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.
And we’re back to Inyo County today, but this time with BillinGlendaleCA, and a totally different view. The Inyo County Courthouse photo looks like it was taken just for After Dark! ~WaterGirl
On my drive back from my perch to photograph the Palisades I made several stops in addition to the major stops that shared previously. At the turn of the 19th century, the Inyo Mountains were the home of some pretty substantial silver mining activity. A railroad was constructed though the Owens Valley to Carson City Nevada, so I visited some of the stops on the railway as well as the county seat of Inyo County, Independence.

This is the remains of Zurich Station along the Carson Colorado railway just east of Big Pine.

The remains of an old boiler at Zurich Station.

White Mountain Peak is the 3rd tallest mountain in California behind Mt. Whitney and Mt. Williamson.

The Inyo County Courthouse is right along highway 395 so I had to make a stop to get a couple of photos. The building dates from the early 1900’s.

I thought the Inyo County Courthouse would make a nice subject for IR.

These are the ruins of the Cerro Gordo milling plant where the ore from the Cerro Gordo mine in the mountains to the east were processed and loaded on the train at Keeler.

The cemetery at Keeler dates from 1887, most of the headstones bear no markings. I thought this might be good foreground for Milky Way shots.

Keeler is a semi ghost town, it still had a few residents. The eastern Sierra provides a grand background. Mt. Whitney is on the left with Mt. Russel as we move right and Mt. Williamson is just right of center.
Mike G
Love the Owens Valley, you really get in touch with old California.
Highway 168 up to the Bristlecone Pine forest is fascinating, oldest known trees on earth.
There’s a great BBQ place in Big Pine.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mike G: It’s nice up there, I didn’t make it far enough on 168 to head up to the bristlecone pine forest, I wasn’t sure the road was open and I was time constrained(I would have had a better view of the palisades). I think I saw the BBQ place in Big Pine.
Sab
Seriously, I originally thought that old boiler at Zurich Station was a wild turkey.
Maybe time for cataract surgery
ETA Photos are amazing, but we say that every time you post.
scav
OK, That was seriously eerie — recognizing the remains of Zurich Station. A heap of boards and concrete I’ve been to once. But isn’t it grand? The landscape there is glorious. Thanks, especially for the startle!
Mary G
More places I’ve been and loved! I have a question about the courthouse IR picture – did you color the roses pink?? It’s a really nice touch.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Sab: That’d be one big turkey! Thanks.
@scav: I was thinking it’d be a nice foreground for Milky Way pics.
@Mary G: When I take a IR picture, I also take a visual picture and put them together in photoshop to return some of the color from the visual shot. I was really unhappy with the way IR shots turned out with just the IR, everything turned out too blue.
Achrachno
I think you meant Keeler, not Keller.
Wonderfull area. I worked up there long ago, for a whole summer, for the BLM. We were trying to figure out how many cows the land could support.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Achrachno:
You are correct, my mistake. It’s a landscape of contrasts up there; rocky mountains, dry lake and the snow covered sierras.
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: All fixed now!
NoraLenderbee
The eastern Sierra is beautiful. We go to Mammoth. a bit further north, every year to hike in the high mountains. I wouldn’t mind being sprinkled there after I die.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: Thanks, I had always been calling Keller.
@NoraLenderbee: I’ve never been further north than Bishop, and that was a very long time ago.
Tehanu
The sky is so blue in those pictures. I miss that clear air.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Tehanu: Well the IR shot, that’s kind of different…
Part of it is the way I process the shots, I reduce the highlights to bring out the skies. It really helps if there are clouds, it helps bring them out.
WaterGirl
@Tehanu: It seems like the bright blues of the sky are the first things that jump out at me when I look at most of the On the Road pictures lately.
J R in WV
My rockhounding buddy and I went to Colorado in the long ago, and we drove on Forest Service roads over the mountains from one gold mining district to another. Very remote, 4x4x truck loaded with tools and rocks. There were boilers and heavy machinery abandoned on high ridge tops after the mine ran out of ore, was amazing to see against the mountain scenery.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: There are old mines all over the mountains on both sides of the Owens Valley.