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| Hills, Clouds - Point Reyes 2026 |
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| Lagoons, Bridge, Ocean - Point Reyes 2026 |
Changeable weather that day . . . warm sun giving way to foggy mist. At times I wished I had brought a parka.
Top photo taken with a Nikon Z7II. Bottom one with an Olympus E-M1II using a 75-300mm zoom lens.
The bottom photo show both upper and lower lagoons as well as the bridge over them.
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| Oak Branches - Marin County 2026 |
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| Rainbow - Marin County 2026 |
Top photo taken in January, using a Sony RX100. Bottom one in March, using an iPhone.
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| Mountain Trail - Sierra Nevada 2025 |
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| Tree Trunks, Branches - Sierra Nevada 2025 |
"White fingers when cold are typically caused by Raynaud's phenomenon, a condition where blood vessels in the extremities narrow in response to cold or stress. This reduces blood flow, causing the skin to turn white or blue, accompanied by numbness or tingling. When warming up, the fingers may turn red and throb as blood flow returns. To manage this, keep hands warm and avoid cold exposure."
--Google AI
Mike's fingers were turning white due to the windchill, even wearing gloves. Very difficult to adjust the daypack waist belt!
The trail was pretty straightforward in parts: easily walkable going forward or gaining elevation. Some parts had granite steps to climb: strenuous but not that difficult. Then there were the sections that consisted of large rocks being piled on top of one another. Mike's granddaughter would have no problem skipping over them! But not Mike. He studied one problematic flat granite slab and thought to himself "Hm, looks like that could lead to a buttslide." And so it proved. Luckily, he landed on his daypack, so no harm from the slide.
Mike got up and continued down the trail. It took a while for him to realize that his iPhone was missing from his jacket pocket. How annoying! Fortunately he was able to use his Apple watch to find the phone, retracing his steps and pushing the phone location button on the watch until he could hear the iPhone's signal in the distance. There it was, lying on the ground!
Mike finally had to admit that the hike was turning out to be not particularly enjoyable. Time to turn around and head back to the trailhead.
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| iPhone on Ground - Sierra Nevada 2025 |
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| Aspens, Granite - Sierra Nevada 2025 |
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| Aspens, South Lake, Wind - Sierra Nevada 2025 |
I noticed some aspens huddled against a granite wall at the trailhead . . . took a photo using my Sony RX100 (finding it very capable so far - haven't made any prints yet).
It was quite cold, which made me a little apprehensive, what with the wind chill and all. I started off anyway, looking down on the aspens lining South Lake, some leaves still hanging on and the wind rippling the surface of the water.
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| Mountain - Sierra Nevada 2025 |
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| Wind, South Lake - Sierra Nevada 2025 |
I had tried the hike to Treasure Lakes last year (2024), but didn't make it all the way. This time I thought that I should try it again, with an earlier start and sufficient hydration in my daypack.
But . . . the wind! The temperature was in the 40s when I arrived at the trailhead, and the wind whipping across South Lake made it feel much colder.
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| Granite, Mountains - Sierra Nevada 1989 |
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| Storm Clouds - Sierra Nevada 1989 |
All backpacking photos taken using 35mm film (Panatomic-X) developed using fine grain developer. Negatives are slightly "flat." Turns out there's a limit as to how much one can boost the contrast using Photoshop.
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| Shadow Lake, Storm Clouds - Sierra Nevada 1989 |
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| Shadow Lake, Rain - Sierra Nevada 1989 |
The storm didn't last that long. Just long enough for me to get some photos of some threatening clouds and rain on the lake.
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| Kay and Laura, Lake Ediza - Sierra Nevada 1989 |
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| Laura, Kay, Hail - Sierra Nevada 1989 |
My brother Joe had been scheduled to go on the trip, but had to back out due to his old foot injury flaring up. That left his wife Kay, her friend Laura and myself as the remaining backpackers.
We left El Portal, drove through Yosemite and then down highway 395 to Mammoth Lakes. We started hiking at the Agnew Meadows trailhead and had reached Shadow Lake when one of those Sierra cloudburst storm thingies occurred.
So, this was the pre-digital era: there are gaps in the timeline where there's no photo documentation. No photos in El Portal, the drive through Yosemite and so on. Oh well.
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| Road, Rain - Canada 2024 |
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| Trees, Mountains, Rain - Canada 2024 |
Not only rain, but a smattering of hail.
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| Sandstorm, Clouds - Death Valley 2010 |
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| Sandstorm and Clouds - Death Valley 2010 |
It seems that the last time I was in Death Valley was in April, 2010. I was using a Nikon D90 DSLR at the time. I remember being pushed around by the wind as I took some photos of the sandstorm taking place in the valley below.
I guess that I should consider going back, but I'd be worried about the crowds.
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| Campground - Death Valley 2010 |
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| Highway 46 West - Kern County 2024 |
I was following Google's directions to get to Monterey: take highway 5 north, then take highway 46 west to highway 101 in Paso Robles.
I stopped for gas in Lost Hills, then drove on into some quite forbidding clouds. Eventually it started to rain, quite hard at times.
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| Storm Clouds (Ely) - Nevada 2022 |
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| Storm Clouds (Ely) - Nevada 2022 |
Returning from the railroad museum: wow . . . almost looked like the Rapture was approaching.
Top photo taken with a Nikon Z5, bottom one with an iPhone 7 Plus.
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| Parking Log (Ely) - Nevada 2022 |
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| Rain Spout (Ely) - Nevada 2022 |
My initial plan was to spend two days exploring Great Basin National Park, about a one-hour drive from Ely, but the weather forecast caused me to do a rethink. Flash Flood Warnings? Yikes!
I decided to spend my first day in Ely, wandering about. Driving through town I had noticed that there were a number of murals scattered around downtown. And then, of course, the famous train museum.
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| Ely Weather (National Weather Service) |
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| Highway 50, Clouds - Nevada 2022 |
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| Highway 50 Sign - Nevada 2022 |
The smoke disappeared once I got over the first mountain range (the first of several). I've driven highway 50 a number of times before (once making it straight through from Fairfax to Ely) but this time was particularly interesting due to monsoonal clouds arriving from the south - remnants of Hurricane Kay.
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| Trail, Fog - Point Reyes 2022 |
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| Wet Table - Point Reyes 2022 |
I eventually got the sopping wet tent stowed away and the backpack ready to go. The hike out through the fog was pretty uneventful, except for some annoying gnats that kept landing on my glasses. Jeez.
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| Backpack - Point Reyes 2022 |
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| Reeds, Lake, Rain (Lake Lagunitas) - Marin County 2022 |
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| Trees, Ripples, Rain (Lake Lagunitas) - Marin County 2022 |
It's happened before, but still unusual: rain in June. Fun!
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| Redwoods, Rain (Lake Lagunitas) - Marin County 2022 |
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| Hazards Exist (Lake Tahoe) - Nevada 2022 |
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| Aspens (Lake Tahoe) - Nevada 2022 |
We found a parking lot near the lake and walked over to the shore. But only for a moment - the wind chill was pretty fierce. I took a last photo of some aspens before diving back into the warmth of the car.
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| Tree, Lake (Lake Tahoe) - Nevada 2022 |
We wanted to take a short hike in the morning before we returned home, but yikes - the wind chill factor was tremendous. Temperature was in the low 30s . . . that, combined with a stiff wind coming off the lake soon chased us off.
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| Branches, Leaves, Clouds (Fairfax) - Marin County 2022 |
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| Tree, Clouds (Fairfax) - Marin County 2022 |
Recurring subjects. We've had some nice-looking clouds this winter, but no real rain, alas.
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| Ice (Fairfax) - Marin County 2022 |
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| Outside Temperature (Fairfax) - Marin County 2022 |
January 2, 2022. An unusually low temperature: I was able to pick up some ice out of a puddle across the street.
(Twenty-eight degrees Fahrenheit is the same as -2 degrees Celsius.)
