Snow. We wanted to see the snow.
We headed north on US 395 out of Ridgecrest. Our destination was Mammoth Lakes, home of L.A.’s favorite high Sierra ski weekend getaway.
An hour on the road and we were rolling through Lone Pine. Looking to our left, we tried to get a glimpse of cloud-covered Mt. Whitney, the [...] Read Full Story
While driving to the trailhead, we could see big, smokey-colored, winter clouds hanging on the mountains the way a lazy, obese man’s stomach hangs before him, heavy and unmoving.
“Might be snowing up there.”
We drove on, the Subie gliding over the freshly grated dirt road.
We crossed over the cattle guard and entered the Short Canyon area [...] Read Full Story
According to a brochure put out by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), “a visit to the Trona Pinnacles will be a journey into one of the most unusual geologic wonders in the California Desert. This unique landscape consists of more than 500 tufa (calcium carbonate) pinnacles rising from the bed of the Searles Dry Lake basin. These tufa spires, some as high as 140 feet, were formed underwater 10,000 to 100,000 years ago when Searles Lake formed a link in an interconnected chain of... Read Full Story
Pennsylvania Winter
the wind bites,
ripping your face
while the white sun
tries to warm you
snow lays on the
hard ground
ice forms on the
creek beds
hot breath turns
cold, vaporizing
into a cloud
before you
wool socks on
feet, thick hat
on head, fleece
gloves on hands
snow angels, snow
forts, snow balls,
sledding, ice
skating, skiing
wishing for days
off school,
weather report
calls for snow
hot chocolate,
hot soup, hot
embers burning
in the fireplace
’tis a winter... Read Full Story
We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge heading north out of San Francisco en route to Point Reyes National Seashore. I looked up at the heights of the architectural wonder and prayed that an earthquake wouldn’t hit.
It didn’t.
Once across the big red bridge, we decided to take highway 1 up the coast. We twisted and turned [...] Read Full Story
The desert is cooling down. Autumn is here and with it, the opporturnity to explore the local environs without killer heat has arrived.
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I was driving home the other evening, about fifteen minutes before dusk sets in, and was silenced by the sunset. It was an incredible bright pink with a tinge of pastel purple. The [...] Read Full Story
Autumn has arrived in the desert. The wind is howling and heavy, winter-like clouds hang on the mountain peaks west of Ridgecrest. It is snowing up there. The air is a cool 65 degrees during the day and dips into the 40s at night.
I love it.
Some people get spring fever. I get fall fever. Wool [...] Read Full Story
“The big tree is Nature’s forest masterpiece, and so far as I know, the greatest of living things. It belongs to an ancient stock…and has a strange air of other days about it, a thoroughbred look inherited from the long ago–the Auld Lang Syne of Trees.”
–John Muir
We were camped along the North Fork of [...] Read Full Story
“You could see pines reflected upsidedown in the lake pointing to infinity. Late afternoon I lay in the grass with all that glory before me and grew a little bored and thought ‘There’s nothing there because I don’t care.’”
–Jack Kerouac
The Dharma Bums
Lake George lays nestled in the pines below me. I am sitting [...]... Read Full Story
Ok. I was out of commission for a little while. It seems that the vivax strain of malaria was hiding out in my liver for the past eight months or so and decided it wanted to run rampant through my body.
It did. I was ill.
I’m doing fine now. So, let’s get back to where we were. I think we were somewhere around Grand Rapids, MI.
From there I skirted around the city of Chicago and made way for Wisconsin. It reminded me of central Pennsylvania, a landscape of rolling hills dotted with... Read Full Story
