On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good morning everyone,
I know I’m not the only one thankful for this submission today. Good luck to all.
Here was the plan..shot a timelapse of the Milky Way rising and then as it faded into the sunrise and take some shots of the Milky Way and some of the nebula near the galactic core with my other camera. When I arrived at Red Rock, the battery on my NX1 was dead(somehow the power switch got switched on), so I used the NX500 to shoot the timelapse while I used the car to charge the NX1(turns out I had a fully charged battery in my camera bag). The NX500 hadn’t had the SD-card formatted so it ran out of space just as dawn was breaking and I had to delete an earlier folder and then ran into a low battery(it’s got a much smaller battery than the NX1). The timelapse turned out reasonably well and I got one shot of the Milky Way with a bit of the Sun’s light at the horizon. I was planning on checking traffic for the drive back to LA and if bad, I’d head north and shoot some pictures of Mt. Whitney. Red Rock is a bit remote and there’s not a cell signal there, so I headed north anyway. I stopped at the Red Hill in Coso and then on to Lone Pine. The view of the Mt. Whitney(the tallest peak in the loser 48 states) was stunning in the morning light. I was thinking of shooting Mt. Whitney though the Mobius Arch, but I wasn’t sure how far I’d need to travel over the dirt road that was already loosening some of my fillings. So I drove back and stuck to the paved road and stopped just short of where the road makes it’s climb up into the Sierra and west to Whitney Portal.
About mid way between Red Rock and Lone Pine, the Red Hill crater looms in front of you as you travel north on US395. It’s a volcanic cone that last saw an eruption about 10,000 years ago.
Looking to the west towards US395 and the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. The lack of snow(we hadn’t had a major storm since December) fueled a pessimism about the prospects of snowy peaks further north.
Once I’d arrived at Lone Pine and found my way to Whitney Portal Road, I pulled over the Prius to get some pictures of Mt. Whitney(center) and it’s surrounding snowy peaks.
Further west of Lone Pine is the Alabama Hills. This area was inhabited by confederate sympathizers during the Civil War and was named after the war ship Alabama. It’s appeared in countless westerns and contains a number of natural arches. Lone Pine Peak is centered in this photo with Mt. Whitney to the right.
I had decided to not travel all the way to Whitney Portal, due to being time constrained and the sign warning that the road wan’t plowed. Actually you can’t see Mt. Whitney from Whitney Portal, the closest view is about a half a mile east of Whitney Portal.
One thing that was impressive about the view on this February morning was how clear the air was. My last trip up to Mt. Whitney in mid-June saw quite a bit more haze even from a closer distance, though the better optics of the camera I was using for this trip might have also made a difference.
Looking southeast, you can see Owens Lake, or what’s left of it after Los Angeles stole the water fair and square.
With Mt. Whitney to the west(out of frame to the left), looking northeast you can see another 14’er, White Mountain Peak, the tallest peak in the White Mountains. From this location you can see 3 14’ers: Whitney, Williamson and White Mountain Peak.
p.a.
Great work as always! Is the snow pack there critical for water tables? What’s the status?
Mel
Such beautiful, calming images. Thanks, as always, for generously sharing your work. Seeing your photos starts my day off on a brighter note.
Baud
Beautiful.
SeniorMoment
Camped at Lone Pine campground back in ’68. We were the only ones there. I’ll never forget how bright the sky was that night and how “milky” the Milky Way looked in such clarity.
opiejeanne
@p.a.: I don’t think the snowpack right there is critical for the whole state. That would be the western Sierras, up near Tahoe. This is the eastern Sierras, generally much dryer that the western side.
opiejeanne
@SeniorMoment: The night sky at June Lake, when there was a power failure, was a revelation. I twas disgusted, thinking it was pollution and my husband laughed at me, realizing that I’d never seen the Milky Way before. I had always lived with so much light pollution that I’d never seen that many stars.
June Lake is farther north, above Mammoth off of 395, on the June Lake Loop. We used to make that drive nearly every summer with the kids, and we’d hike and fish and eat trout for breakfast. It was wonderful. .
opiejeanne
Great pictures, Bill. David climbed Mt Whitney when he was 21, the year before we met. He went with two friends and they camped before the top because two of them had screaming headaches. They were passed on the trail by a woman with a little girl who just breezed up the mountain without a bit of trouble.
I get the screaming headache at about 7500 feet above sea level and require a nap and some painkiller, like aspirin.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@p.a.: Much better, we’re getting January in March, it’s been raining for the last week and a half.
@Mel: Thanks, happy my work helps.
@Baud: Thanks.
pat
“the highest peak in the LOSER 48 states”
Love it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SeniorMoment: I’ve been intending to shoot some night pics up there this year, probably the Alabama Hills and Manzanar.
@opiejeanne: While it’s dryer than the western side, the eastern Sierra is where LA stole the water fair and square.
@opiejeanne: That’s pretty much the same feeling I got when I first went to Joshua Tree a few years ago, the Milky Way looks like a cloud stretching across the sky.
@opiejeanne: Madame and I went up to Whitney Portal about 7 years ago and walked up the trail a few feet, that’s as far as either of us will probably get. The kid and I did the hike up to Mt. Pinos which is a short climb from the parking lot at 8500 feet. No headaches but shortness of breath.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@pat: Hmmm, what the Alaskans would say.
Wag
Great photos, as always!
I think after we finish the Colorado 14er’s, my wife and I will have put our names in for the Whitney lottery. There are another fifteen peaks to add to our list!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Wag: Thanks, happy climbing. White Mountain Peak is a relatively easy “climb” since there’s a road going up there, but it’s a long hike unless you go on the days when they allow you to start from the research station.
JPL
Bill, Your photos always brighten my day.
stinger
Wow. Bill, I really admire the way you find beauty in the cosmos, in the natural features of this planet, and in the “works of man”. Thanks for sharing it all!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Thanks, one of these photos is the wallpaper on one of my screens right now. I’m thinking about heading back there once the weather clears up.
@stinger: Thanks much, I’ll have some more of the cosmos type of pictures once the weather clears up here, we’ve been getting clouds and much needed rain.
J R in WV
Good professional looking work, Bill, as usual.
Thanks for sharing!
JustRuss
@Wag: There’s a Whitney lottery? When I climbed it, i’d just graduated highschool and one of my friends said “Let’s go climb Whitney!” Drove to Portal that night, climbed it the next day. That was, uh, a few decades ago.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: Thanks, and you’re welcome.
@JustRuss: Yup there’s a lottery for permits to camp, if you do it with a day hike(possible but difficult) you can get a permit at the ranger station in Lone Pine.
Dmbeaster
@Wag: if you have decent mountaineering skills, do the mountaineers route from Whitney Portal. Done it twice – a tremendous experience. I backpacked and made it a multi day climb. The permit for that route is a standard wilderness permit – no lottery. The upper part of the climb is class 2-3 – scary only if you have no experience, but if you are doing the Colorado 14ers, it would be no problem. The first day also has a low class 3 section – the Ebersbacher Ledges which is a little tricky with backpacks.
I have climbed it a third time of the trail (backpacked – was guiding a friend’s family with young teenage children and his wife), a surprisingly nice experience. I have climbed most of the California 14ers and lots of 13ers, and Whitney is a nice experience.