On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether youāre traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
BillinGlendaleCA
About 2 miles from Barker Dam is Hidden Valley, a small valley surrounded by tall rock formations. In my many visits to the park, I’d never hiked the one mile nature trail that loops though the valley. It begins at a break in the rocks that legend says that Bill Keys blasted through the rock to open up the valley to graze his cattle prior to FDR declaring the area a national monument. Whether this is true or not is in dispute, but the valley does have an isolated ecosystem apart from the rest of the park.
Wide shot of Hidden Valley from the entrance at the east.
Rock face in the valley, this area is popular with rock climbers.
Cholla Cactus which is usually not found is the western part of the park.
A rock monolith with some Aerochrome emulation during processing.
Flower on a cactus.
A flower growing between the rocks.
Notice the people about half way up this rock.
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sab
I love that cholla cactus.
As an Ohioan used to grayness, those intense blue skies make me very nervous.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@sab: I usually use a polarizing filter on my camera that makes the blues a bit darker, as well as a setting when I process the photos that bring out more color(especially the blues).Ā Ā But, in this case, I didn’t use a polarizing filter since I shot all of these with my cellphone.
Wanderer
Beautiful photos
Baud
?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Wanderer: Glad you like’em.
@Baud: Thanks.
JPL
Fantastic pictures.Ā Ā What type of cellphone do you have?
sab
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It’s not your photography. It is the actual blue skies. Extremely rare in my life.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
@sab: Blue skies can be rare here in the basin, but once you get out in the desert…
AxelFoley
Ah, so this is where that salad dressing comes from…
Beautiful pics as always, Bill.
Another Scott
Thanks, Billin. Your photos and stories are always a treat.
Also, too:
(via IamHappyToast)
Cheers,
Scott.
Torrey
Just wanted to join in to say how much I appreciate your pictures (and those of the others whose pictures have been posted in OTR). They are absolutely stunning and provide a much-needed lift in these difficult times–a brief virtual get-away with the morning coffee.
JustRuss
@Torrey:Ā +1
Munira
I love the flower growing between the rocks. Hopeful, somehow. Thanks for all your photos.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@AxelFoley: I think the salad dressing comes from the Hidden Valley south of Thousand Oaks.Ā Glad you liked the pics.
@Another Scott: Thanks, as long as the elephants stay out of photography, I’m good.
@Torrey: I’m glad you enjoy them.Ā While I’m pretty much limited to how far I can drive to shoot, so mostly southern and central California, I do try to find the unusual places that most don’t go.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JustRuss: Thanks,
@Munira: It’s actually pretty common, the rain gets down there and the desert heat doesn’t dry it out.