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2023 Trip Chronicles: Contents
Carrizo Plain National Monument 4/20
Carrizo Plain National Monument 4/21
Carrizo Plain National Monument 4/22
Carrizo Plain National Monument 4/23
Cottonwood Creek Canyon 4/24
After returning home on April 15 from the road trip to the SR166 area, I immediately began monitoring weather reports for the next period with light breezes and sunny skies. Thus 5 days later on Thursday April 20, 2023, drove 250 miles south again down I5 and SR33 to Taft arriving mid afternoon. At a Lucky's supermarket phoned an old photographer friend D who was at the time in the Barstow area. D had began driving from Grand Junction, Colorado the day before so had been on the road all day. He is also the person on my 2019 Trip Chronicles Carrizo Plain pages that also went with me into remote Temblor Range badlands canyons back in 2007. We hatched a plan to meet up later in the afternoon at Klipstein Canyon. After obtaining perishable food supplies, gas, and ice from the supermarket and enjoying some fast food, I began a long exploratory road tour on paved SR33 that would include dirt Hurricane Crocker Springs Road, Elkhorn Road, Elkhorn Grade Road, Soda Lake Road, then back to SR166. At the Temblor Range crest, are crest spur roads that route both north and south along summit areas.
Dirt Hurricane Crocker Springs Road from the east was easily negotiable for 2WD but the primitive roads along the crest are often closed and this day that was the case for the road south. The ELPH190 image at right is from the Hurricane road summit junction northward. It also shows other people parked at frame right at a pull-out on Hurricane Road. I took the narrow road north that was ok over the first half mile but then not only becomes low wheelbase 4WD at spots with big ruts, but in a few scary places drops off steeply with few places where two vehicles might pass. A couple were legally tented at the half mile point as that is one of the few areas on the east side of the park where one may legally do so and were the only people I saw along that scary crest road. Beyond that I carefully drove several miles to the end while hoping I would not be confronted by any vehicles in the opposite directions. These crest areas of the Temblor Range between 2200 and 3500 feet were significantly more lushly green and flowery than areas below indicating they indeed often received higher precipitation. Peering over the edge down west showed, those areas had less wildflowers than during my 2017 work as I had expected from my earlier April 5 road trip.
Back at Hurricane Road crest, the descent section west was in worse shape than the section to the east though easily negotiable in my 2007 Subaru Forester. At the dirt Elkhorn Road junction I turned south beginning a long dusty 20 miles within Elkhorn Plain to the Elkhorn Grade Road junction that I had never before driven beyond the first half dozen miles. Elkhorn Plain on the west flank of the southern Temblor Range, is about 500 feet higher than the much larger Carrizo Plain. Its west edge is a badlands fault scarp. slightly hilly. Disperse camping is legal a bit east via a few dead end primitive spur roads. Just a mile south, landscapes suddenly became much more lushly green for a few miles but beyond were less so though much tall fiddleneck. The image at right shot after 6pm shows a nice zone of Bentham lupine in one of the sandy wash channels with goldfields, Mojave suncups, thistle sage, and white fiesta flower. Great future spot for early morning close-up work. Four miles north of the Elkhorn Grade Road junction, lush green flowery zones increased with aesthetic smooth badlands hills east in another limited zone of apparent higher storm precipitation.
Despite driving faster than I wanted in order to meet up with friend D at Klipstein, I stopped to work this one spectacular single frame image at page top of dual peak 3505. As it turned out, that was important because it turned out to be one of the two strongest images of the spring. The broad plain of foreground fiddleneck that sun bleach yellow quickly, apparently just bloomed because they were exceptionally orange. And the 3505 dual peak is easily the most aesthetic smooth rounded peak or hill I've yet seen in the Temblor Range. All the wildflowers on the peak were also obviously just then at spring peak. Thus my long exploratory drive was valuable as we would return and spend two days thereabouts. Notice how perennial bushes like saltbush crowd the bottom of the hills where water drains off.
Further south at the Elkhorn Road junction amid lush seep zones, were several vehicles with visitors walking out into a large expanse of dense purple valley phacelia. At the junction, I turned southwest on Elkhorn Grade Road that tediously climbs over the Elkhorn Hills and would be a difficult effort with 2WD. That eventually reached paved Soda Lake Road where many vehicles were going in both directions. That is the main north south road in the monument. From there I was soon at SR166 then south on Cerro Noroeste Road and a bit after sunset down east into Klipstein Canyon Road. At the bottom, did not find friend D, but he did arrive about 15 minutes later whereupon we parked to overnight, looked at maps, and made plans.
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We were up at dawn Friday April 21, 2023, and immediately drove back up to the top of the canyon into warming morning sun where we organized gear. My plan was to morning visit new areas near where I'd explored April 14, and in the afternoon return to the Elkhorn Road areas. Well the morning was a long hike through shin to thigh vegetation but aesthetics were modest. Near morning end, I did work the above single frame subject where I had explored the previous week. Note how just a few days of dry sunny mid April weather changed slopes to a more brownish dry less aesthetic look. Foreground of purple owl's clover, castilleja exserta, fiddleneck, lacy phacelia, chick lupine, with backgrounds of hillside daisies, California poppy, eschscholtzia californica, silver bush lupine, lupinus albifrons, Parry's mallow, desert pincushion, chaenactis fremontii, globe gilia, gilia capitata.
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A bit ragged, back at our vehicles, we drove back to Elkhorn Road and the impressive 3505 peak zone I'd visited Thursday. Before working any subjects, I wanted to make sure we would have a legal location to overnight in that zone of Carrizo Plain National Monument per its map, so first drove out on one such spur road. Back in front of the peaks about 5pm, I walked out about a quarter mile and worked the above subject, with common fiddleneck, amsinckia intermedia, and a V pattern of hillside daisies, monolopia lanceolata, in the foreground and on the peaks also Parry's mallow, desert candle, and lacy phacelia, phacelia tanacetifolia. The actual 3505 summit is the more level peak in the back of the intervening ravine.
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To the west of dirt Elkhorn road within Elkhorn Plain are the Elkhorn Hills and Elkhorn Scarp that drops down to Carrizo Plain proper. Just west was a low rise that I climbed up and over that showed areas of dense goldfields, cream cups, and a few Stanislaus milkvetch, astragalus oxyphysus. I thus worked the above 3 column stich blend wider image with my 30mm lens. Light for that west facing subject was likely a bit more vibrant an hour earlier. Instead of any more, I drove back to our supposed camp spot only to find a young couple with their dog just setting up a tent. So instead drove back down that spur road and fashioned out a spot within the dense vegetation to park. A half hour later D joined me as I cooked some Campbell's spaghetti and meatballs on my backpacking stove. One usually great thing about being out at this time of spring is there are few insects about. However this evening, after a bit playing around with my bright LED lamp walking down the road, a few large mosquitoes likely from the valley phacelia seep down the road, began visiting that had we two soon into our vehicles.
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With the rising sun blocked by the Temblor Range to the east, we didn't need to rise quickly on Saturday April 22, 2023. But before sunshine reached our area, I did want to work some close-up subjects, especially since breezes were still near calm. We were parked next to an uncommon desert candle, caulanthus inflatus, patch on the plain that usually only grow on hillside slopes. I looked about for a plant I could place up against the blue sky that required making a bomb hole next to it in the annual vegetation so I could get low prone on a small plastic sheet. These extraordinary plants with hollow candles and purple flames are common on Temblor Range badlands slopes. I used my 32 inch collapsible diffusion disk in front of the low angle sun at 7:50am.
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My second subject above at 7:45am was a chick Lupine, lupinus microcarpus, plant with 3 spikes, that tend to colonize dry south facing hills. Behind the wildflower are dried browning gone to seed non-native filaree that likely bloomed in February after the heavy January rains while natives stayed dormant.
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On the small hills to our north were scattered dense patches of just risen California goldfields, lasthenia californica. Often one comes across such dense patches with islands of other wildflowers within. In this case there are drying, gone to seed filaree throughout the frame including under the goldfields, however for some reason they are scarce at center where soil chemistry allows other species to dominate.
By 8:30am, I had exhausted subjects in our camp zone so packed up gear and was soon on Elkhorn Road driving south a short distance to work the Temblor Range peaks. After parking, I walked out about two-thirds of a mile through the shin to thigh tall fiddleneck to the base of the Temblor hills. About a half mile out, I managed to walk right across where a fat Northern Pacific rattlesnake, crotalus oreganus, was down in the plants. The startled snake instantly rattled its bony tail and made threatening hissing sounds as I stopped a few feet beyond and looked down to what was there. Ah... there you are, as I put my daypack and big tripod down then pulled out my small Canon ELPH190 to snap off 3 crude shots. Note its black forked tongue from a diamond shaped head. A key reason I wear heavy hiking boots and relatively impervious heavy cotton jean material Levi 505's that are nearly identical to their classic 501's but with a zipper fly. There were certainly enough rodents about this section of the Elkhorn Plain to make an easy living at least during wet years. Walking through the tall plants one cannot see much down into, one is regularly stepping into ground squirrel entrance holes. In past years, had previously encountered a large rattlesnake crossing Soda Lake Road so was aware they were always about.
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Reaching the base of the foothills not in any rush, I climbed up on a rib to at 10am work this above 4 column focus stack stitch blend of 11500 by 5900 pixels. The unaesthetic fatigue green lower frame areas are fiddleneck and saltbush. Further back on the hill slopes are hillside daisies, the beautiful magenta hued Parry's mallow, eremalche parryi, lacy phacelia, San Joaquin blazing star, mentzelia pectinata, desert pincushion, globe gilia, and desert candle. Note the sedimentary bands and high hazy clouds. Due to the northwest to southeast southern Temblor Range orientation, these slopes during late April at 10am PDT are require the sun to rotate around further south gaining altutude before vegetation becomes reasonably aesthetic and are even better about 4pm.
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By this time, D had also arrived at the base of the hills. I climbed up a gully and then up its steep sides in order to frame a dense area of tall desert candle against a background of light purple Parry's mallow. In the foreground are the ubiquetous hillside daisies, with a few filaree, lacy phacelia, and fiddleneck mixed in though more prominent in the background. From a distance, desert candle areas on slopes tend to be muted light greenish yellow color. The unusual plant stems are hollow. Near the ridge line, most of the orange areas are San Joaquin blazing star, but the lowest patch are more saturated California poppy that tend to be much less common north of Hurricane Road.
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At 10:30am, I worked the above 30mm lens 2 column horizontal stitch blend with a foreground of San Joaquin blazing star mixed in with drying brown filaree and fiddleneck, with prominent Miocene marine sedimentary bands frame right. These neocene deposits were from shallow seas full of life intruding all the way into the San Joaquin Valley before the Coast Range rose up. That life then produced oil that dominates industry east of the Temblor Range crest. An interesting subject that shows how even though most herb species were at peak, others depending on exposure were well passed peak. And I was quite aware this was aesthetically weak due to the foreground while sometimes work such subjects of interest personally as they tell a story.
Back at our vehicles, we drove north then out on an obscure dirt spur road on Elkhorn Plain where we spent mid day relaxing, eating lunch, and walking about its flowery landscapes.
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After 4pm, we drove back south on Elkhorn Road, then hiked out into the vast fiddleneck fields. At 4:40pm, the above shows an impressive colorful Temblor Range zone of peak 3402. I moved back from the slopes enough to fill this frame. The bands of dense fiddleneck appear like ocean waves. Also hillside daisies, Parry's mallow, lacy phacelia, San Joaquin blazing star, California poppy, desert pincushion, globe gilia, desert candle. Tall California mustard, gullenia lasiophylla are mixed in with foreground fiddleneck.
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With sunlight now best for vegetation at 4:45pm PDT, I quickly moved further north a bit for optimal off axis shadowing of erosion gullies and color saturation of peak 3505, to work the above 2 horizontal stitch blend 10000 by 3900 pixels with my 30mm lens. The image includes fiddleneck, San Joaquin blazing star, hillside daisies, Parry's mallow, lacy phacelia, California poppy, desert pincushion, globe gilia, desert candle, California mustard.
Ideally I would have used my 56mm that would have provided a bit more height of blue sky, however that might have required 4 or 5 vertical frames to blend with many more shots plus the modest breeze made firing off shots waiting for momentary calm, slow. Although conventional photography thinking would be that even later in the afternoon might capture the landscape more aesthetically, such is not true though may be for an on axis subjects. Working this colorful subject later in the afternoon would create dimmer, less color saturated flower color because leaf and flower vegetation are transmissive subjects in which light radiates out from inside translucent plant tissues. Likewise, that is why working off axis subjects too early during mornings when sun altitude is low is also less effective.
Note the telephone poles and their wires in the blue sky at frame left showing how sharp the Sigma 30mm F1.4 prime lens is even at frame edges. I set up to shoot a couple more subjects but bailed on each after too few focus stack shots, due to the breeze. For the overnight, we thus drove back a few miles to where we had enjoyed our mid day.
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On Sunday morning April 23, 2023. I rose at sunrise in order to hike up a nearby hill with a large patch of desert candles. Like the subject from Saturday, I again found at 7:10am a candle I could image up against blue sky. With this desert candle, caulanthus inflatus, above a bit further away from my lens, was able to include 3 candles. Note the more distant out of focus candles at frame bottom. I always leave such elements in my photographs regardless of whether that affects aesthetics. Next I tried working the field of candles up against the sky but gave up due to rising breezes so went back to my car and completed packing up. D and I then drove off to another dense patch of flowers up the road.
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Within Carrizo Plain National Monument there is a large field of Bigelow coreopsis, coreopsis bigelovii, just south of Soda Lake along the Simmler Road levee. The species is often confused with the similar looking most abundant yellow hued sunflowers, hillside daisies. Outside of that field, the species tends to be uncommon. However, along our overnight road was the above dense patch mixed in with fiddleneck on a slight slope that just behind also had a dense patch of cream cups, platystemon californicus. Except cream cups close late afternoon then don't open till later morning and it was just 9am, so all were closed up tightly into round oval balls. Well except for a few open flowers at frame lower right bottom. The cream cups were so dense that their little round forms were however an aesthetic element. By tripoding back a ways, was able with my 56mm lens, to put the top of the slope up against a nice on axis blue sky to the northwest.
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By 10am we had driven back south to the peak 3505 area. I hiked way out to the sandy wash draining the south slopes of peak 3505. At 10:45am began working the mediocre subject above. Slopes with fiddleneck, filaree, and saltbush despite having lots of small flowers, has a poor ratty aesthetic that views worse with downsizing. But that was all I had to work with in order to capture the towering colorful wall of wildflowers up close that help tell the story of these unique landscapes.
Most of the year, the ugly saltbush, a perennial sagebrush species (a few sub-species in the monument), is the only green plant alive in this very arid, hot, waterless, environment. Further west is dominated by Morman tea. These arid species provide year long shade for animal estivation species living under their foliage and food for species like tule elk and pronghorn. Such steep badlands slopes are difficult to climb because there is much small crumbling debris that act like ball bearings atop the otherwise hard sandstone Miocene marine sediments. All the colorful wildflowers are annuals that die after their seed cycles end, leaving unaesthetic brown dry landscapes that by fall have mostly collapsed on the barren nearly soiless ground.
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After looking at a number of other near slope subjects, I moved further out into the plain wash and found the above nice foreground subject of hillside daisies with a small patch of desert candles. From there, the full nice curving aesthetic of the south 3505 peak was optimal. A major negative was the dried filaree and fiddleneck slope just beyond that had likely risen after the large January storms and then during a dry February, had gone to seed. Of course, a reason the daisies are in the wash is because seeds from higher slopes are carried down those paths during storms. In any case, I had several strong photographs of this exceptionally scenic portion of the Temblor Range, so it was time to move on.
The previous evening, D and I had decided after working these Temblor Range slopes during morning, that we would drive southwest out of the monument then west on SR166 to Cottonwood Creek Canyon. We thus arrived a couple hours later in early afternoon at the stream crossing and then enjoyed a few relaxed leisurely hours setting up a car camp. We also enjoyed getting into the pleasant luke cool stream waters, washing much Carrizo Plain dirt road dust off our two Subarus, eating from our well stocked food supplies, and hiking about for best subjects we might work the next morning. During the road trip, I carried about 4 gallons of water that makes waterless road trips far easier. Generally the week of dessicating sun had considerably changed for the worse, landscapes away from the near stream flood plains that shows again how, critical it is for California spring wildflower photographers to time their visits correctly along with having a fair amount of luck.
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Without blocking mountains to the east, the sun rises early on landscapes in this area. Thus we were up early on Monday morning April 24, 2023. As the edge of sunlight crept down the east facing slopes of Cottonwood Creek Canyon, I set up to photograph using the blue skylight, a dense mix of flowers in the flood plain, just before actual sunlight would reach the area. That was in order to capture the plants without harshness and usually poor low angle sunlight illumination. Fortunately, it was also near dead calm but expected that to quickly change once the capped cold pool of air in the shallow canyon warmed. Among the mix of species that makes this canyon a California botanical treasure are tall blue hued Bentham lupine, lupinus benthamii, elegant light purple hued thistle sage, salvia carduacea, deep purple hued Parry's larkspur, delphinium parryi, yellow pincushion, chaenactis glabriuscula, California goldfields, lasthenia californica, purple owl's clover, castilleja exserta, bicolor lupine, lupinus bicolor, valley tassels, castilleja attenuata, blue dicks, dichelostemma capitatum, and filaree. Note the tidy tips,layia platyglossa, frame upper right. In some areas of the flood plain, dense tidy tips cover broad expanses. Since my visit the previous week, the goldfields had mostly dried browned, gone to seed, while the yellow pincushion, that had been few had suddenly risen up replacing the yellow aesthetic. With so much detail, this will be an excellent subject viewed on an 8k monitor.
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Notice per above, my next subject at 8am with a low angle sun on the landscape, how the aesthetic is considerably lower. Ideally, I might have waited a couple hours until the sun was higher in the sky in order to reduce shadows, however it was sure to be accompanied most days with an impossible breeze for any focus stack blending work. The image visibly includes Bentham lupine, thistle sage, Parry's larkspur, yellow pincushion, goldfields, purple owl's clover, tidy tips, bicolor lupine, valley tassels, blue dicks, filaree, cryptantha, bicolor lupine.
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And yet another example at 8:45am with Bentham lupine, thistle sage, Parry's larkspur, yellow pincusion, goldfields, purple owl's clover, tidy tips, bicolor lupine, blue dicks, dichelostemma capitatum, filaree, bilcolor lupine. Indeed a breeze had gradually increased by 9am to an impossible level. So it was time to end our trip and drive homeward. D had a much much longer drive back to Grand Junction, Colorado, so could use the early start.
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2023 Trip Chronicles: Contents
