Backroads

I find myself more drawn to the backroads, those two lane areas still slightly hidden from current affairs. Although I have visited many of these places through the years I still enjoy the wide open skies, the differing climates and altitudes, the variety of ecosystems and social environments. My eyes are open again, and all the details catch my curiosity.
I also notice, more and more, how time passes faster and faster. How the news, and the phones, and the emails, and the messages never let go. We are always connected. The backroads help to slow that passing, help to disconnect from the busy and reconnect to ourselves. I feel really lucky to have recently had three weeks to explore some favorites, here are images from some special areas of the mountainous West.

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Colorado

Little Lakes Valley, Sierra Nevada

Light Streaking Across Mt. Whitney, Sierra Nevada

Yosemite Valley

Calochortus, Eastern Sierra

Basin and Range number 2, maybe 3, Nevada

Basin and Range, number 3, maybe 4, maybe 5

Collecting the un-eclipsed, Nevada

The Extra-terrestrial Highway

Not sure what the signs are telling me

Crested Butte Evening

West Maroon Pass

First Colors, Late August

A Hidden Lake in Colorado

The Morning Ritual

Another Day on the Lake

Retreat

Ice House Detail

Mechanical Crane

Beckoning

Lemon, garlic, onions, squash, butter, dinner

Sunup

Reflecting the Clouds 

Silverton, Colorado

Doorway, Silverton

Doorway #2, Silverton

Brickwork

Sheepherding, San Juan Mountains

Wilderness Flock

It's a dogs life

Over 1 million

Yes, I took this one in June too, Monument Valley Silhouette, Arizona.

Colorado Monument

Kebler Pass, Colorado

Racing through the Southwest

My obsession with the perfect vehicle created an opportunity to fly to Durango and B-line it home in two days.
Between Farmington NM and Flagstaff AZ a state highway bisects what was once the great Navaho Nation. 
Our newest “ships” pass by their monuments at 65 mph, barely recognizing the poverty our forefathers legislated.

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Monument Valley in the Distance

My obsession, Ship Rock

The Navaho Nation at 65 mph, New Mexico

Reservation Clouds

Four days in lower slopes of the Eastern Sierra

California's Eastern Sierra is celebrating a record snowfall and the Winter rains. Camping along the lower slopes, the abundance of flowers, of water, and of gorgeous light, provide a Spring like few others we have witnessed.

Here are the results of just four days.

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Large archival framed prints available.

South face of Lone Pine Peak.

Recapturing water to refill the Owens Lake

Granite canyon below Mt. Langley

Sunrise in the Buttermilks

Spring

The Buttermilks in bloom

Owens Valley backroads and Mt. Tom

Lower Rock Creek

Jeffrey Pines, Rock Creek

Jeffrey Pines

A comfortable pine needle stop

Winter still holds on at 8000 feet in Upper rock Creek

The lava flow blooming along Highway 395 near Big Pine

Out of pure lava rock, Apricot Globemallow

Too many miles, content to be spoiled

Wide open 

Flowering Joshua Tree

Desert Cholla

The Kern River as full as it gets

Kern River

The entrance to Kern Canyon, this waterfall is from an overflow hardly used.

Rolling hills turning to gold

Epic Spring growth near Parkfield

Winter Rain Turns Spring Green

I cannot say that I have ever seen a Spring as strong and important as this. Winter was full of rain and storms and passages. On February 21st my father passed peacefully at home, and the clouds in the Coachella Valley gathered that day and it rained, and brought life to the dry desert.
Three weeks later a green cast spilled across the rolling hills and rocky peaks and Spring in California was more vibrant than ever.
Traveling from the Central Coast to the Coachella Valley Desert, the landscape is a luminescent shade of green and yellow. The dark, introspective colors of winter have given way to the bright, fresh saturated colors of a new season.
March 17th,  St. Patrick's Day, would have been my father's 100th birthday. It was celebrated by friends and family, and the blossoming of plants jumping at the chance to sprout again.
Here are a series of images gathered to celebrate the continual cycle we experience.
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Clouds, Coachella Valley, February 21, 2017

March 17, 2013

Snow-capped Rocky Butte, Cambria 2017

Moonset, Piedras Blancas

Storm Clouds Above Green Valley Road, Cambria

Horseplay, Hearst Ranch

Shades of March Green

Coachella Valley Bloom

Alternative Green, La Quinta, California

December 2013, The Living Desert Museum