EASTERN SIERRA MAGIC
By Shirley and Jim White
“Pass the
fried chicken” I said to Shirley. Last night’s fried chicken at Nicely’s restaurant
in Leevining had been more than we could eat last night, but really hit the
spot today. We were sitting in our lawn chairs on the shores of Rock Lake at
9500 feet in the Eastern Sierra. It was October 2, 2013 and we were
photographing the fall colors in the Eastern High Sierra on what was to be one
of our most fun trips. We were out for 5 days and had camped our first night at
the Virginia Lakes. We camped along the shore of one of the smaller lakes where
one could walk along the shore in the dry grass and fly cast into the shallows
with a strike now and then from a good size trout. The Aspens along the
highways from Carson Pass were O.K. but the real vivid colors were to be found
in the higher mountains south. We photographed the colorful Willows and Aspens
in the open high valleys to the north from along the Virginia Lakes road
first. Really nice!
Above Rock
Lake at the 10,000 foot level the leaves were already blown from the Aspens. As
we ate our fried chicken the wind picked up with a little icier bite to it and
we slipped on our light fleece sweaters, which were to stay on the rest of the
trip. The Rock Creek drainage is always one of our favorite places to shoot
yellow and red colored Aspens. Shooting from along the road up, following the
creek with the mountains in the background is hard to beat.
Our trip to
Bodie, the old gold mining ghost town and State Park was great because of our
encounter with the sheep along the road going in. Two bands of about 500 sheep
each were grazing along the road, with the sheep herder and his dogs. Some of
the dogs were the Great Pyrenees Herding dogs which are very large and white.
One of the dogs broke from the herd and ran up the hill to the road into the
arms of my wife Shirley. She believes that this dog must be the grown-up pup
she had played with last fall, and that the dog remembered her! Who am I to
argue with real dog and women love in the Sierra?
We camped at
Convict Lake with the weather lady in Bishop forecasting winds 25 to 35 knots
with gusts up to 45 knots in the evening. Our pop-up camper has a solid
aluminum roof which flexes and pops like a gunshot when the wind hit the 45
mark. Shirley said “she now knows what real rock and roll feels like”. While
listening to the wind blow we heard the Coyotes howl about 3:30 am and I just
had to go out and stand in the lee of the camper to hear them better. Wow, I
had forgotten how bright and icy sharp the stars are in the really high
mountains.
Shooting
Convict Lake the next morning was a challenge. My tripod would blow over if I
did not hang a rock from the middle hook. I wanted to photograph the lake
before the sun hit the peaks but I was about 10 minutes late. I was amazed the
D-600 picked up so much detail in the shadows with the sun so bright on the
peak above the lake. I am not sure yet, but I think I like it.
When we
think of the Owens River Road we think first of horses, Cowboys, Hot Creek, a
Cow Camp I know, and the wind. We went there this time because of the Cow Camp.
I really love a picture I took of the camp many years ago, with an old stuffed
sofa alongside the cabin. I know two other Cow Camps like this one, but you
have to ride for hours on a horse to get to them. The one in Owens Valley you
can drive up on a hill behind the camp and photograph the cabin and horses in
the background if you are lucky. We were not lucky this time but we shot it
anyway. The Cowboys had driven into the camp just before us and were un-loading
horses to go move some cattle. The wind picked up and later when glassing the
valley I saw a Cowboy lunging his horse. Horses get spooky real easy when the
wind blows hard and he was trying to take some of the fire out of the critter.
Been there and done that.
The radio
said roads to the south were closing to campers and trailers because of the
wind and we could barely see the mountains thru the heavy blowing dust. We
headed north looking for some color and clear air to breathe. The Little Walker
River just south of the Sonora Pass road was our home for the night. This is
one of the most beautiful river valleys in the eastern Sierra. This was our
first time to camp in the campground at the upper end of this valley. The
temperature dropped like a rock that night. The temperature in the truck read
13 degrees at 7 am the next morning before sunrise. I was so excited to
photograph the nearby Aspens before sunrise I wore nothing but my long johns
and a down jacket. My knees burned but hay…I had a nice warm camper to retreat
to. The coffee was hot so what else could you want?
On the way
out we photographed the Aspens along the Little Walker River below the road and
perched on a high dead limb in a tree along the road was a Red Shoulder hawk,
with his feathers puffed out looking like a football. Outdoor photography at
its best! We stopped at the Meadow Cliff restaurant in Coleville and had their
Spanish omelet which was their special…Yum.
Go give it a
try. We have found that even if our pictures are not great, you can’t fool our
eyes. What we see has got to be magic.
