Tag Archives: conditions

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Progress Report: Part 2 of the Death Valley Posts

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Recently I posted the first part of my report on photographing in Death Valley. At that time I mentioned that while I had originally envisioned a single post, the subject had grown so large that I decided to split it into two sections. I noted that I hoped to post the update soon.

I’m still digging away on this project, and part 2 is now probably about half way completed. I’m currently working on the section about the Racetrack Playa. It looks like this will perhaps be the largest section of the report – the Playa is such an interesting place and there is so much to say about it. In the meantime, anyone considering a photo trip to the Racetrack might find some earlier posts of mine to be interesting and useful:

The last one may be one of the most important to read if you are visiting the Playa this season. While I don’t know the current conditions on the playa, there are a few things that I do know.

  • The Valley just experienced tremendous rains that have left pooled water in areas of the park and washed out a number of access roads.
  • A “playa” is a formation created when heavy rains wash silt-filled water down from surrounding mountains and flood a lower basin. The implications of the previous sentence should be obvious… ;-)
  • Even if you can get to the playa, walking on its surface when it is wet is tremendously destructive. Tracks last for many years once the playa surface dries. If you visit when it is wet, please show some restraint and respect for the hundreds of visitors who will follow you – STAY OFF THE PLAYA IF IT IS WET.
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Tioga Pass and Alternatives as Winter Approaches

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Lots of us northern and central California photographers make trips to the eastern Sierra in the summer and fall – I know that many of you have been there in the past month to photograph aspens and other fall color. For many of us the standard route to the “east side” is through Yosemite National Park and over Tioga Pass on State Highway 120 to Lee Vining and the area near Mono Lake. From here it is a short drive south to Mammoth (about a half hour) and Bishop (an hour) and points south, including Big Pine, Independence, and Lone Pine.

As the fall season arrives and winter weather approaches, Tioga Pass becomes a less reliable route and eventually closes for the season. The seasonal closure typically occurs sometime in late October or in November, though the historical records show that it has happened as late as January 1! Continue reading Tioga Pass and Alternatives as Winter Approaches →

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Winter arrives in the Sierra?

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A few years ago I did what was a traditional end-of-season backpack trip out of Tuolumne Meadows on the last weekend during which the NPS permits overnight parking on Tioga Pass road – this is typically on or just before October 15. It was a beautiful weekend with – as I always hope for in October – pleasant, sunny conditions and beautiful light.

The following weekend a backpacking buddy who had been unable to make that trip tried his own end-of-seasons visit, hoping to wander up into the Twenty Lakes Basin area just east of Tioga Pass. He arrived late and rolled out his bivy sack at the small campground by the lake right below Tioga Pass… and woke up the next morning with more than a half foot of snow on top of him and more on the way. He scrambled out of his bag, got into his car, and managed to get out just before the road was blocked. He liked to say that he was there for the switch from fall to winter… literally.

It sounds like something similar may happen over the next 24 hours. From all reports, one of the biggest October storms that we’ve seen in California in decades may be sweeping through tonight and tomorrow, bringing heavy winds, a lot of rain, and the potential for some significant snow at the higher elevations.

The folks at the Dweeb Report (interesting source of Sierra weather info) include an ominous sentence in their most recent update: “WINDS WITH THIS SYSTEM OVER THE CREST COULD REACH BETWEEN 120MPH AND 140MPH OVER THE CENTRAL SIERRA.”

Of course, you knew this was leading to a comment on aspens, right? Given the rather strange conditions for aspen color this fall, somehow it doesn’t seem at all surprising that the storm might bring down a good portion of the remaining leaves!

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Plans Change

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I had originally intended to hit the road this afternoon for points east of the Sierra crest for another round of aspen color (and other subjects) photography… but I changed my mind within the past 48 hours or so. Why? Several reasons, actually:

  • Folks who are currently in the eastern Sierra and whose reports I follow are saying that the aspen color situation is still a bit difficult this season. As I expected, the highest groves are mostly devoid of leaves at this point and, oddly, many of the lower level groves have not shown signs of great color yet either. I’m not at all certain that another drive up there today would gain me better opportunities than I had during the past few weeks.
  • With that in mind, the idea of another 600-800+ miles of driving is a bit less attractive (to put it mildly!) than it might otherwise be.
  • I want to find some time to more thoroughly go over the aspen and other photographs that I’ve made during the past few weeks – so far I’ve only had a chance to “pick off” the most obvious keepers, and I know there are others there that require a closer look.
  • I want to make some prints this weekend!
  • I want to attend a concert this weekend at which the orchestra (of which my wife is a member) performs a few favorite pieces.

So, with all of this to consider, I’m going to put far less mileage on my car this weekend – though I may just make up for it the following week!