November 2 -- Goodbye To All That (Owens Valley and the Eastern Sierra), And On To Nevada...

I'd gotten pretty much everything ready in advance for my heading out to Nevada on Sunday the 2nd so I could spend a few hours in the morning to see what the winter storm  had brought. It was the first day of the end of Daylight Savings Time, so sunrise was now around 6 instead of 7am, and it was COLD, probably a bit below freezing in Bishop. I headed northwest on Hwy 395 then headed to the Buttermilks area, rocky foothills of the Sierra that are popular with rock climbers. A dirt road goes through the it, and surprisingly I was the only one out there. I waited until the sun slowly revealed the mountains, then the foothills --

I took a 5-photo panorama of the scene -- 

Considering all the clouds that had shrouded the Sierra the day before, there wasn't as much snow as I'd assumed -- but it was still enough to add to the beauty of the mountainscapes. The rising sun finally came to my location so I "thawed-out" as my hands were getting numb from the exposure, but it was worth being there for the grand, "first winter storm" scenery of sagebrush, Buttermilks, mountains and snow --

The view looking northeast towards the snow-capped White Mountains was superb, too -- 

The sun had lit the entire width of Owens Valley, so I headed east to Warm Springs Road via Sunland Drive, looking west to the Sierra; it's the height of fall colors at the 4,000-foot elevation -- 

Warm Springs Road is a great drive through ranch and sagebrush territory; there are plenty of cottonwoods and other tall trees for perched raptors; here's an adult Red-tailed Hawk, with the snowy Whites as a backdrop -- 

He was too far away for a closeup even for my 500 f/4 lens, which I used here, so I thought putting him in the scenery made for a more effective shot. I also got a photo of him without being behind that branch -- but I prefer this first one -- 

I'd earlier encountered another "RT", thinking he's "hot stuff" ;o) -- 

The views southwest from Warm Springs Road were also grand, with the blazing cottonwoods -- 

Here's a little closer -- 

Looking north towards the Whites, but I like this meandering fence line, with its all-wood posts -- 

And the Owens River intersects Warm Springs Road -- 

The road loops back into Bishop as East Line Street, which I took, heading back to the RV park where I hitched up Discovery to Tundra, and took one last shot of the two before taking off down the road -- 

My home, and welcome to it... :o) I drove north up Hwy 6, fighting a stiff headwind, and came across snow-dusted mountains and standing pools of water along the road all the way to Tonopah, Nevada, a little over 100 miles from Bishop. At Tonopah I stopped off at a Burger King as I was feeling in a "Whopper and fries" mood, and watched folks coming in from their weekend outdoors. There was an old guy there with no teeth, just sucked-in cheeks; helooked like a prospector, or a guy from one of those photos on the last page of the old Life magazine, which would have a caption underneath. Which truck outside was his? The battered Chevy with the oversized red dice hanging from the rear-view mirror? On heading out of town I see a neon sign with the outside temperature at shortly after noon, reading 39 degrees. Well, Tonopah IS at over 6000 feet...Overton's 80 degree-plus, predicted for later in the week, sounds cozily warm...It's tough to pull over on many Nevada highways when you're pulling a trailer, as the shoulders are usually dirt, mixed with glass and debris -- a potential disaster for trailer tires -- and they're usually on a slant, so if you stop you're usually teetering to one side. So you're not encouraged to pull over with a trailer, which is why I missed a probable Golden Eagle hovering just off the highway ( a large wingspan, larger than a Turkey Vulture or Red-tail) and 3 wild horses in scrubby sagebrush just outside of the old mining town of Goldfield. And official rest stops are few and far between and are pretty primitive, usually just a trash can and bare-bones bathrooms. 

I finally spot a rare, paved chain-up area, pull off and take a photo of one of the snowy mountain chains that are all around me -- 

Another random observation -- brothels. I pass 3 that I see on the way south to Las Vegas, including one that advertises in huge letters "NUDE" along with "BIKINIS". Guess you have your choice... I've programmed by portable Garmin Nuvi GPS to guide me to Duck Creek RV Park south of Las Vegas, on the same road where I have my service appointment at Camping World on Monday at 8am, and my British, plummy-toned female "guide" -- I call her "Mrs. Peel", as in "The Avengers" -- guides me through the Las Vegas freeway "gauntlet" with pinpoint precision. I get a back-in spot, plug-in the electrical cord -- and I'm ready to relax at my MacBook Pro laptop after a 340-mile-plus drive. It's now 0319am Monday, and after Camping World I'll head along Lake Mead's Northshore Road and set up house once again at Robbin's Nest RV Park in Overton, where the adventures will continue amidst high-desert scenery...

October 31 and November 1 -- A Day Sans Camera, and A Winter Storm

I can't remember the last time I spent a day without a camera near by, or slung around my neck. I could actually do my "chores" without glancing at the sky, or landscape, or a bird, or wondering what you missed...I dropped by the AAA office here in Bishop to get a current map of Nevada ("and the map of Utah is on the back of it"!) then went to Eastside Sports, an outdoors store, to see if they could fix one of my trekking poles; one of the "telescoping" parts of the leg wasn't extending. The guy said it was probably a lost cause, which I kinda figured, so I bought another set of trekking poles, this time with "clamps" instead of the "twist" type which caused the problem. As I was walking back to Tundra I passed a barber shop, with a barber standing outside, and thought "Why not? I NEED a haircut" so I went inside. I had a chat with K.C. (or Casey, I never found out which), he was originally from South Gate then moved to Victorville and finally came to Bishop 2 years ago to be a barber; he was formerly a teacher. He was hired at the Bishop barber shop by "Moose", a guy who looks anything BUT like a moose, but a repository of things Bishop; he was one of the fellows who put up the historical markers you see dotting the sides of the roads here; the one for the site of Dogtown, just south of the Bodie turnoff on Hwy 395, for instance. "K.C." did a good job on my hair, so I told them I'd be back to see them next time I'm in Bishop -- which will hopefully be next September-October again, chasing fall colors...Then I was feeling hungry, so I stopped by "Amigo's" restaurant for lunch. My new friends Dan and Bev Fenske took me there about a week ago, and I'd have to say it's the best Mexican food I've EVER had. And the chips are fresh and thicker than you usually get -- and the salsa is super, tangy and not too hot. The decor isn't much, but you're there for the food, not interior decorating. I spent the rest of Friday afternoon getting Tundra and Discovery ready for the road trip to Henderson, Nevada on Sunday; I'll be staying at an RV park there for 1 night (as I loathe the freeway system through Las Vegas, which I'll have to maneuver through because Henderson is on the other side of Vegas, I programed-in directions to the RV park in my Garmin Nuvi GPS system) as I have an appointment on Monday at the Camping World, 20 minutes down Boulder Hwy from the RV park, to have Discovery's appliances checked and serviced. Then once Discovery gets a clean bill of health, I'll take the Northshore Road along Lake Mead once again for the way to Overton and Robbin's Nest RV Park, where I spent most of last winter. I'll be spending the next 3 months there...

Now about that winter storm...I had my cameras with me again this morning (Saturday), and on my way to the Vons here in Bishop the storm clouds over the White Mountains were starting to light up from the rising sun...

I think storms are are particularly delightful to photographers, or at least this one, because they can be so dramatic. But it's not easy to capture the contrasts between dark and light -- and the eastern Sierra is famous for its dramatic cloud displays. From Vons I head north up Hwy 395 and take Ed Powers Road south, connecting on Hwy 168 leading to Lake Sabrina. The series of hills called the Buttermilks are lit up by the morning sun, with the Sierra in shadow behind them -- 

The White Mountains are in shadow and the Owens River Gorge in sunlight here -- 

Here's the town of Bishop in the center and the Whites again in the distance -- 

I head up Hwy 168 and see pockets of fall color mixed with the snowy landscape --

I take Hwy 168 as far as the town of Aspendell. I haven't been there for over a week, and was curious as to how the aspen were doing; Aspendell is famous for its aspen displays during fall. Surprisingly, I found a few full-leafed aspen stands there -- 

Here's a particularly photogenic corner, with house, aspen and a dusting of snow -- 

Then I go to the road up south fork Bishop Creek canyon -- 

Looking back down canyon -- 

The snow adds another texture to the landscape -- 

From Hwy 168 I head south on Hwy 395 and stop to photograph a beautiful grove of at-peak cottonwoods -- 

Then I arrive at Klondike Lake, just north of the town of Big Pine. The storm clouds create photo-ops all around me -- 

And Klondike Lake beautifully reflects the sky and sun-dappled mountain -- 

Now it's on the Warm Springs Road, east of Hwy 395 just outside of Bishop --

The sun has been out much of the morning; the afternoon would be another matter. But the scenic drama is if anything intensified by the threatening clouds -- 

Here's the Owens River with the stormy Sierra -- 

Then I head back to Klondike Lake, and try something different -- using the Singh-Ray neutral-grad filter instead of the circular polarizer. What the ND filter does is makes a bright section of the landscape darker, so there are no blown highlights. It's really effective in a storm cloud situation like this, with lots of contrast and light and dark. First, two photos using the circular polarizer -- 

And these next 9 photos are taken using the NG filter over the 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens -- 

It's been another extraordinary day here in Owens Valley and the eastern Sierra Nevada. But my time here is drawing to a close, and tomorrow begins a new chapter in Travels of Discovery...