Monthly Favorites 2024

Change of season in Arizona's White Mountains

Yep, here I am again with gratitude and awe, looking back at the year’s work and experiences.  Thank you all for riding along!

January

Winter fog in Peeples Valley, just up the road from my home in Yarnell was irresistible.  The moody black and white image shows Hidden Spring Ranch’s thoroughbred horses and cottonwoods. As if that weren’t enough, when I turned around there was a fog-bow across the highway in Maughan Ranch land.

February

A cold solo trip to the Mojave Preserve and Death Valley turned up some photographic opportunities.  There was a nice storm over the first night.  Driving over a mountain pass to my next camp I came upon snow on Joshua trees, a rare treat.  

March

I like to get away on my own to the Harquahala Mountains, one of my favorite places to find solitude nearby. I was on a zoom meeting in the camper van when this light came up and I ran out with my gear and shot it.

April

The point of the trip to central Texas was the eclipse.  I had fun shooting it from a friend’s driveway, but the real attraction was wildflowers.  I loved the backlighted glow here in Muleshoe Bend Recreation Area.

May

This somewhat silly composite came about during a workshop with Colleen Miniuk called, “In the Footsteps of Georgia O’Keeffe.”  Perhaps I was inspired to be daring like Ms. O’Keeffe.  Here’s the road to Ghost Ranch, Cerro Pedernal (a favorite subject for her, though I couldn’t say why), the moon, and a skull she collected which is on display at her Abiquiu.

June

My husband was teaching scouts at Flyfishing Camp, so Gypsy and I ran off to the North Rim Forest, our happy place.  I shot this from a camp just off the Arizona Trail which offers lovely hikes in both directions.  The light took me by surprise.  Pro tip: black pets look great with backlight.

July

Fish Lake National Forest (Utah), on the way to our habitual summer trip to Park City.  Flowers, sweeping views, quiet.  This area has become a favorite.

August

This time I tagged along on the fishing trip, collaborating with Marco on the planning while combing through Google Earth for camp sites near rivers.  This one didn’t pan out so well for fish, but the morning light was worth the stop, to me at least.

September

Perhaps the best part of the rare opportunity to camp at RC Scout Ranch was access to Box Canyon, just downstream. I relish the opportunity to shoot here again, in different light and with clear water.  In the meantime, I’ll relish the memory of shooting this one, hanging off a ledge.

October

Hell’s Backbone has long been on my list of places to explore.  During the autumn Utah trip, we decided to see what was there, taking the long way from Boulder to Escalante. I put the drone up to show some of the drama we experienced.  Here’s sunrise looking down at Sand Creek Canyon, on the left in the aerial. Aspens are doing their thing on the far slope.

November

Morocco.  I’d envisioned this image in the Sahara, and am so pleased that it worked out. There are so many memories in this album of photos, and it was tough to choose just one.

December

The highlight of December was an 8-day solstice trip through the desert. The brightest spot of that trip was the quest to find and photograph this striped tinaja in Nevada.

Again, thanks for riding along this year.  With any kind of luck, there are great things coming in the new year.  Cheers.

On a Mission

Sunset glow on the petrified sand dunes, Gold Butte National Monument

I started this journey with a quest.  My husband, with the patience of a saint and his own share of adventurous spirit, seemed happy to participate.

I saw a picture of a geologic feature deep in a part of Nevada known as Hidden Valley.  It is a rather large orange and white striped rock with three tinajas, the largest of which is about 50 feet in diameter. Who could resist, right?  I’ll get back to this part of the story in a bit.

A tinaja is a depression in bedrock that fills with water, creating a microhabitat and providing water for wildlife. The word "tinaja" is Spanish for "large, earthen jar". 

If you’ve been following along for a while, you know that we’ve been overlanding in California’s Mojave Desert each winter solstice for years.  This time our itinerary  was mostly in Nevada, and mostly exploring new places.

Falling Man Petroglyph in Context, Gold Butte National Monument

Falling man Petroglyph Detail, Gold Butte National Monument

First stop was our favorite spot in Gold Butte National Monument, a petroglyph and petrified sand dune site often called The Falling Man Site because of a particularly provocative glyph.  We pretty much never see anyone there, and we like that just fine.

Gold Butte Sand Dunes, aerial

We also camped near the orange sand dunes in GBNM for the first time.  There were petroglyphs here too, and a striking sunrise sky.

View from Miller Point, Cathedral Gorge State Park

We spent one night in a campground.  Part of me feels like that’s a bit of a cop-out on an overlanding trip but I wanted to check out Cathedral Gorge, a 90-year-old Nevada State Park.  It’s a fascinating place, with interesting erosion and small slot canyons.  I found it difficult to photograph but was glad for the chance to see it.  The hot shower was nice, too.

Buffington Pockets eroded canyon

Next was Buffington Pockets, not far from (and with similar geology to) Valley of Fire State Park. This is where the road started to get a little dicey.  I’m sure it would be more easily done in a side-by-side, but in our 4WD Sprinter, we averaged 3 MPH.

Old Dam, Buffington Pockets

Aerial of the old dam, Buffington Pockets

There’s an odd dam, complete with a mural of a barn owl in flight, which was apparently put up ca 1930-50 and which has long since backfilled with gravel.  The entire area features petrified sand dunes in impressive colors, but my favorite was the canyon above the dam.  We found petroglyphs there, too.

 Hidden Valley is another 5 miles or so down the road (The Bitter Springs Backcountry Byway which, for the brave, ends at to Lake Mead).  The 10-mile trek took about 2 ½ hours and a great deal of patience.  I did have a passing question about who would help us if we broke an axel. We landed at the boundary of the Muddy Mountains BLM Wilderness Area, where we camped.  It’s a tiny clearing, and perhaps as out-of-level as we’ve ever camped.  Awkward.

From there, we hiked over a 700-foot ridge into the valley itself and about 2 miles cross-country without a trail. This is a quest, after all, so some inconvenience is expected.

Striped Tinaja, worth the trouble

Striped Tinaja, husband for scale

The tinaja was spectacular, and well worth the effort.

In case you’re wondering about our judgement, we do have our limits. We backed off the next spot we planned to check out in the Buffington Pockets area, called the Color Rock Quarry.  The road was too much for the Raven.  Maybe another day with a shorter wheelbase.

Kelso Dunes pre-dawn

We pivoted and headed for California.  A Trader Joe’s stop in Las Vegas was great for fresh food, but the culture shock of hoards doing their Christmas shopping (it was December 23) was fingernails on a chalkboard.  We were within a couple of hours of our destination, our favorite sand dunes, and decided we’d stop off at another spot and finish the drive in the morning.  We were pooped. Kelso Dunes is not my favorite photo spot, but was quiet and a welcome rest.

Mojave desert dune sunrise

We reached our last destination in the morning, rested and enjoyed being blissfully alone in the quiet. We finished off the trip with the incomparable experience of first light on the dunes. 

Thanks for riding along.  I’m looking forward to sharing next year’s beauty with you all.

Gold Butte National Monument

There are more images in the Winter 2024-25 Gallery on the Website.