Chases » Vegetation

March 13, 2010 Alabama Hills and Eastern Sierra Nevada

Bill — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:00:47 +0000

Shortly after our quasi up-close and personal shots of the eastern face of the Sierra, we headed back down Whitney Portal Road and turned left onto Movie Road. This route meanders in and around the relatively low, but photogenic Alabama Hills. These hills look a lot more like big piles of boulders rather than hills. We braved cold north winds and found great rock formations. It seemed that at every turn there was another brilliant photo-op beckoning! I even shot a few plants to show my sensitive side. The Sierra Nevada provided a superb backdrop, and we found an abandoned mine towards the end of the short tour along Movie Road.

March 13, 2010 Saline Valley

Bill — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:00:18 +0000

The best thing about Saline Valley is its nothingness. Well, that’s not really true—this basin has everything a large desert basin should have. It has brilliant surrounding mountains, deep canyons, abandoned stuff, sand dunes, a playa, a coyote, and springs—there are plenty of very interesting spots to explore. But what makes this place so special is its miles and miles of desolate starkness…or stark desolation, or barren barrenness, and/or empty vastness. Remoteness and somewhat difficult access make the drive into the Saline Valley a real adventure. The only roads into the basin are dirt, or mud, or sand, or sharp rocks. The main entrances at the north and south ends are at elevations of 7200 and 6000 feet, respectively, and are typically covered in snow in winter. The basin bottom is near 1000 feet, meaning summer afternoon temperatures are often 110F to 120F. If you are lucky enough to find yourself in the middle of Saline Valley, chances are you will either feel you are in heaven, or hell. There is no in-between. The Saline Valley is kind of like Death Valley’s forgotten ugly sister. But, for many, the Saline Valley is more attractive, more inviting, and more of an experience than Death Valley. The reason is easy —- it’s the nothingness.

I had been to the Saline Valley about four times, but not for some ten years or so. I was glad to be going back! Brian and Nancy and I had had a busy morning of photography in the Owens Valley below Mount Whitney, and after lunch in Lone Pine we set our sights on the Saline Valley, on the other side of the Inyo Mountains to the east. The Death Valley National Park web site said that the roads into Saline Valley were closed due to snow, but I found that hard to believe as the weather had been dry and mild for a week or two, it was nearly mid-March, and there was little or no snow visible on the mountain slopes at elevations from 6000 to 7000 feet. Our plan was to venture as far as we could before getting in trouble.

Sand blew across the road near Swansea and Keeler along the eastern fringe of Owens Lake. Even though the lake had some water on it, plenty of white dust was getting kicked up. There was also a curious pall of dust moving through parts of Owens Valley well north of the “dry” lake. Those strong winds that we had observed on the peaks around Mount Whitney earlier were mixing down some. We caught 190 east and jumped onto the first road northeast that heads to Saline Valley. It is paved in some places, but the pavement is deteriorating badly. I wonder when this road was originally paved. By the time we connect with Saline Valley Road, the surface is dirt and well graded. There is a “road closed” sign set up to keep the unwary from venturing any farther, and we press on! Our first stop is at a cabin called “boxcar cabin“. We aren’t in Saline Valley yet, but are on an elevated plateau which sits astride the Owens, Saline, and Panamint valleys. We looked inside the cabin and found it to be a place where anyone could kickback, spend the night, or take shelter. Someone cared enough to make the place livable again! If you feel like visiting, you will have to find it yourself, and please bring some extra sodas for the next visitors.

A bit farther up the road we found ourselves in a Joshua Tree forest. Brian was on a mission to find the Mother of all Joshua Trees. I don’t know if he found it or not, but I found some decent specimens.

There were a few folks on motorcycles/dirt bikes on our road, but we otherwise saw no one else as we reached the overlook on the south end of Saline Valley, at 6000 feet. There were some patches of snow on the road in the shady spots, and some boulders on the road next to steep slopes, but Brian’s SUV toyed with the obstacles. We made our way down pretty Grapevine Canyon and finally made it onto the flats, where the road straightens out. The first part is on a rocky alluvial fan, and the road is a little rocky and rough. Later, near the basin bottom, the road surface is smoother and sandier, and occasionally like a washboard. We passed a make-shift campsite along the way, and then stopped along the old abandoned salt tram towers. A side road heads along the towers to the playa, which happened to be quite wet! The Saline Valley was sporting a good-sized lake late this winter! I lugged my camera to the shore, and in spots the salty ground was extremely mushy and my shoes sank an inch or two into the muck. The sun was low, and it was a good time to shoot!

After poking around the shoreline and tram towers for a bit, we continued north along Saline Valley Road, past the sand dunes, and then turned northeast onto the road to the springs. The springs are one of the few places in the basin where you can expect to see people. The area has palm trees, large tubs for bathing in the warm to hot spring waters, and camping sites. It’s a nice place to visit, but there were a bunch of people around, and we didn’t need that noise! It was also cool and windy, with some blowing dust. We made a quick tour of the area and headed back to Lone Pine the way we came. Near the Joshua Tree forest we stopped again to admire and photograph the very dark night sky and, you guessed it, the Zodiacal Light!

November 30, 2009 Trees Trees Trees Yeah

Bill — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:06:27 +0000

Tomorrow is the first of December, and that means it’s Happy Tree Color Time! A nearby line of deciduous trees turns a healthy yellow this time every year. So, I canceled my leaf peeping adventure in New England and drove 7 miles to Mureau Road in Calabasas. The day was bright, calm, and sunny. I may have been a day or two past peak color — not bad.

But first, a token appearance by the Tree of Doom. The Tree of Doom can get quite jealous, and you don’t want to tick off the T of D.

October 27, 2009 Neenach, CA Wind Chase

Bill — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:00:23 +0000

A rare full day off from work + windstorm forecast = local chase to the desert. A strong NW jet stream was moving over SoCal while low pressure deepened at the surface over northern Arizona. Very strong west to northwest winds were blowing through the western Mojave Desert this morning, with gusts over 65 mph at more than one station. I grabbed my stuff and headed to the Antelope Valley via Hwy 14. Winds through Palmdale and Lancaster around 1 p.m. were somewhat impressive, gusting to maybe 45 mph, and visibility was only a mile or two in dust. Weather radio indicated that winds had died down since late morning at Mojave and Edwards, though. When I reached Mojave, winds were gusting to only 30 mph at best. Great—I’m chasing the wind during a big lull in the wind. I had lunch at Taco Bell and decided to head back south into the Antelope Valley. Wind had indeed subsided on this afternoon, and the dust was not nearly as bad as on the way up.

I elected to go into explore and sight-seeing mode, so I headed west from Rosamond and towards the vast emptiness of the western Antelope Valley, just south of the Tehachapi Mountains. I found a few interesting (i.e., bleak) spots to do some photography, primarily along Gaskell Road. As the sun descended, wind picked up again near Neenach, and blowing dust and sand provided additional photo ops.

Today’s windstorm chase wound up a slight dud, wind-wise, but was salvaged by some desolate scenery. And is it “Gaskell” or “Gaskill”??

June 9, 2009 To Kansas, Too Late

Bill — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:00:05 +0000

Doug Raflik and I met the Tour 5 guests in Denver, and blasted east post haste. Our 2 p.m. departure was too late to catch the nice supercell which impacted the Dodge City area, unfortunately. We made good time east on I-70 and then south towards Edwards County in Kansas. As the supercell came into view to our south, it croaked. I shot one or two pics of the pathetic thing, and then we traipsed through the high grass surrounding an old abandoned farm house. There were no new abandoned farm houses in the area.

This day was a bit of a bummer, as we had some high hopes and wound up with little following a very long and determined drive. Our tour had just begun, though, and the weather pattern was looking good for the next week or so. This tour would wind up being one of the most successful for Tempest in terms of consecutive chase days with supercells.