Fall River Valley in the Snow

Fall River Valley, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Published in the December 2012 Enjoy magazine.

I took this from the bench overlooking the valley.

Geocaching With Katelyn

Katelyn with her first "treasure" find. I took her out this morning to do some geocaching. We found this one but it started raining a little too much right afterwards so we went home and helped Auntie make cakes.

We found the treasure in the hollow log by her right foot. She also found a duck feather nearby.

Ferndale Cemetery and Downtown

Ferndale, CA, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Mary wanted a picture of Ferndale from the hill above the cemetery. I was hoping for drifting, hanging fog in exactly the area it was. I spent an hour and a half in the cemetery while Mary sat in the warm car.

Eight Nights Camping in Nevada & Poop in the Road

One of the larger herds.

Now the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge was created mostly for Pronghorn. The few times I have been there I have seen but few antelope though. One of the hosts told me that after they removed the cattle from grazing there the Pronghorn moved too. Interesting.

There are horses though. Lots of horses as evidenced by the Nevada speed bumps we saw (I'll get to that later though). On our last day we saw at least 200 horses. They were loners, small herds of 2-4, and larger herds of 30+. The horses were curious about us but not very comfortable with us nearby. I did get some photographs of them though. It was funny because both Bruce and I were thinking beautiful, perfect, mighty wild horses, but they were pretty rough with bite marks and mud. Other than that they were healthy looking.

Most of these horses were within three miles of an area around three springs. These were Little Buckaroo, Big Buckaroo, and Porcupine Springs. But, they were sporadic all around the Devaney Springs in a ten mile radius.

These were in the Virgin Valley.

Very healthy looking too.

We pulled up beside a a lone stallion on the passenger side and I gave Bruce the camera. I told him to get some shots. The stallion was just standing profile at the time. Bruce said he didn't know how. I told him to get the horse in the viewfinder, push, and hold the button (I know it's a shutter release, but Bruce thinks it is a button). Anyway, this is what he got. Wonderful.

The best shot of our trip. His tail was sticking straight out too, but the zoom was too tight.

We spent our days exploring tracks that are on old USGS maps and rock hunting. My poor old Samurai was loaded to it's limit with us and our gear let alone a hundred pounds of petrified wood and other rocks. We did bring home our government allotted daily allowance of rocks (+ or - a little). Who carries scales in the desert?

Our biggest perplexity was the strange potty habits of the horses. They poop in the road! There is a lot of poop in the roads. We even watched one lone stallion race us to a spot in the road so he could poop there before we got there. Not kidding, he galloped. I did stop so he could finish his business somewhat undisturbed.

A very large but old speed bump.

Every fifty yards or so there is a speed bump.

Smaller but newer.

Around twelve inches high.

Fresh.

So much for horse poop pictures. I decided they are Nevada speed bumps, they are that big, on roads that don't need speed bumps. If anyone can explain why horses use the road as their toilet please let me know. I'll pass it on to Bruce.

Mare and three mules.

These were Hollywood equine. This mare always had these three mules with her at the same spring. They were also by themselves. On our way back to camp one afternoon I decided to photograph this rock outcrop with it's lichen. These four were nearby on my backside at the spring. After setting up a tripod and camera I noticed them running around us to get in the picture. They first ran from the left to right then turned and ran right back, to make sure I got it I guess. Then they meandered back to spring.

Our camp at Devaney Springs.

Some kind of old mine.

Find the Samurai.

One of the trips we went on took us about thirty miles to get within 1.5 to 2 miles of our camp. On the map it looked like we could make it clear through. Since I'm writing this you can guess we couldn't. We backtracked partly then went up a hill that you shouldn't go up in a vehicle. Especially a very short wheelbase vehicle like a Samurai. We would have been in trouble if Samurai couldn't make it. Like tip over trouble. But, with our weight and the weight of the rocks, tools, etc. we made it. Another fifty miles and we were back at camp. When I say fifty miles I am talking rocky, pounding miles in a stiff suspension, short wheelbase, 4x4. We were beat.

Virgin Creek above Virgin Valley.

Mary's cowboy clouds.

Crack for Virgin Creek above the valley.

Wet spot in the rocks.

Unfortunately it was quite windy and had stormed so I didn't get any colorful sunrise or sunsets. Most days were pretty cloudy. The above four pictures are on our way to Virgin Valley. We did get a shower at the RV park there.

After eight nights we had had enough and came home totally happy with our trip.

Nevada Trip, Spring 2012

First night at Steven's Camp, High Rock Canyon area.

This trip was over a year in the planning which was mostly due to an unexpected postponement of the original date. Now I have delayed posting for over three months.

My brother, Bruce, and I planned to make a week to ten day camping trip in the Nevada desert (which could be anywhere in Nevada I guess). And we were going to tent camp with two vehicles. I wanted to take the Samurai over so we could visit rougher areas than we could take my truck. I have a tent and large air mattress for the back of the truck and Bruce would tent on the ground. Our desire was not to rough it too much but also get into some rough country. We did that.

The truck and Samurai were stuffed with supplies, tools, fuel, etc. A week or ten days is a long time when there will be no stores to replenish our stocks, or get a shower. I towed the Samurai as it is not a fun ride on a long highway trip.

Holey Rocks!

We began our stay near the upper end of High Rock Canyon at Steven's Camp. There was a nice very small stream and poplar trees. It was cold, windy and a tiny bit wet. We tried to time the trip before the desert got hot so we wouldn't need showers as bad or as often (we did sponge bath in frigid water).

It is a pretty cool ride through the canyon, but you do need some clearance. I used low transfer case gears because first gear in high was a little too fast over the rough rocky road.

Spent three days exploring around this area and rock-hounding.  Many of the roads we wanted to explore are now closed off by BLM. It can't be from overuse as they are deplorable (just what we wanted) and we only saw two other rigs in four days. I guess someone decided it is good to shut us out of most of the area.

Obviously the entrance to Yellow Rock Canyon.

Bruce in the emigrant wagon wheel tracks.

A nice overlook of the meadow to have lunch.

Living room size cave. Blackened with fire smoke inside.

Emigrant graffiti with my watermark :) near the cave.

Bighorn sheep, ewes and lambs.

There were at least five lambs.

On the morning we left this camp it was sleeting, raining, blowing, and dusty all at once. We traveled up into the Sheldon Antelope Refuge at Devaney Springs. It was grassy here but no creek. I'll post the rest of the trip soon. Lots of horses here.

Blue Moon (or the day after)

_DSC3103, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

The day after the blue moon. The moon was smoke orange both days though due to wildfires.

Male Hooded Oriole

Male Hooded Oriole, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

I think Redding is almost the far northern limit of the Hooded Oriole. We get them every year. They nest in neighborhood palm trees.

The male is very shy and flighty. He doesn't like to land on props we put up and won't even come around if there is too much extra stuff around the feeder. The female doesn't seem to care all that much.

Two Outta Three

Two Outta Three, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Frank and I spent the evening a couple of nights ago shooting owls. I only got these two of three owlets at one time. To view more owl shots visit my Flickr Photostream.

Owls Too

Great Horned Owl on her nest.

More Turkey Shoot

What Turkey?

Shooting turkey's in Palo Cedro today. They are so common and prolific these days that it is hard to believe they weren't 20-30 years ago. Perfect cloud cover for rich saturated color too.

Lemon Tonic

Lemon Tonic

If you like lemonade, if you like tonic water, try this. Refreshing.

Grape Salad Dessert

Grape Salad Dessert

The ingredients sound strange together, but it is knock your socks off good, extra rich, mostly unhealthy, etc.

Burney Falls in the Winter

Burney Falls

I took this photo a few years ago in December. It had snowed the night before so I thought I might catch a good snow scene at the falls. As you can see there is a little snow on the right side of the falls but definitely not a snow scene.

The area was so contrasty with white falls, light sky, and dark rocks and trees that I decided to try HDR. I also wanted a very high resolution image so I took four overlapping vertical shots at three different exposures each. After combining all these images (12) this is what I got. I also took numerous single shots at various exposures, none of which could render all the contrast.

Usually a photo from this spot, especially twelve exposures is not possible due to mist and spray. I had just the right wind conditions on this morning.

Roaring Creek Falls

Roaring Creek Falls, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.
Garry and I decided not to go to the bottom this trip. Maybe we can talk Frank into going with us and going to the bottom. He has another rope and we might need two. There are two falls on roaring creek (at least). The maps I have don't name them. Garry decided to call this one the lower falls for one obvious reason.

It is a nice falls, similar to Potem Creek Falls, but a little smaller. Not too hard to get to this point, but on down requires a rope for hand holds even without camera gear.

Roaring Creek Falls

Roaring Creek Falls, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Garry wanted to go up and photograph this falls. It was an adventure. Pretty difficult to get to due to berry briars, downed tree branches, huge rocks, slick leaves, steep side hills, and the list goes on. This was the only view I could get to this time of the year. The rocks were too slippery to navigate much closer.

Garry wants to go back with a rope to lower ourselves down the even steeper other side. Then we will have better access to the falls...he thinks.

Blind Bird Photography

I spent the morning with Frank again making birds perch where we wanted them to. It is quite a chore but baiting them helps. Figuring out how to get a bird to pose just right is another problem that is just...well, left up to the bird.

We also have to be sure the background is good. Nothing that looks architectural, even though our lenses do a good job with bokah (blurring the background). Large very light areas are out also as they pull your eye to them and away from the bird.

Shooting from a blind lets us get fairly close (15 to 20 feet) which is where we need to be for these close-up shots.

Here are a couple of keepers from this morning. I posted a few few more on Flickr and Facebook.

An Oak Titmouse on a Sugarpine cone.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Downy Playing Hid-n-Seek

A Downy Woodpecker staying behind the Bark Butter laden pine cone.

Orange Variant - House Finch

This is a nice example of an orange variant, House Finch. Frank always seems to have one hanging around his place. Sibley Field Guide to Birds attributes the variation to diet. Anyway he matches the berries well.

Frank got an image of him trying a berry, but he didn't seem to like it much, and only tried the one.

Token Snow Patches

Mary and I made a day trip on Wednesday up to the west side of Lassen Park. Not actually in the park, but not much over a mile from it's west boundary either. I didn't find one road that I couldn't drive because of snow. Even at an elevation of 6,800 feet at times. There were patches of snow here and there though. Poor Mt. Lassen looks like summer.

Of course we were also geocaching and found most of them we looked for. Big ones like this are easy. It's the film canisters that are easy to overlook. Wish Jack was with us cause there was loot in this big one.

The rock formations up here are quite surprising. We found lots of holes, cracks, and figures. They must be fertile rocks too as there are trees growing right out of the middle of many. It seems to be decomposing granite, but who am I to say.

I found a couple of unobstructed views of Mt. Lassen. Most of the time trees block part of it. Might be good for an evening shot with the right clouds, etc.

I plan on going back for more exploration in the summer. The winter days are just too short and usually to deep with snow up there.