The Great 2008 Southwestern Road Trip - IV

I had intended to go through my 2008 Grand Tour quickly, in four days, because some people had already seen these photographs and heard about the tour. Unfortunately I had to take two sick days to recover from some bug. But I woke up this morning feeling fine, my temperature was gone and I even walked a while on my treadmill. Anyway, this post will finish up my 2008 tour, though I reserve the right to post other pictures from the trip in the future.

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My original plan on leaving Zion had been to ignore Las Vegas, and find lodging in California on the edge of Death Valley. Then, drive the length of the valley and cross the Sierras opposite Mono Lake at Tioga Pass. Luckily, I called my friend, Alan, to give him a status report. When I told him my plans, he suggested I check highway closures - he didn't think "the back way" into Yosemite (i.e., Tioga Pass Road) was ever open as early as mid-April, because of snow. A quick check on the Internet proved him right so, of necessity, I decided to amend my plans on the run.

 

I spent the night in the Mojave Desert town of Baker and got a good night's sleep. I left in the dark and got to experience sunrise well out in the desert on the way to Death Valley. As soon as I had a chance, I pulled off the road to take my first shot of the desert. If the theme of my Utah landscapes was texture, the Death Valley theme has to be light. The intensity of the light seemed to increase from sunrise on the east side of the valley until I escaped over the Sierras to Lake Isabella.

 

I took this picture of the dunes because it was the only place I came across what looked like my preconceived notion of "a desert". Of course, that just points out that our notions ought to be flexible enough to occasionally encompass reality.

 

These Joshua trees, which I encountered on the west side of the valley in the Sierra foothills, couldn't have been more beautiful. I crossed out of the desert over to Lake Isabella on CA178 and down into the San Joaquin Valley on CA155.

 

I took this picture couple days later on a drive up to Sequoia National Park. This stream, fed by snowmelt, was between Three Rivers and the Park. Though it was certainly a fine day for photography, it was perhaps not the best season to photograph the Park. Or maybe I was just running out of steam. I was sufficiently disappointed with the number of good pictures I got, that I decided I couldn't marshal the effort required to include Yosemite in the 2008 tour.

 

Still searching for some "special" photographs coming back from Sequoia, when I came to an intersection I simply chose the road that looked more interesting. Wandering about the Sierra foothills in this manner is taxing to say the least. It took all afternoon to get back to Hanford and I didn't hit a straight stretch of road until I got to the valley floor near Orosi. This shot, looks east from Orosi past an orange grove to the foothills with the Sierras as a backdrop.