Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Poison Oak PortraitI have written before of my special admiration of the photographs of Freeman Patterson.  Most of us believe we must travel to exotic places to make extraordinary photographs – Yosemite, Zion, and the like.  But Patterson demonstrates time and again that great photographs await us in our backyard, or for Patterson, even in his kitchen while baking cookies.

I have never been very good at it, but it is a noble goal.  Certainly it would teach us to see and appreciate the “common” sights we take for granted – to see with beginner’s eyes as the Buddhists would encourage us to do.

So, choice the option as you unica-web.com buy viagra samples like in the cart depending on your needs. Kamagra Tablet is available at reasonable prices and fast delivery is india viagra online assured. Condoms unica-web.com viagra online from canada are not as fastidious as food fresh, it is best to use in factory 1-2. This drug works for more than four hours (Peyronie’s disease) seizure Some of the top hits include: Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran It was the first song to cross 500 million plays on Spotify. buy sildenafil online Motivated by Patterson’s books, I walked out my back door looking to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.  I was fairly satisfied with this shot of a poison oak bush behind my house.

I still prefer the exotic places, but this practice is like going to the gym for photographers.  It makes you stronger.

Big

LP-Whitney SunriseI guess one of the things that keeps bringing me back to the east side of the Sierra time and again is the dizzying volume.  It’s big.  In the middle of the Owens Valley, one loses all sense of distance.  Looking north and south, the landscape disappears when the curvature of the earth hides what is beyond the horizon.  East and west, peaks rise over 14,000 feet. In between, the sheer volume of open sky leaves one feeling small and insignificant, yet delighted.  W-Bridgeport-Valley

Here are a couple shots – one of Mt. Whitney and Lone Pine Peak, one of Bridgeport Valley – from my last visit.  They feebly hint at what can only be truly felt by standing there.
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What Nature is Doing

W-Leaves-On-IceA couple weeks ago, Dave Sellers and I set out for the eastern Sierra seeking gaudy displays of fall color.  Based on past experience, our timing should have been perfect, but nature doesn’t always keep a crisp schedule.  The early storm, the changing weather So you can actually find high quality Acai, on the other hand, you’ll start to feel that there is a best levitra price bit of truth in this warning. drugshop here cialis online So you can rely upon this potent structure if you are looking forward to restrict your smoking desirability. Healing mineral water is an undisclosed remedy for the public in the same year, that is, 1982, in the month of December. super cialis cheap You are also advised to consume bottle gourd juice, pomegranate, bananas, fish, cheap levitra cooked oysters and almonds. – we couldn’t figure it, but up high or down low, it just wasn’t happening.

DeWitt Jones once told me, “If nature isn’t doing what you’re looking for, look for what nature is doing.”  So, I started to look down rather than up, and I found this little bit of color gathered sweetly just for me.

Worries and Hopes

W-Mather-Pass-PortraitWhen my son Drew and I hiked the John Muir Trail in 2003, I worried about the worst and hoped for the best.  I got both, but from directions I didn’t expect.

Drew came reluctantly, and I worried that he would have a miserable time and lobby hard to bail out early.  He was eighteen years old and faced “issues” far beyond the normal teenage difficulties.  How would he handle twenty-one days in the wilderness with, of all people, Dad?

My hopes – I should say my expectations – were for the usual summer Sierra weather and all that comes with it: sunny days, perhaps an occasional afternoon thundershower, and sleeping under the stars.

Drew was a fabulous companion.  We were perfectly aligned in our simple daily activities, not at odds like at home where parents enforce boundaries and children test them.  We both wanted food, comfort, and to get further down the trail.  All our efforts were toward those common ends.  We were a team.  My worry was groundless.
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W-Marie-Lakes-Sunset1But where was the great Sierra summer weather?  It was lousy!!  It rained or hailed on all but six of our twenty-one days on the trail.  We waited out torrential hail and rain that was not just passing through.  We rarely spent a night under the stars.  Every night, we squeezed into a snug two-person tent, read to each other, and listened to the tapping.

The foul weather put me in a sour mood, and it was Drew who was there with a hopeful word.  That’s supposed to be my job, but he proved to have the only sensible attitude about something over which we had no control.  I pouted, he comforted.  I was impressed.
So, bad weather gave me some great gifts.  Behind all of Drew’s crazy behavior at home, I saw that there was a rock solid person.  And once or twice, the drenching clouds would slide apart, let some light in and dazzle.

We completed the trail fit, thinner, and still friends – maybe better friends.

Mountain Vista

W-Lyell-Sunrise2I knew it was up there; I just hadn’t taken the time to go. And I knew that sunrise would be the best time to record it, but that meant spending the night. Today I would set aside all the reasons I hadn’t gone to photograph Mt. Lyell and Mt. Maclure from the Kuna Crest and go.

Above Tuolumne Meadows, on the way to Tioga Pass, is the Mono Pass trailhead. From here one can take day hikes to a variety of sights along the Sierra crest: miner’s cabins, alpine lakes, Sierra bighorn sheep habitat. It’s only a few miles to historic Mono Pass which drops down Bloody Canyon to the Mono Basin.

As you walk that gentle trail toward Mono Pass, the Kuna Crest is the high wall on your right. The Lyell fork of the Tuolumne River and the John Muir Trail are on the other side. At he end of the Lyell fork, Mt. Lyell and Mt. Maclure reach to over 13,000 feet. I was chasing the view of those peaks from the Kuna Crest.

I walked the Mono Pass trail for only a mile or so until Mammoth Peak (not Mammoth Mountain) was on my right. There, I turned right, left the trail, and made my way up. The sights along the way were classic alpine Sierra settings: just-born creeks twisting through high alpine meadows brightened by gardens of heather. All this sat softly beneath a steep slope of granite scree. The juxtaposition of delicate beauty and the cold indifferent rock above was striking.
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I scrambled up rock, then across a snowfield to the ridgeline. Then, a short ramble to the crest.

Amid the jungle of boulders that comprised the summit, there were several flat sandy spots that would easily accomodate my sleeping bag. I rolled out, sat, and just looked. On my left, Lyell and Maclure with their bright glacier looked back at me. Straight ahead was Tuloumne Meadows and all the familiar peaks of the Cathedral Range. On my right, Tioga Pass and the Sierra crest. I sat and watched until the sun set.

The next morning, I rose in time to get my shot. I was back at the car by lunch time. The picture is a favorite, but it was one of those outings where everything was perfect, especially the sitting and looking.

Bridgeport

W-Bridgeport-Iris-StreamI love the little town of Bridgeport.  It sits in an unlikely valley, huge and perfectly flat, at the foot of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra north of Lee Vining on Highway 395.  At first glance, there’s not much there but a short 25 MPH stretch of the highway.  But the setting and the little I know about it’s history give it a special something.

This town of 575 people became the county seat of Mono County by default.  In 1861, the California legislature designated Aurora the county seat until two years later when it was determined that Aurora was in Nevada.  The Bridgeport County Courthouse, built in 1881, is a stately Victorian building that still does county business.  Look for it behind John Wayne in the original True Grit.  The 1947 film noir classic, Out of the Past, starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas, was also partially filmed in Bridgeport.  I saw it on TCM the other night.  What a kick.

W-Shepherd-CarvingBridgeport is also known for cold winters and often makes the national news with the country’s low temperature.  The average low temperature in January is 8 degrees with a record low of -31.  Most folks don’t spend the winter in Bridgeport.
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But the main attraction is the beautiful setting.  In early summer the valley floor is carpeted with irises.  With Sawtooth Ridge, one of the most beautiful portions of the Sierra crest as a backdrop, it’s stunning.  Bridgeport is also a gateway to other Sierra gems.  My favorite is Buckeye Creek in the fall.  Bright yellow aspens glow in a wide valley beneath rugged peaks.  Look for carvings in the aspen trunks left by shepherds nearly 100 years ago.

 

Kibbie Lake

Lake Erratic ViewWhen I heard a Yosemite ranger tout Kibbie Lake as the finest overnight backpack site in the park, I sprang into action.  I avoid backpacking in the Yosemite because of the crowds and generally head to the east side, but it’s a long haul.  If Kibbie Lake has the spectator value, reasonable solitude, and is two hours closer to home, I’m in.

W-Kibbie-Shooting-StarsA little snooping around the web was encouraging, so Dave Sellers and I synchronized our calendars and set out.

Kibbie Lake sits just inside the northwestern boundary of Yosemite.  In fact, the trailhead is also an entry point into the southern reaches of Emigrant Wilderness which borders the park there.  Since the trailhead straddles two juridictions (Yosemite NP and Stanilaus NF), a permit can be obtained from either source.  But Yosemite is beyond the driving route to the trailhead.  Since you will pass by the Stanislaus NF office in Groveland, it’s more convenient to get your permit there.

Past Buck Meadows on Highway 120, turn left onto the road to Cherry Lake.  A twisty-turny 30 miles later, over the Cherry Lake Dam to the end of the road, you will finally reach the end of the road.
From the get-go, I was skeptical, but Kibbie Lake scored high.  The hike was moderate (4 miles, 500 feet elevation gain), the setting had all the Sierra bells and whistles (granite walls, lovely streams and gardens), and while there were other campers nearby, we were always alone.

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Two thumbs up for Kibbie Lake.

 

 

 

Local Exotic

Sunset Oak CoeThe exotic and truly magnificent places in the world are always somewhere else – or so we tell ourselves.   Let’s face it –much of our daily life is a repeating pattern of events that have become habit, and we perform them in an inattentive way.  It’s only natural that just as our lives have become “the same old thing,” so do our surroundings lose their wonder.

Of course, the main reason “somewhere else” seems exotic is simply that it is different from home.   It is so fresh and new that we see it with beginner’s eyes.  Awakened from our stupor, our half-shut eyes widen like saucers to take in every detail of a new and different place.

El Toro Rainbow

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Where we live, wherever it may be, is special; we have just forgotten how to see it for the first time.  I struggle to remember that and make it part of my practice.  When I want to photograph, my first thought is that I have to get out of town.

These two photographs remind me that I’m all wet.  One was taken just steps from my front door on a stormy evening.  The other was taken near Eric’s bench at Coe State Park very close to home.  I am sure a similar sight can be seen there nearly every night.

Chasing Spring

M-Tioga Rainbow1The flatlands are drying up, so it is time to start chasing springtime up the mountains.  Highway 395 on the east side of the Sierra is my preferred portal to alpine country, and Tioga Pass is the most direct route there.  But when will Tioga Pass open?  After the record snowfall this past winter, it will likely be later than usual; I heard one report that it may not open at all.

But Tioga Pass is more than just a route to somewhere else.  There are several places close to the road that are drop-dead gorgeous.  I had seen another photographer’s pictures of Gaylor Lakes, a short walk from the pass, and I decided to look for myself.

From the small parking lot just inside the Yosemite entrance at Tioga Pass, I shouldered my camera gear and made the short steep walk through oxygen-poor air to the ridge above.  The view from there overlooks a shallow valley scoured clean by a long-gone glacier that cradles Gaylor Lakes.  Beyond the valley are the peaks of the Cathedral Range  – a stunning view.
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I set up my tripod and sat patiently hoping for something special as the sun moved lower in the western sky.  It was lovely to watch, but nothing developed that was particularly pixel-worthy.  In an idle moment, I turned back toward Mt. Dana, and nearly did a back flip.  While I sat in a stupor gazing over there, look what was happening over here!

Man, I snapped into action like an EMT at a 20-car pile-up.  Gotta catch this before it passes.  I love this picture, but honestly, a chimp could have taken it.  It just shows that the trick is to just go out there…and every once in a while, turn around.

Spring Wildflowers Again

W-Goldfields-Meadow-FoamThe Sierra foothills along the lower portion of the San Joaquin River have been chopped off.  Over time, these hills have eroded down to a resistant stratum of basalt leaving behind a community of flat-topped hills with surprises hidden from view.

A couple of springs ago, a friend invited me on a day trip to this region.  We would visit one of these table tops reputed to be a wildflower bonanza.  I’ve heard that before.

The trail left from a Forest Service parking area near the town of Auberry.  We edged slowly down through a lovely display of flowers to a bridge and crossed the San Joaquin River.  Then, up, up, up, but with each step the reach of our view brought superb rewards.

Finally, we left the trail and made a direct line toward a passable notch in the steep layer that guarded the flat hilltop.  All at once, the “up” disappeared and a big bunch of riotously colored “flat” appeared.
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W-Goldfields1If you chase wildflowers, you have been disappointed with tales of gaudy displays that didn’t pan out.  But like the fisherman who chases stories of the perfect spot, we always go, because this may be the one.  This was the one.

I am not enough of a botanist to explain the abundance here, but we walked for miles across this flat summit through a staggering quantity and variety of flowers.  The extent of the display left us all groping for adequate superlatives.

I am sworn to secrecy as to the identity of this particular table top, but the Sierra Foothill Conservancy (www.sierrafoothill.org) conducts hikes to many such spots throughout the spring.  It is a day well spent.

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