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...