3400, 18-140mm lens at 18mm, f/4, iso 1600, 15 seconds. Some shot horizontal, some vertical.

Bajada Trail and Lost Oasis Trails, Joshua Tree National Park

I visited the southern extreme of Joshua Tree National Park on Sunday, February 24. I had been following DesertUSA's Desert Wildflower Alerts, and saw that the area around the Bajada Trail was in bloom. (Note that this will take you to the then-current report, not to what I was reading a few weeks ago).

I had hiked this area on several previous occasions, including at least once when it was in bloom, but I can't find a post with photos of those earlier trips on my blog. Oh, well.

I have also hiked to Lost Palms Oasis on at least one previous occasion, as well as the shorter hike from that same trailhead to Mastodon Peak on at least two previous occasions, including just last year.

Although the Lost Oasis hike was a lot longer, the "real" point of this trip was to see wildflowers, so most of my photos are from the very short saunter around the Bajada Trail.

Even down in the Coachella Valley, wildflowers were blooming along the freeway median and in adjacent areas, so I was optimistic for some nice blooms "up" at the Bajada. And I was not disappointed. The area was blue with lupine, with plenty of brittlebush mixed in, a lesser but non-trivial amounts of desert poppy and other flowers.

Off in the distance, to the west, the snow dipped low on Mount San Gorgonio, and vicinity. I tried to frame a few shots of the lupine with the snow-capped mountains in the distance.

There were some painted lady butterflies fluttering about, but I didn't get any to pose. I did get one, by accident, wen I was photographing a patch of desert dandelion.

From the Bajada, the road heads to higher altitude as you head deeper into the park. Blooms were still numerous, but not as dense as further down, where the previous pictures were taken. I didn't stop again until the Cottonwood Visitor Center.

I wasn't sure if I was going to hike, because I had forgotten my medication that I should have taken around 9am that morning. Eventually, I decided it would be best to take a longish hike to try to control my blood sugar, that way, as it would still have been a pretty long drive home to get my medication.

The other factor that tipped my decision making was that I ran into a middle-aged gentleman at the Bajada (I say middle-aged now, because I'm old; if I ran into him thirty years ago, he would have been "some old guy"!). Jim was a commercial driver, who parked his mobile home/rig down outside the park, as there's a sign on the way up that says no commercial vehicles are allowed in the park.

As I was still debating if I would hike, I told him, no problem, I'd take him to the visitor center, and reassess from there.

Once at the visitor center, I decided to do a hike, though I still wasn't sure which one. So then I drove the mile or so to the Cottonwood Springs trailhead, and, eventually decided on Lost Palms Oasis, since I had just been to Mastodon Peak the previous fall.

So not only did I take a decently long hike, but I had some company, along the way.

The distance from Cottonwood Springs to Lost Palms is probably 3.4 miles, each way, although there are dueling signs at the trailhead, and one claims it is 4.4 miles.

The hike turned out to be easier than I recalled, probably because it was somewhat warmer the last time I hiked it. On this day, I doubt it was much above 50. It was neither windy nor particularly dry, either. Perfect desert hiking weather.

This was several days after the last storm, yet there was still the occasional small patch of snow on the ground. It was still getting pretty cold overnight, and not superhot in the day. And I guess they must have gotten decent accumulation.

The trail itself is relatively flat. I mean, it goes up and it goes down, but only a few of the ups are steep enough to get your blood pumping. The steepest decent is at the end, when you drop down to the oasis. Numerous palms (the largest concentration, they say) are along the base of the ravine. Water seeps in various places.

Take some care if you do decide to descend, since it does take some dexterity not to slip on your butt. Not a huge amount, and it does help if you have lug soles.

As noted, a nice hike. And, unlike on most of my hikes, I had company. It was a nice change of pace.

This last shot, by the way, was from the rest area on eastbound I-10, near Whitewater, and just before U.S. 62. Nice view of Mount San Jacinto, which was also snow covered.

Landscape Arch, Partition Arch, and Navajo Arch, Arches National Park, October 10, 2018

This was the last of my hikes in Utah, at the end of a very rainy few days last fall. It rained VERY hard the night before, as I was camped in Devil's Garden campground, in Arches National Park. I can again report that my relatively new tent from REI (ALPS Mountaineering Meramac 3 tent, which I have mentioned in the past), performed well enough, and I'm still happy with that purchase.

On this trip not only did it rain, but it blew like the Dickens. So my latest tent report is still that it can take extended, heavy, vertically-falling rain. It can also take gusty winds (I'd estimate 30-40 mile an hour gusts, as in really serious, and I was more than a little concerned my tent might fail). However, if it's raining AND gusting, the design does allow rain to blow under the fly, and water will get on to the floor of the tent. Still, despite a very extended period of rain and winds, it wasn't THAT wet, especially since it was just me, and I could move water-sensitive stuff back into the car or to the other side of the tent.

I got up and left the tent at the site, thinking I would have until noon to vacate. Turns out I was wrong; you're supposed to be out by 10am, so I was just about two hours late leaving. Not sure if the next night's resident got delayed.

Since I was blissfully ignorant, I left the tent up to air out and dry out, and walked down from my campsite to the Devil's Garden trailhead. I'd estimate that was probably about 3/4 of a mile. Not sure when I actually got started, but possibly as late as 8 or 9am. It was still pretty empty, then.

Passed a pair of FLDS couples, heading out. They must have started several hours earlier.

There were several pools of water on the ground, so I played with some reflection shots.

Pretty easy trail to Landscape Arch, in my opinion. Mostly flat, well defined. Just 3/4 of a mile or so from the trailhead to the viewing area. Huge arch. Can't go under it, though, due to the threat of rock falls, so you need to admire it from afar.

Still thinking I had plenty of time, I figured I'd continue to the next pair of arches. This requires climbing along the top of a potentially intimidating fin. I mean, it's probably still just Class 2, but with pretty good drop offs on either side. So if you're vulnerable to getting psyched out, this might do it. Personally, I took my time, and did fine, but a few people did freak out and turn around here. No shame in that. You don't want to freeze up AFTER you've started up this fin.

At the top, I turned around, stuck my ultra wide angle lens on to my carmera, stopped it down to f/16, and got a nice sunburst over the fin.

The rest of the trail to Partition and Navajo is straightforward. Nothing scary, though you do need to pay attention to signage, both coming and going. It's surprisingly easy to lose the main trail coming back from Navajo Arch, and wind up heading back to Partition Arch, again. I say this because, when I was heading back from Partition Arch, I ran into someone who was accidentally heading my way, instead of back to the trailhead. Also, when I was coming back from Navajo Arch, I briefly found myself heading towards Partition, too.

There were pools and small muddy, wavy sediment flats, as well as several small pines and assorted other plants that needed to be dodged, but, again, pretty straightforward. You just keep the fin on your left, and eventually, you come to Partition Arch.

Couldn't get as many shots from the other side as I wanted, because some selfie-obsessed hikers spent an inordinate amount of time, posing in the arch. I waited, patiently, at first, then less patiently, before finally deciding this was never going to end, and headed back down. When I reached the junction, I turned left, to Navajo Arch.

I had hiked these trails at least twice previously, but the last time was probably 24 years ago, so obviously I did not perfectly recall what I would see. Turns out Navajo Arch is pretty small, and somewhat hidden away. But, on seeing it, it looked very familiar.

Because of the recent rains, there was a pool of water beneath it. But the water was shallow, and it was possible to walk through the arch on previously-placed small rocks and dead tree branches without getting my socks wet. The last picture is shooting back, through Navajo Arch. The trail approached it from the other side.

Returned, then still took my time laying out the tent on the picnic table and behind my car, to dry out, as I ate lunch. Finished packing just before noon, but just after the camp host advised me that I was supposed to have been gone by 10am. The early checkout was unexpected.

I had a wonderful time in Arches and Canyonlands, despite the rain and clouds. I'm even planning a return trip, since I did not manage to get my Delicate Arch and Milky Way shot, this time around.

Upheaval Dome, Canyonlands National Park, UT, October 9

At the northwest end of the pavement for the north branch of Island in the Sky District, there's a trailhead to Upheaval Dome. A National Park Service article on Upheaval Dome is linked here. A link to Island in the Sky hiking trails is here.

According to this information, Upheaval Dome is likely the remnants of a very ancient impact crater. Given the age, you've not looking at the actual crater, but at what resulted below the surface, when the crater was created. Salts upsurged into the vacancy created by the crater, leaving what we see, still beneath the surface. Erosion has now exposed those materials.

The trail itself is given as about .3 mile to the first overlook (basically, just up a short but steep trail from the parking lot). After that, you can continue about a mile further, along the south rim of the canyon, to another overlook. That's what I did. On hiking this, I observed what I would later read, elsewhere: The view is pretty much the same, from either point, so you might wish you conserve your time and energy for a different hike.

While the crater view does not really change, the wider view of the more distant areas of Canyonlands do reveal themselves, so the background scenery will change, even as the view of the "dome" will remain largely similar.

You do get a slightly better view at the "central peak" within the crater. The variations in color and texture are interesting to view, with a telephoto or binoculars.

Lunar Eclipse, Saddleback Butte State Park CA, January 20, 2019

I was watching weather reports for the past week, looking at forecasts for everywhere from southern Utah and western Arizona, and all over southern California, trying to decide where I'd have the best chance of clear skies. By the last day before the eclipse, it became apparent that north and northwest of Los Angeles was the place to be. So I settled on Saddleback Butte State Park, which is a bit east of Lancaster.

I've hiked here before, and also observed from here before. It's not nearly as dark as places like the Mojave Preserve or even Joshua Tree, but it's closer, and it's warmer than places like Chuchupate or Mount Pinos, which are higher in altitude, but also had good sky forecasts for the 20th.

I wanted to get up there early enough to have time for a little hiking, but not so early that I'd have to spend too much time just sitting around, waiting for the eclipse. Turns out, I waited too long, and only had time to head a mile or so up the trail. Still got some nice post-sunset shots, though.

After returning back to the campsite ($20/night), I decided to eat dinner, a Jersey Mike's subway sandwich. My birthday was last month, so this was a good chance to use my free birthday sandwich coupon. :D

Took some full moon shots, and some partial phase shots, then planned to switch to my backup battery, as my camera's battery was in the red. Unfortunately, I discovered that my backup battery was completely dead. So I could not take as many shots as I had intended.

Still, fortunately, the battery did last long enough for me to get decent moon shots and backdrop shots. Couldn't fine tune the focus on the moon, though, so I had to shoot short exposures and high iso, which were not the best quality.

The second to last shot was just a few seconds long, so the moon is only slightly overexposed, and the moon still has a copper hue. Castor and Pollux and the constellation Gemini are above the moon. Procyon is the star to the bottom right of the frame.

The last one was about 15 seconds at iso 1600, to get more background stars, but that overexposes the moon severely. As a result, the moon is completely washed out. But the sky looked nice.

Shaefer Canyon Overlook, Mesa Arch, and Grand View Point Trail, Canyonlands National Park, UT, October 8, 2018

Still catching up on my October trip to eastern Utah. This is the late morning and early afternoon of October 8. Just about 3 1/2 hours separate the first picture taken from the last, and that's with what must have been at least a half-hour, waiting in a line of cars to actually enter the park.

Started the morning in Moab, did an early morning hike around the Windows Section, returned to Moab to check out of my motel room, then headed towards Canyonlands. The first shot was on the drive up towards Canyonlands, while still in BLM land. There were several parking areas, which are trailheads for mostly mountain bikers, I believe.

The next three shots were from a very short walk from the road to Shaefer Canyon Overlook, just barely within the park. There's a steep and winding jeep trail that drops down into the Canyon from the paved road.

The next three (and I think the two after that, judging by the time stamp on my shots) are from the very short trail to Mesa Arch. I think they give the distance as a 1/2 mile loop. Very easy, and to a very photogenic arch, which is in the rotation for screen savers on your Windows computer, so you've probably seen it before.

It looked nice, even in fog. The trail was somewhat crowded,as you would expect for a short but scenic hike. But I found parking in the smallish lot, nonetheless.

My next stop was at the end of this segment of road, at Grand View. When I parked, the fog, clouds, and rain was too thick to even see the cliff. So I waited in my car, as, I think, did many others. Finally, after probably 30 minutes, it seemed the rain had slowed. I got out of the car, carrying only my phone camera, again. Still too wet to want to risk my DSLR.

I walked out to the overlook and enjoyed the view, taking many pictures. Drifted back to my car. Then drifted back to the view. While there, I observed what appeared to be a trail, leading off, along the cliff. Debated going, as the threat of rain did not abate. Nevertheless, I persisted. ;)

I did not know at the time, but it turns out this trail is 1.8 miles, out and back. I had the trail largely to myself, as, until about when I started, the clouds were so thick that there was little to be seen along the trail.

The clouds blew by, and my view into the canyon changed, by the moment.

The drop-offs were serious, but the canyon rim was pretty much completely level. No wind, so I felt fine, and enjoyed the near-solitude.

Reached the end, shot some more pictures, then headed back. Retracing my steps, but with the shifting clouds and perspective, it did not feel like covering old ground.

The traffic increased as I neared the trailhead. By now, the clouds had lifted enough that the threat of torrential rain had abated, and others were heading out to walk the canyon rim.

Can't believe it's been over three months since this hike, and a month since I managed my last post, here. So far this year, I've been pretty much limited to Griffith Park. Not much time for hiking, on account of family matters. And not much time to post, on account of kitties that like walking on keyboards.

But the recent rains have me looking forward to a checking out some of the local waterfalls, this weekend. I do hope I manage that. . . .