Oldies but goodies

One of my ongoing projects is reorganizing and cataloging my old photos.  I'm proud to say that I'm now working my way backward through 2007.  To that end, I just found some forgotten photos from our 2007 Thanksgiving trip up the Mendocino coast.  We discovered a few things on that trip.  First, we learned that just because we decided not to make a Thanksgiving dinner didn't mean that everyone else wasn't going to.  Slightly problematic when your accommodations happen to be the back of a pickup truck and every business in the town closes at noon.  Then, we learned that cold weather and foggy conditions make for some very damp and frigid hiking, camping, sleeping, eating and everything else you might do when camped in the back of a pickup truck without heat.

It may sound like a drag, but we still had a ton of fun on that trip.  We did a lot of hiking on the beautiful coast, saw the vast majority of Mendocino by foot, and spent some quality time with the coastal Redwoods. 

Last but not least, here's a photo of Van Damme Beach, where we spent our first night out, at sunset.  Be sure to check out the Twisted Rock Photography website for a new California Coast album!

Saguaro National Park, finally!

I admit it, I've been a bad blogger lately.  Life has simply gotten in the way, in a good way.  We've been preparing for wedding shows and art festivals, and doing the usual photo archive organization-- look for new galleries and new photos on both the Twisted Rock and Wedded Bliss websites in the coming days!

As anyone who's read this blog for a while knows, I love love love the desert.  There's just something magical about it for me, and we try to visit the various deserts of the west whenever possible.  We squeezed in one such weekend visit back in February, during the rainy season in Arizona.  Now, I mention this because as we boarded the plane that sunny Friday afternoon in the Bay Area, with light jackets and t-shirts packed, we were aware of a forecast of rain in Tuscon, but, hey, it's the desert, how bad can it be?  We've been through storms in Death Valley before, and it's a lot of wind, and not a lot of moisture, so we weren't worried.  What we should have been thinking of instead, however, was the snow storm we drove through at the Grand Canyon back in November, but hindsight's always 20-20.

When we drove down to Saguaro National Park on Saturday, ready for a day of hiking and photo-taking, we were optimistic about the weather.  Clouds were rolling in, but I was thinking of the fantistically soft light and interesting skies I'd have for photographing the cacti.  We hiked a solid five miles out in relatively good weather, and life was good.  Then, all of a sudden, the skies opened up, and seas of water dumped down on us (yes, seas).  I'm not sure I've gotten as wet and cold as we were that day even during snow-melt river crossings while backpacking in the Sierra.  Five soggy miles later, we dove into the white Mustang convertible rental car (convertible to enjoy all that rain, of course!) and praised whoever it was that thought heating cars was a good idea.

And now for the reason you're really here, the photos!

In the desert, things don't decay like they do in rainy (really rainy) climates, so skeletons of saguaros past hang around for a log time...

While the saguaros were the main attraction, the saguaro forest is home to a large number of other cacti and plant and animal life.  One of my favorites was the aptly named Fishhook cactus.

Happy Thursday, folks!

Yosemite - Rafferty Peak, The Long Way Around

I'm pretty much in a constant battle to keep up with my photo catalogs.  It's not that I don't process my photos right away, because I do, at least nowadays.  The problem is that I didn't way back in the day.  A word of caution to those who who take lots photos-- don't download them and then just think to yourself, "I'll go through those later."  I apparently said that to myself in 2007.  A lot.

In any event, I've been going through my Yosemite catalog, and found a whole bunch of photos that got downloaded and forgotten.  Today's installment is from a cross-country route we took from Tuolumne Meadows over the pass above Elizabeth Lake, down the Echo Creek canyon, then up to Nelson and Reymann Lakes, a quick summit of Rafferty Peak, then down the northeast drainage back to the Rafferty Creek trail.  It was a fantastic hike-- lots of solitude, gorgeous views, and fun and exciting route-finding.

Saguaro - Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak from last weekend's trip to Saguaro National Park.  More to come from from Arizona, and from Alden Lane Nursery soon!

Yosemite in the Winter

During the winter months, the massive number of visitors to Yosemite National Park disappear, and the mountains and valley are blanketed in feet upon feet of snow.  It's utterly and fantastically quiet.  No traffic jams in the valley.  No battles for parking spots.  Solitude on the trails.  If you like to cross country ski or snowshoe, it's a veritable winter wonderland, with fantastic views into the valley from the rim.  The road up to Glacier Point is plowed up to the Badger Pass Ski Area, and is groomed for cross country skiing beyond.  If you're a little more daring and a good trail finder, there's a network of winter trails starting from the road branching out to places like the Ostrander Ski Hut and various viewpoints along the rim.  Our destination: Dewey Point, on backcountry nordic skis.

Happy Monday, folks!

Wente Vineyards

Lately, I've been reorganizing my photo archives to make them more user friendly and to convert my backup files to DNG.  In doing so, I've been coming across photos that I haven't looked at in a loooong time, and I'm falling in love with them all over again!

To that point, here's one from an impromptu shoot at Wente Vineyards one morning in October.

New fine art photography website!

Back in December, I announced Wedded Bliss Images, my new wedding, engagement, family and pet portrait site.  And today, it's with great pleasure that I'm announcing the official launch of my new fine art and travel photography site, Twisted Rock Photography!

I'll be adding new albums to the site, so check the "recently updated" section often!  It's a surefire cure for your case of the "Mundays!"

Scotty's Castle - Death Valley

To say the least, Scotty's Castle is unexpected.  It's a canyon oasis, with a Spanish-style mansion, bath house, palm trees along open flowing water, and one of the most innovative power plants of it's time, all in the middle of a dryer-than-dry desert.

In the early 1900s, a prospector named Walter Scott, better known as Death Valley Scotty, was making a fortune conning far-away businessmen to invest heavily in his fictitious Death Valley mining operations.  One of these men was Albert Johnson, a Chicago insurance magnate and millionaire.  By 1906, however, two years after his initial investment in Scotty's mysterious gold mine, Johnson was noticing a distinct lack of return on his investment, and, with a few other investors, decided to make a visit to Death Valley to check out the mine.

Now, Death Valley Scotty was a very clever fellow, and staged a fake shoot-out to happen while he and his brother were taking their investors to see the mine, so that the city folk would decide it was too dangerous and turn around.  Unfortunately, in all the excitement, Scotty's brother actually did get shot, and Scotty called the whole thing off.  With the ruse exposed, the investors realized they were being conned and pulled out.  Johnson, however, developed a love for the desert and the adventure that always surrounded Scotty, and became close friends with Scotty, forgiving him for his fraudulent behavior.  To that end, he made many trips with his wife Bessie out to the desert, eventually building the oasis that is Scotty's Castle, which even includes a suite built just for Scotty!

Death Valley National Park offers tours of Scotty's Castle year-round.  Now, the pictures!

The mansion is guarded by two gargoyles perched atop a fantastic bright red gate.

Ornate lanterns adorn the mansion.

I just loved all the color-- reds and oranges everywhere, and that unbelievably blue California sky!

I fully admit, I, too, own red dishes-- these, however, are Albert and Bessie Johnson's.

Have a great weekend, folks!

Psychological suspense meets suburban noir

I recently discovered that a friend of mine writes psychological thriller fiction.  Cathryn Grant's stories are about the situations and circumstances that can push an otherwise normal person to madness.  She's been published in several magazines, and is preparing to publish her first book!  A number of Cathryn's short stories and "flash fiction" pieces are posted on her website, www.cathryngrant.com, and, if you like suspense, I highly recommend them for a quick read when you need a break from the every day grind!

And, because every post is better with a picture, here's a teaser from tomorrow's post about Scotty's Castle!

Happy Thursday, folks!

Redwall Canyon - Death Valley National Park

Redwall Canyon is located in Death Valley's colorful Grapevine Mountains.  Just north of the popular Fall Canyon, Redwall is guarded by a slick, two-level 20-foot dry fall just past the mouth of the canyon.  If you can climb past the fall, you're greeted with serpentine narrows painted in brilliant reds and oranges, with deep undercuts and impressively straight walls.

Little Bridge Canyon - Death Valley National Park

If you've followed my blog for any amount of time, you know that I love love love Death Valley.  It's one of my favorite places on earth, and somehow, though we didn't plan it, we ended up there on our honeymoon.  This time around, though, we started exploring some of the more difficult to get to canyons, as well as a few that weren't in the guidebooks or named on the maps.  Little Bridge Canyon was the first on our list.  Simply getting to the mouth of the canyon requires a couple hour walk across the alluvial fans of Tucki Mountain.  Once you get in the canyon, though, you realize it's totally worth it.  The natural bridge the canyon is named after isn't as impressive as the bridges in some of Death Valley's other canyons, but the colors are fantastic!  Reds, yellows, golds and purples.  And complete solitude as well....

Cable Mountain - Zion National Park

Zion National Park is a fantastically beautiful place.  We find ourselves there at least once a year to hike, climb and photograph like crazy.  Zion is characterized by colorful sandstone cliffs in reds, oranges, yellows and even purple.  On our honeymoon trip to the park, we decided to try a few new hikes off the usual beaten paths, which led us to Cable Mountain.  Back in the early 1900s, a sawmill was operated on the rim, and a cable car was built atop Cable Mountain to transport the lumber down to the canyon floor.  The original cable system was hit by lightning and burned down in 1911, only to be rebuilt and operated until about 1930, when it was abandoned due to a lack of lumber supply.  The ruins of the cable structure still stand on the top of Cable Mountain today.

The view across the canyon on the way up to Cable Mountain, seen on the left.

The ruins of the cable system still stand precariously on the very edge of the canyon rim.

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe Bend is a horseshoe-shaped meander in the Colorado River near the Arizona-Utah border. We stopped by on a rainy travel day from the Grand Canyon up to Zion. It's a short hike from Highway 89 up sandy slopes and sandstone to the lookout point, and well worth it!

Happy Monday, folks!

Winter at the Grand Canyon

On our way out of the Grand Canyon, it snowed, rained, and sleeted.  For most people, this means staying inside and curling up on the sofa with a good book or at least a good DVD.  For me, it means moody, interesting photographs, and of course, a lot of running around in the rain and snow.  Many props to my driver/assistant/wonderful husband, who makes last-minute left-hand turns, carries gear, and shelters me and my camera while I change filters and lenses-- you're the best!

Bright Angel Trail and Plateau Point

The Bright Angel Trail is one of two main thoroughfares into the Grand Canyon from the South Rim Village. The trail itself is wide, nicely graded and well-maintained, and sees hundreds of visitors and a couple mule trains each day, even in the off-season. It passes through colorful cliff bands, ranging in hue from white and grey to pink, coral, orange, and purple. Along the way, there are two rest houses and a campground. The Indian Garden Campground, at 4.5 miles from the top, is the day hike turn-around point for most people, though we decided to go a bit further out to Plateau Point, where you can finally see the Colorado River meandering through the Inner Gorge.

The trail picks its way through cliff bands, then down to the bottom of the Garden Creek Canyon.

Bamboo grows alongside Garden Creek.

Grand Canyon

When I was 16 years old, my parents took me and my four siblings on the summer vacation that I like to call the "Whirlwind Tour of the West." Seven of us packed ourselves into the old Chevy Astro van, hitched up the little pop-up camper, and spent two weeks driving across the western US. We stopped at national parks along the way, managed to somehow find a preserved sod house off the highway in Iowa (which also featured an anatomically-correct buffalo sculptured from barbed wire), and ended up at the end of the first week at the Grand Canyon. We did the usual tourist attractions in the South Rim Village, and then one day, we hiked a little way down the Bright Angel Trail into the canyon. And that's when I was hooked. The ranger told us the trail kept going, all the way to the bottom of the canyon, and I just knew I had to get there.

Ten years later, my husband and I bought a tent, sleeping bags and enough freeze-dried food to feed a small army and took up backpacking for the simple reason that I had to camp at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. And we did, at the Bright Angel Campground, for two nights. We had such a good time, that we decided to go back on our honeymoon, where we learned a lot of new things about backpacking in the canyon... Especially in regards to water. But enough reminiscing, here's the photos!

 This was the view from our very-briefly-occupied campsite as the sun went down.

After we came back up from our backpack, we took a rest day and walked the Rim Trail, where the bighorn sheep like to eat in the winter. This one wasn't bothered by the camera at all.

More from the Bright Angel Trail on Monday! Happy weekend!