SC's Easter Break
Once again my crew and I ventured north from the Los Angeles basin into the Owens Valley for a little rest, relaxation, and decompression time. We made camp at the north end of Owens Lake, near the community of Lone Pine. Nestled between the mighty Sierra Nevada on the west and the high, desolate Inyo Mountains on the east, we found the valley in the most advanced state of hydration we've ever seen. Wild flowers abounded, butterflies by the ton filled the air, and Owens Lake actually had water in it! Last year at this time it had been dry as an old skeleton. This is no doubt due to the exceptional rain season we had this year in soCal, the second wettest season on record, and it isn't over yet. The snowpack is over 200% of normal in the eastern Sierra (according to our friends at the USFS), and many roads into the higher elevations were still closed not by locked gates but snow drifts larger than our trucks.
Much of the time we were there the wind blew, yet we managed to find some dust-free days none the less. The background image of this page was taken by my son Adam from within the city limits of Lone Pine. It is one of the best pictures I've ever seen of the Sierra in early spring.
Please note that all images on this page are copyright © Paul J. Lorona, 2005.
Permission to use must be obtained in writing prior to use.
A panorama of the eastern Sierra taken by my son Adam from the Alabama Hills just west of Lone Pine. Precise location uncertain (I wasn't with him), view is to the northwest. Mount Whitney is visible as the last peak to the left of the rocky hill in the middle foreground, it's elevation of 14.495 feet (4417 meters) above sea level makes it the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States (the "lower 48"). The peak stands fully ten thousand feet above the elevation my son was at when he took this picture.
A better picture of Mount Whitney, also taken by my son Adam. Whitney is the right-most peak in the group of sharp, needle-like crags in the upper center of the picture. The needle-like crags are, in fact, known as the Keeler Needles, and sit on the southern flank of Mount Whitney. View taken from the Alabama Hills, just west of Lone Pine.
The cemetery at Keeler, on the east side of Owens Lake. Forlorn and forgotten, the majority of the few markers still evident were weathered beyond legibility. As may be seen, however, there were a couple new marble markers, obviously placed relatively recently by loving next of kin for forebears that had passed on over a hundred years ago after leaving their imprint on the Inyo Mountains. There were approximately four times as many graves as there were markers, most of them were simply piles of rock. The keen of eye may note the switchbacking trail high on the crest above the cemetery, this is in fact the Cerro Gordo mining district, over four thousand feet above the town of Keeler in the southern Inyos. Located at 36-29-13N, 117-51-59W, the view is looking northeast.
Independence, California, viewed from the 7000 foot level in the foothills of the eastern Sierra. The Inyo Mountains rise in the distance with Mount Inyo the most prominent peak at 10,770 feet (3385 meters) above sea level. View from the Onion Valley Road looks due east from 36-47-49N, 118-18-31W. In the approxmate center of this picture, directly above the center of the town of Independence in the low foothills, is the point from which the image of Kearsarge Peak was taken.
You know me, I always have to have one of these in any album I put together, the requisite coyote picture. This was taken by my son Adam at the location described in the picture above. It looks up the steeply inclined snowfield that stopped us on the shoulder of Kearsarge Peak. Perhaps five hundred feet above us and a quarter mile off, one of my kids spied this little lady on the hunt. She seemed well fed and not particularly concerned about our presence, which included our friend Clancy. She moved casually but purposefully across the snowfield from south to north, we finally lost sight of her in a rock outcropping. Adam was at maximum optical zoom with this image, which on his camera is 6X.
The mighty Sierra Nevada rising above the tiny community of Independence, California, in the heart of the Owens Valley. The tallest peak is Kearsarge Peak, elevation 12,618 feet (3846 meters) above sea level, which places it fully 8,500 feet above Independence. Onion Valley is to the left of Kearsarge Peak, we attempted the road up to this location but were thwarted in our efforts by deep snow at the 7000 foot level. Photo taken from the foothills of the Inyo Mountains at 36-48-22N, 118-04-54W, looking due west.
My Fox and our buddy Clancy overlook the Sierra from the tiny ghost mining camp of Reward at the bottom of Eclipse Canyon in the Inyo Mountains. My father is below standing in front of his Grand Cherokee. On this day the wind was blowing, attempting to drive a weather front across the Sierra. To their west rain was falling, we heard. This picture was taken by my daughter Katie. and looks a bit south of due west from 36-44-48N, 118-03-10W. The site of the Manzanar Relocation Camp (a bit of dubious history from World War Two) is in the distant valley below. The image belies the ruggedness of the terrain, the rock my Fox sits on is in a road with a slope of about twenty degrees. Behind Katie the Inyos rise over six thousand feet in less than three miles of horizontal distance.
The Panamint Range rises in the background in this view taken from a low pass on the east side of Lower Centennial Flat. The Panamints border the west side of Death Valley, the highest peak is Telescope Peak at 11,048 feet (3443 meters). On the other side of this peak is Badwater Basin, which contains the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet (88 meters) below sea level. The highest air temperature ever recorded in the United States, and perhaps the western hemisphere, was recorded 10 July 1913 in Death Valley, 134 degrees Farenheit (56.6 degrees Celsius). The low hills in the foreground are the Argus Range, the tiny mining camp of Darwin is out of the picture to the left at the base of them. This view taken from an un-named pass at 36-15-53N, 117-39-04W looking almost due east.
My son Adam and I, at the same location described above. In spite of the bright sunshine and "deserty" appearance, it was somewhat cool this day, air temperature in the middle sixties and a good breeze blowing. Image taken by my daughter Katie.
Katie getting her pictures. The woman in the background is my mother. Same location as the previous two pictures.
Lower Centennial Flat. Located just north of the northern perimeter of the China Lake Naval Weapons Center gunnery range, this small valley is bordered on the west by the Coso Range and on the east by the Argus Range. The eastern Sierra dominates the background. Not visible here, the view looks northwest towards Owens Lake and the community of Lone Pine. Precise location unknown, I believe this was at 36-15-09N, 117-40-21W.
Guarding the beast. My buddy Clancy taking five while wondering what Im doing. The sharp rock and various cacti and brush spines proved to be hard on his paws. By the end of the third day of scampering about the countryside he was getting to the point of being the armchair traveler, preferring to keep his nose out the window instead of running around himself. He presented himself well for a pooch of 14 years, he's as much of an old desert rat as any of us.
We had a good time, in spite of some recalcitrance on the part of the beast and my Fox coming down with a touch of the flu for a day.
I included geographic coordinates for those of you who might be interested in venturing to some of these areas. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line.