March 15, 2010 Fossil Falls

This was my final day to chase the California desert scenery with Brian and Nancy Morganti. They would begin their way back towards Pennsylvania in a day or two, and I had to be back at work on Tuesday, the 16th. We began at sunrise in Big Pine, and spent the morning hours at Eureka Dunes. The plan for the remainder of the day was to mosey south through the Owens Valley and Indian Wells Valley, winding up at Red Rock Canyon for some photography at sunset. This would make my drive home an easy two hours.

The first stop after lunch was at a lava field south of Big Pine. It wasn’t terribly photogenic, as black rock (2146, below) is difficult to work with! A little farther south we moseyed west of 395 a couple of miles on a dubious road. A spectacular granite canyon area at the base of the eastern Sierra was quite near, but the road worsened and we decided to continue south. The next detour was the road up to Horseshoe Meadows, southwest of Lone Pine. We had a nice photo-op along the narrow paved road west (2168), and then came upon a closed gate where the road starts to zig-zag up the steep slope. I figured as much.  The first two images below of the Eastern Sierra were taken around sunrise, along the road from Big Pine to Eureka Valley.

The Olancha Sand Dunes were next on our list. Though the nearby Sierra and Owens Lake are spectacular, the dunes themselves are not particularly impressive (at least compared to others in the region). I took a brief siesta in the sand and left my camera in the X-terra. This was the 6th dune field that Brian and Nancy had visited in the past week! About a half hour farther south we came upon a cinder cone (Red Hill). The cone is responsible for the lava flows in the area. I had never visited Fossil Falls, so we exited 395 just south of Red Hill and made the short drive to the parking area for Fossil Falls. A quarter-mile hike brought us to the falls. There are no fossils and there is no waterfall, but there is a fantastically sculpted lava landscape, courtesy of the Owens River back during Ice Age times. This place was wild an unreal! Again, the black lava rock made photography a challenge. The sun was getting low, though, and was aligned nicely with the falls and narrow slot canyon. After the falls, we continued south to Red Rock Canyon, with a short stop at an old house at Little Lake. A separate page was created for my Red Rock Canyon images.