Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Travel”
Chuparosa, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
This was at sunrise less then an hour ago. I was hoping for a bit more on an interesting sky, so I likely will return to this location again. Sounds like we might have some clouds and interesting weather coming this weekend.
Speaking of this weekend – I do have a couple spots left for my Anza-Borrego workshop. The second weekend is sold out, but with lots of wildflowers and interesting weather on the way – this could be a good one!
Michael "catching air", Wrightwood, California.
We live in a town (Seward, Alaska) that receives on average about 7 feet of snow a winter – and 18 feet in a single crazy winter a few years ago. So, I gotta admit, it does seem a bit strange that the first meaningful snowfall we have experienced this winter finally happened in Southern California. But, it did.
We spent the weekend visiting family in Wrightwood, California. Wrightwood is a little ski resort town located at a little over 6,000 feet in the mountains outside of Los Angeles. According to the weather service, the area received 17 inches of snow over the weekend making for perfect conditions for photographing my two nephews as they tore it up sledding on the family driveway!
AJ ending up heals over head after taking a jump, Wrightwood, California.
Brittlebush, Anza-Borrego State Park, California.
I am long over due for a promised wildflower update for Anza-Borrego. I have gotten a little carried away with the Desert Bighorns – yesterday we saw some newborn lambs! I’ll share those next week.
I would say, by in large it is turning out to be a pretty good wildflower year, with some big hits and misses. Despite less rain, the flowers are looking better then last year probably in large part to the more seasonable temperatures – last year was much colder. There is a good chance this area might receive more then a half of inch of rain this weekend – it that happens, it could really be a great year!
I’ll start with the misses – the biggest one is the famous fields along Henderson Canyon Road. Historically, this area has been very colorful, and its popularity was helped thanks to its location along a paved road. Last year, Sahara Mustard moved into this area in a big way. This year, there isn’t much in the way of new Mustard growth except along the side of the road where is was freshly graded clear last year, but there aren’t any wildflowers either. It is just large fields of standing dead Sahara Mustard.
Now the hits. The closer you get to the mountains, the better the wildflowers. That area appeared to receive more rain Wednesday, and probably will receive more this weekend. Glorieta Canyon is looking nice, especially with the colorful red chuparosa. There is a nice variety of flowers up Coyote Canyon – not thick fields, but a a range of colors that includes many of the ocotillo. But, the best place has to be Borrego Palm Canyon – not only lots of wildflowers, but I have seen sheep on every visit so far. Borrego Palm Canyon has a lot of brittlebush, chuparosa, ocotillo along with many other blooming wildflowers. I think the surrounding areas will be improving this week, especially with the forecasted rain, but if you are hitting Anza-Borrego this weekend, Borrego Palm Canyon is your best bet right now.
I’ll provide more updates as thing change next week, and as I scout for my upcoming Anza-Borrego photography workshops.
Brittlebush wildflowers, Anza-Borrego State Park, California.
As you can see, we made it to the desert ok! This was captured at sunrise just a couple of hours ago in Borrego Palm Canyon.
I don’t think I have ever seen another person is this area before sunrise, especially mid-week, so I was surprised to come across another photographer. I was even more surprised when it turned out to be a friend and fellow Alaskan photographer Lynn Wegener! He was here with two other Alaskan photographers who I have met over the years- it really can be a small world!
I know a lot of people will be wondering about the wildflowers. I will give a report on Monday once I have had a chance to scout more areas, but as you can see here, there are plenty of wildflowers blooming in Borrego Palm Canyon and many areas including the hills above Borrego are fairly green. From what I have seen, I would say it should be at least a “good” year, and probably one more good rain from an great year.
Speaking of Anza-Borrgo, I thought I would mention that I only have one more spot for the second weekend of my Anza Borrego photo workshop. I do have a more room on the first weekend, and thanks to a warm winter down here, the timing should be perfect for both weekends.
Aurora Borealis over Trail Lake, Moose Pass, Alaska.
Since I captured this early this morning and will be traveling on Monday, I decided to do a rare weekend blog post.
With a lot of packing and shipping to do, I really didn’t need to be running around last night looking for Northern Lights – but I just couldn’t resist and headed out for a couple of hours a little after mid-night. You see it has been another slow winter for the Aurora Borealis, especially in Alaska for some reason – they have been getting some pretty good shows in Norway. So when I saw things were looking good on the computer, I had to go for it!
It takes a very good show to reach us down here in Seward and unfortunately this wasn’t one of them. By driving North, I was able to watch them on the Northern horizon, but didn’t have the time to go any further – I probably would have needed to go past Anchorage and Wasilla. So I made the best of it as I watched them on the shores of Trail Lake and listened to the ice cracking on the lake – actually the ice was really loud – that made it kind of eerie on such a dark, moonless night!
Ok, back to packing!
For those who are interested, you might enjoy reading about how to find the northern lights, or how to photograph the northern lights.
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