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| Road, Mountains - Owens Valley 2024 |
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| Mount Ritter, Banner Peak - Owens Valley 2024 |
I made another unplanned excursion down a side road in the valley. After driving a short distance I turned around and pulled off to the side of the road to get a photo of Ritter and Banner in the distance with a salt pond (?) in the foreground.
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| Wild Trout Area - Owens Valley 2024 |
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| Sign Past End of Road - Owens Valley 2024 |
I had a motel reservation in Mammoth Lakes, so while driving there I was able to take some time to explore some new places. I spent some time walking around the end of the road past the Wild Trout Area sign. There's a power station back up the road, administered by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
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| Clark's Nutcracker - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
My 2023 photos of these birds were actually better. But this one is OK! Taken with a Nikon Z7II with a 24-200mm zoom lens. The photo required quite a bit of cropping, but the Nikon sensor is 45mp so it kind of worked.
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| White Mountains, Road Back to Bishop - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
The White Mountains are in the "rain shadow" of the Sierra Nevada, so pretty dry. Nice view of them taken from the road going down towards Bishop from my campground.
I venture up there now and then for bristlecone photos.
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| Udon - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
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| Morning Temperature - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
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| Tree Trunk - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
No Sierra hike photo story is complete without a weathered tree trunk photo. I took this one on the way back to the campground using an iPhone 12 Pro Max.
I'm reminded, a little, of one of my 1993 film photos taken in Great Basin National Park.
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| Sun Through Trees - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
So I had gotten a slightly late start for the hike. I got to the trail junction, hiked a bit on the Treasure Lakes trail and had lunch. The next part of the route was significantly downhill, which I didn't want to do. I'll have to put this on a future hike-to-be-completed list (along with the hike up to the lakes along Big Pine Creek.)
The Sony RX100 worked out OK! I think it's good to go for future trips! Also, I tried out an All Trails download of the hike, which seemed to work well. Will need more experience for sure.
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| Aspens, South Lake - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
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| Granite - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
As I said, I've hiked this trail before, even taking a photo of the Bishop Pass / Treasure Lakes sign in 2007.
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| South Lake - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
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| Plants Near Trailhead - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
I've started a hike from this trailhead numerous times before, but usually heading towards Bishop Pass. This time I wanted to try a side trail to the Treasure Lakes.
Also, as a secondary motive I wanted to take more photos using my new Sony RX100m7, trying to get a better feel for it.
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| Marcus - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
Very interesting. First burro I've seen being used as a pack animal (we used to see wild burros driving into Death Valley). Marcus had been caught sampling some alfalfa down near the Salton Sea and had been relocated to a BLM facility. While there he was taught some rudimentary pack animal skills (taking a harness, lifting the hoof for shoeing etcetera.)
Tim, his owner, and Marcus were venturing forth on their first overnight trip, hiking up towards Long Lake. Fun!
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| Tim and Marcus - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
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| Clouds - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
Some clouds arrived high up in the sky that evening, the only ones to make an appearance during my camping trip. Photo taken with a Sony RX100m7.
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| Bishop Creek - Sierra Nevada 2024 |
Taken during one of my early campground walks. I used a Nikon Z7II / 24-200mm lens combo, with the shutter speed set to 1/20th second. I relied on the cameras vibration reduction (image stabilization) to keep the rocks sharp while at the same time blurring the water. Seems to have worked!
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| Tracks, Railroad Buildings - Owens Valley 2024 |
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| Boxcar - Owens Valley 2024 |
I made a quick stop at the Laws railroad museum. Quick, because the temperature was over 90 degrees F (32.2 C.)
Of note: this is the second railroad museum I've been to recently that doesn't have a steam engine on display! ("In the shop.") Annoying.
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| Fourwing Saltbush - Inyo National Forest 2024 |
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| Exposed Cliff - Owens Valley 2024 |
"Fourwing saltbush is one of the most widely distributed and important native shrubs on rangelands in the western United States including the Intermountain, Great Basin, and Great Plains regions."
I walked around the corner on the intriguing desert road and took the plant photo using the Nikon. Then I had to return to the car to retrieve the iPhone so I could go back and get the plant ID.
