Patti challenges us with monochrome photography in this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. Thanks, Patti! Monochrome photography is an interesting way to interpret the scene for a photographer like me who somewhat depends on a splash of color. I’ve had fun with it!
To meet this challenge, I thought I’d share with you a short travelogue of my journeys over the last year. I spend my winters petsitting through TrustedHousesitters, and it’s taken me to some fine, fine places.
What’s Happening Now
I’m currently spending a little time in Colorado. It’s a blast from the past, an opportunity to get back to my roots, revisit landscapes forever held deep in my heart, spend time with family, and heal. I was fortunate enough to land a housesit in Allenspark, in the southwest corner of Rocky Mountain National Park, which made this sweet sojourn with a land I love possible.
I spent a couple of weeks watching the deer and elk in Rocky Mountain National Park, my first mountain home, last month.
Winter On The West Coast
A year ago today, though, I was on the Long Beach Peninsula, Washington State. I was housesitting a very sweet dog and cat in a lovely old home just 4 blocks from the beach. It was wonderful to spend a whole month immersing myself in the Pacific Northwest, an environment I’d never before had the opportunity to really experience.
They call it Long Beach for a reason. You could walk forever.
Long Beach wasn’t my only coastal refuge this past winter. I spent most of the winter on the central California coast. I had a housesit in Monterey
Thank you, Ann-Christine, for such an excellent topic for this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge.
Close-up shots are great for when your subject is very tiny
Butterfly on vetch, Sierra foothills
or when you want to show a lot of detail
Spring in the Tundra
or both.
Lilac Sunbonnet
But what’s really special about close-ups is they allow you to explore concepts that transcend the mere material object, making images that celebrate topics such as color
Pink
texture,
Travertine
or both.
Agate House, Petrified Forest National Park
Good rule of thumb for photography – if you’re having trouble capturing the essence of your subject, just move in closer!
It’s going to be a good flower season this year. The rains have been steady throughout the desert. There’s been a strong El Nino pattern the entire month of February, with one storm after another barreling through. The weather has stayed cool, too. In past years we have seen temps in the 90s by now and strong winds drying out the flowers, causing them to bolt before they really got started. Not this year. It even snowed in Las Vegas, LA, and Tucson, this past week, three towns that very, very rarely see the white stuff.
Bladderpod
What does this mean for the wildflowers? The cool weather and moisture allow the plants time to grow before they bloom. It means more flowers, bigger flowers, and longer lasting flowers eventually, even though in some places they will get off to a late start.
Ocotillo
Not everywhere, though. Some areas are in full bloom now!
Anza Borrego
Anza Borrego is going to have a superbloom kind of year! They got 3 inches of rain in just one storm in mid-February, and the park has been hit by rainstorms every week this month.
Things are already looking fine in some sections, and it’s green, green, green all over the park. With all this rain it’s going to bloom and bloom and bloom. March should be amazing.
Coachwhip Canyon
Right now the place to be in Anza Borrego is the eastern end of the park. Arroyo Salado is in full bloom. The trail to the Calcite Mine just before the eastern boundary is reputed to be THE hot spot for desert lilies right now. My favorite camping area, Coachwhip Canyon, is just plain lovely. Brown-eyed Evening Primroses and Lupines dominate, but there are lots of Spanish Needles, Ajo Lilies, Brittlebush, Poppies, and Sand Verbena, also. Indigo and Wild Lavender bushes are just getting started.
Sand Verbena
Speaking of Sand Verbena, the hills just east of Rockhouse Canyon Road are pink with fields of these flowers. They are, in my opinion, the sweetest smelling flower in the desert and the exquisite fragrance drifting on the breeze is heavenly! Look for the bright red flowers of Ocotillo and Chuparosa throughout Anza Borrego.
The big fields at the end of San Giorgio Road are just getting started. Look for Spectacle Pod, Dune Primrose, Sand Verbena and Lupine here. Although you may find some lilies, it’s still early times. The majority will be blooming in a couple of weeks.
Ajo Lily
If you are into off-road riding, Ocotillo Wells is undergoing a fantastic bloom right now. They got hit by the same big winter storm that set off the east end of Anza Borrego. Good things happening there!
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
The southern end of Joshua Tree is full on right now. I hate to predict a “peak”, as every flower and every area is on a different schedule, but I would say that the southern end of Joshua Tree will be at its best this coming weekend.
Brittlebush
If you can’t make it until March, that’s okay, too. There will still be flowers down south, and the higher elevations of the park will start to bloom then.
Lupines
The lupines are the showstoppers in Joshua Tree right now. They contrast nicely with the golden hues of Bladderpod, Brittlebush, Desert Dandelions, and Desert Poppies. There are tons of at least three species of white evening primroses and lots of chia in full bloom currently. Look for Canterbury Bells and belly flowers like Purple Mat, Desert Star, and Bigelow Mimulus in the washes.
The cactus country transition zone between the Colorado and Mojave Deserts is fuzzy with a carpet of Cryptantha, but it’s still early times here, too. Things are green, green, green, though. I expect this area to pop in March. Goldfields, Brittlebush, and Bladderpod are blooming in Wilson Canyon.
Unusual color variant of Canterbury Bells, almost albino
Joshua Tree got SLAMMED by the storms this month. Currently all the dirt roads in the park are closed due to flood damage. I was in Joshua Tree and Desert Hot Springs during the big Vantine’s rain event. I hadn’t seen flash flooding this crazy since the big October 2015 storm that caused the 2016 Death Valley superbloom!
By the way, if you were planning to check out the Mecca Hills between Joshua Tree and Anza Borrego, bad news. The road is closed due to flood damage over the winter.
Early morning light in Joshua Tree
Mojave National Preserve
It’s looking really green in Mojave. Not much blooming yet, but I’m hoping for good things here as spring progresses. There are lots of lupine blooming on the Amboy Road between Mojave and Joshua Tree.
Death Valley
You may have to look a little harder for flowers in Death Valley this year.
Death Valley’s rainfall is still below average. Don’t expect much from the main valley.
Shredding Evening Primrose
That said, the southern portions of the park HAVE gotten rainfall from this series of storms, and also got some earlier in the year. I saw signs of life on the southern part of the Greenwater Road, the Jubilee Pass area, and the southern portion of the park near Saratoga Spring. I think there will be nice flowers in those areas, but don’t expect a superbloom here this year. For that, you need to travel farther south. The mountains of Death Valley have also received precipitation. There might be some nice things going on higher up in April. A friend in Vegas assures me that Mt. Charleston and Red Rock NCA will pop later this spring.
Southern Arizona
Chuparosa
It’s still early times here. There are a lot of roadside lupine, poppies, and brittlebush, but not much happening yet when you walk into the desert. I’ve seen Desert Star and Chuparosa in the washes. But it’s green. There are an awful lot of plants getting a good start. I haven’t had the opportunity to spend much time in the Arizona desert when it blooms, but people who have say that this year has the markings of a possible superbloom. Bartlett Lake near Phoenix is happening already. For the Tucson area, check it out in about a month. It will be amazing by then.
The flowers are out there this year. Some areas will have a significantly better bloom than others, though. Happy Flower Hunting!
Thanks, Patti, for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. Nature – now that’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart! What a broad category! Where do I begin?
Patti may be a city girl, but I’m a wilderness woman, and my whole life revolves around nature. From the mountains
Denali
to the grasslands,
Steamboat Rock State Park, WA
to the ocean,
Watching the waves in Monterey Bay
from the forests
Mendocino National Forest
to the desert.
Tucson Mountain Park
Immersing yourself in nature means taking the time to observe the little details
Leaf. Lichen and Wood
as well as the big picture.
Death Valley National Park
Water is such an integral part of nature.
Water is life.
Nature is life – from the tallest trees
Redwoods
to the tiniest flower.
Very tall belly flower! Bigelow Mimulus
Nature is animals, from the very big
Bull Elephant Seal
to the very small
The bug is more beautful than the flower!
and all shapes and sizes in between,
Pronghorn Antelope
from the multitudes
Willits feeding on the tidal flats.
to each unique individual.
Snowy Egret at San Simeon
Nature- It will save your soul and make you whole.
As I traveled the Coast Highway last year after California’s record rains, I was amazed by both the beauty and the engineering of this spectacular road.
I had a bad first impression. I was driving through on my way to Death Valley. I didn’t have a lot of time, but I had an hour or two to check it out, see if it was worth coming back to. My sister loved it, said it was the best place for a family vacation ever, better than Disneyland. Other friends spoke of it in reverent tones. I had high hopes.
Wine Glass for a Giant
I traveled down beautiful Oak Creek Canyon. I pulled into a Forest Service parking lot and pulled out my America The Beautiful Pass. This is supposed to be good for all federal public lands, I thought. Not so. My pass was no good here. I wasn’t willing to spend an additional $5 or $7 when I only had an hour to spend, so I went on to Sedona.
The crazy congested confusion of uptown Sedona really freaked me out. Too busy for me! I don’t need this pretentious, expensive, New-Agey town! I spent my spare hour and a half on THAT road trip in Jerome.
But when a listing came up for a housesitting gig in Sedona this fall, I thought I’d give it a second chance. I’m glad I did.
Here a bird, there a bird, everywhere a bird, bird
The Trails
Sedona has the best urban trail system anywhere. There’s so much green space. Big red rocks everywhere. Wherever you are, you’re only minutes away from another incredible rock formation.
And birds. The bird watching is phenomenal here. Everywhere I went – riparian areas, upland forest, desert red rock – there were lots and lots of birds, even in places you wouldn’t expect them.
Crazy Manzanita Tree of Life living sculpture
And the trees. I’ve generally lived in landscapes with a minimum of variety when it comes to trees. If you can learn five species, you’ve pretty much got it covered. Not here.
I fell in love with two new trees. There were the sycamores along the streams. I’d seen a few last year in my travels through southern Arizona, but I really got to know them this time around. My favorite new tree was the Arizona Cypress. The foliage is somewhat like a Juniper, but the bark is something else, shedding in strips and smooth underneath, mottled grey and red. I just had to pet them.
View from a Vortex
They make a big deal about the vortexes here – supposedly places where the Earth’s energy rises up and is accessible, power places. I visited three of the four vortex spots, but they weren’t necessarily MY favorite hikes.
One of my favorite trails was Buddha Beach, renamed the Baldwin Trail. It takes you to Oak Creek with wonderful views of Cathedral Rock. Another was Soldier Pass. You pass by a big sinkhole, Devil’s Kitchen, then up to the Seven Sacred Pools, (they’re tiny), through an Arizona Cypress forest to a couple of arches. Great way to spend a day.
Buddha Beach
Shopping
Yes, it is pretentious. I went to First Friday to check out the galleries, and I thought most of them were overpriced for what they had to offer. I’ve worked art galleries and used to be a co-owner of an art co-op, so I know what I’m talking about. But there are exceptions. The Turquoise Tortoise had good stuff at fairly reasonable prices – for an art gallery, that is.
Sedona is a great place to go browsing in the shops.
There was one gallery that really impressed me. It was the finest art gallery I have ever seen. It’s called Exposures. Yes, you could buy a small house for the price of some of these pieces, but they’re actually worth it. If I were a rock star I’d shop here.
The wind sculptures swirling out in front are what first caught my eye. When you enter the building, be prepared to be blown away. I can’t even describe some of the amazing pieces I saw. They’re, well, ART, plain and simple. A lot of mixed media, abstract, amazing and hard to describe. One artist combines oil painting with crystals. I don’t mean one or two crystals, but whole rafts of them, major mineral specimens making up the shoreline of an ocean sunset, for example. Breathtaking. Another artist creates whimsical sculptures by mixing hand blown glass and metalworking. I’ve never seen so much sheer creativity in one place before.
I really liked Lowell’s shop, Natural Wonders
There are other cool shops mixed in with the art galleries. There’s wonderful hand crafted clothing, neat rock shops, and more. I don’t usually spend much time shopping, but it was fun to check that scene out.
Then there are all the New Age shops. I didn’t have time to look into it, but if you ever want a past life reading this would be the place to get it – or have your aura photographed, or buy magical crystals… you get the idea.
My two week housesit wasn’t enough. I came back and spent another week, then a few more days, then… I know I’ll be back. It seems that I, like many another Sedona visitor, can’t get enough. I’ve been sucked into the vortex.
