California Iconic Images

Whenever I travel out of California, I ask folks who will talk with me what images come to their minds when they think of California.  Depending on recent news, their thoughts may be of traffic, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lindsey Lohan, etc.,  but the consistent answers are images of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Number two is the most photographed natural image in California, Half Dome, overlooking Yosemite Valley.  The Golden Gate is beautiful and,  because of the way the fog plays with the mouth of San Francisco Bay, it always has a different look.  It gets to be pretty magical given some fog and some lingering sun light.  However, my personal favorite is Half Dome. 

There is nothing that stands out like Half Dome.  Some friends of mine just got back from a trip to Yosemite and, like everyone that ever goes there, they brought back photos of Half Dome.  When one is in the park, one is beckoned to snap the shot.  It is impossible not to take a picture.  I have been to Yosemite about twenty times and I take the same pictures every time I am there.

When one takes a picture of grandeur it is an attempt to capture not just the image, but the feel.  Of course the feel, that sense of being in a great place with the all of the sensory  stimuli a maximum delivery, simply cannot be captured.  I was looking at some pictures that Ansel Adams took and even his photographs, I don't believe, do not convey all that he must have felt when he was there.  However, he captures a mood and that is what makes his photographs so beautiful to me.   Half Dome must be the biggest of all the California iconic images.

Not to my surprise, the Hollywood sign is another icon.  It seems to have the advantage of being seen by tourists, and additionally, movie goes all over the world.  Every year it seems there is a least one movie that has the Hollywood sign in the background.  There is nothing beautiful about this icon, but it certainly is the image many people see in their mind's eye when thinking about California - that is, Southern California.

This year, the sign was almost lost to development, but a group of citizens got together to contribute funds so the city could by the property.  All the years since 1923, when it was first erected, most folks thought it was on city property.  As it turned out it was not.

I struggled with this last picture because the image of the California beach and palm trees is not a single image.  It is really different to everyone, but it is an image that comes up all the time.  There was no particular beach and no particular tree or group of trees that most people could describe accept for the guy who saw the image of the red palm trees from wall of the In-N-Out restaurant.  

Although all of the beaches do not have palm trees and all of the beaches are not wide and sandy, the picture here represents the majority opinion.

California has beautiful forests and deserts, but no one thought of those images -aabsolutely no one.

Note: the photos use on this post were obtained from Public-domain-photos.com.

Palisade Glacier

When I tell folks there is an actual glacier in the Sierra Nevada Mountians, even people who have live in California for a long time, they think I am kidding.  I am not, of course: this glacier is about 700 years old.  Although I have never hiked to the glacier (it is on my list of things to do) I am told that it is currently in retreat due to the drought California has been enduring.

Even if one does not want to hike at to the glacier at 14, 142 feet, it is an impressive view from the trail head and campgrounds located in place commonly referred to as Glacier Lodge (also Big Pine Creek) have a fantastic view while kicking back in really nice camping area at an altitude of 8,000 feet.

According to the Glacier Lodge website the directions are as follows:  Big Pine is located on Hwy 395 in eastern California, 15 miles south of Bishop. The town sits at the junction of Hwy 395 and Westgard Pass Road, which leads to Death Valley, the Bristlecone Pine Forest, and the State of Nevada.

This is not a good picture, but it gives one an idea of the terrain that has to be negotiated while working up the trail to the glacier. The glacier is that white "v" shaped space in the center of the photo. I found a really good photo on Wikipedia. For those who are interested in hiking this area check out the SummitPost.org site.

My plan is to head back to this place before the summer is over.  I'll report more later.

Bristlecone Pines

The Bristlecone Pines (more correctly called the Great Basin Bristlecone Pines, I am told) are located in the White Mountains, a range closely the same elevation as a lot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, but the White Mountains are in the shadow of the Sierra and thus receive a very small percentage of the moisture that falls on the Sierra. As a result, trees are smaller and sparse. That does not mean there is no beauty to these mountains, because there is. One just has to look for it a bit more.


The Bristlecones are the oldest living plants in the United States. I used to tell friends they were the oldest in the world, but now there is some debate as a result of the discovery of a self-cloning spruce by a Swedish researcher. The point here is these trees are old, dating back more than 4,800 years and in their own way they are absolutely beautiful. The wood is gnarly, extremely hard, and dense. Textured by the elements and hued with reddish, tan and grey colors these trees exist in a harsh landscape, but the beauty of these ancients in the place where they live is spiritual. It is difficult to not be moved.

I love visiting this place. It is inspiring and it evokes wonder and amazement. These trees had no plan to live as long as they have, but within them exists something that makes a long life possible. Sure, maybe they had the benefit of the proper environment (hard to believe when one sees where they are located) as did the red woods, but still to live 4,800 plus years takes some good genes.

For folks travelling US 395 take Highway 168 and follow the signs. Make sure to take water because the White Mountains do not have facilities.

Over the years I have taken lots of photos, but they are all 35MM, not digital, so I have nothing to post at this time.  However, Bing has a good collection of images and a really nice map.  Click here.

Bishop California

Although we have based our fishing trips in Mammoth Lakes in the past, this year we stayed in Bishop.  This year's fishing trip was just me and Rick.  In the past we have had both families.  We elected Bishop because it is central, but we tended to fish in the locations we have found fruitful before.  In hindsight we could have stayed in Mammoth.

The La Quinta provided a nice place to stay and our breakfast was included in the deal.  Got to start each morning with a good breakfast included in the deal.

I don't think Bishop is a pretty town, although I would have no trouble living there.  What makes Bishop work for me is it's location.  It is central to just about everything in the area and the views looking out form town in just about any direction are fantastic.  In 1996, Men's Journal Magazine, according to Sierra Web was named the "coolest mountain town."  That works for me: I agree.

From Bishop, one can drive west about 20 miles to the Lake Sabrina, 9,100 feet elevation.  There are a lot of lakes in this direction, but Sabrina is an easy one to get to.  Trails will take one into the high country lakes, which are simply incredible.  Although I have hiked to these lakes in the past, that was not in the plan on this trip. Click here to see a satellite view of the area and zoom out to see all of the high country lakes that are relatively close by. One has to be in good shape for the hikes. Also, take a look at some really fine photos of the lakes taken by Susanne Z. Riehemann.  Do not know her, but her pictures of the area - Sabrina Basin - are outstanding.

Big trout are caught in Sabrina every year, mostly rainbow I believe.  Behind the lake stands Mt Tom, around 14,000 feet high, (unfortunately, not named after me) and at the lake there is the trail head for seven of the high country lakes.  Steve Eckert put together some driving information for more of the trail heads in the area.

To the north of Bishop there are two options:  Hwy 395 which works its way to Pendelton Oregon and Hwy 6, which runs through Benton and then turns east through Nevada and Utah.  It ends in Green River, Utah. I have not taken the Hwy 6 option.

Highway 395 climbs out of the Owens Valley -Bishop sits at the north end of the valley at xxx feet - to about 7,072 feet at Tom's Place.  Another location not named after me.  Continuing even higher Hwy 395 continues north toward the June Lake cutoff.  I'll cover this area in a following post.

To the east of Bishop are the Bristle Cone Pines, a forest of ancient trees at about 11,000 feet in the White Mountain Range. Actually, there is no direct east running road.  One has to go south to Big Pine and then turn east, but at the top of the White Mountains, one realizes that the trees are east of Bishop.   More on this in a follow-up post.

Also out of Big Pine is Big Pine Creek Campground and Glacier Lodge. Turn on Crocker St. which becomes Glacier Lodge Rd.   More on this in a following post.

Fishing Trip

We fished from early in the morning to sunset and had a great time. Weather was great.  All was good except for my fishing results, but still, I had a fantastic time. 

Why do I enjoy fishing any way?  Why do people fish?  Rick caught some beautiful trout and those that could not survive being released (we try to use catch and release methods) we tried to give to less fortunate fishermen.  However, no one that we offered the fish to wanted trout to eat.  Why?   Why is it that some people love fishing, but not eating the fish?  Rick and I talked about this while driving between fishing locations. Some locations we visited were thirty miles apart so driving was necessary.  Rick likes fishing because the catch is exciting.  I agree although I had less excitement than he did on this trip.  Still I had a great time so it isn't just the catch.

I think it is like any other sport which requires focus; by necessity, one is unable to think about the daily things that are normally  irritating or stressful and thus there is a de-stressing aspect.  Fishing in a stream requires a good understanding of the water flow, the terrain, and the behavior of fish.  It also requires good equipment and rigging.  Here comes a fish story:  Although I came up short on the fish count this trip, I did hook the big one that got away.  Because I was struggling with the fish count, Rick and I agreed to swap equipment.  He was feeling bad because the difference in the fish count was so substantial.  It was with his pole and rigging that I was using when I hooked a trout that looked to both of us like a three pounder.  I worked it across the stream and as I tried to get it close to the surface the fish then took a dive down through the mid-stream current and the hook and some of the four pound test line went with him.  A three pound fish in a fast running stream is heavier on the line than it would be in a placed lake.  So much for the fish that got away story.

Fishing in the Sierra's offers incredible vistas. I think this is part of the fishing appeal.  Sure I could hike a trail and see similar things, and I do that, but fishing, such as fishing in a stream, also allows me to focus more closely on what is immediately at hand.  Working a stream makes me very much aware of the smaller vistas -  the flow of white water into a deep rippled pool or the brush and flowing plants that hug the banks and create shelters for the fish.. 

There is the climbing in and out of a locations that often do not have trails.  I guess what I am saying here is, there are plenty of things to see and unique challenging places to negotiate and that makes fishing a fun experience.

Okay, thus far I have said fishing offers excitement, is de-stressing, provides adventure and offers challenges.  The degree of any of these that one experiences is based on what the fisherman wants.  I can remember hiking a mile down into a canyon with my dad a rather long time ago.  There were no trails and it was snake country on the Kern River.  All went well, but the climb out, with fish (my dad was one of those that actually liked to eat trout as long as it was coated with meal and fried) was hell.  This recollection reminds me that building memories is another reason folks like to fish.

Rick remembered his daughter as a little girl and the times they used to go fishing together.  When he told one of his stories about how he would show her, at a very young age, how to hold the pole, I could actually see it vividly in my mind's eye.  I recalled my dad and our experiences together and now my memories of fishing trips with my good friend Rick.  Fishing is something one can teach others to do without a great expenditure and the conversations while on a fishing trip can be diverse and deep. Yes, I said deep.  This I assure you, I have never heard anyone on a fishing trip talk about trite stuff.  There are no Kardashians in fishing.  Teaching the children or grandchildren to fish is actually teaching them to love and respect all that is natural at the same time; and sharing focused quality conversations about really important things, like how the beautiful scenery was created by great forces of nature, builds knowledge for all and deep memories too.



John Muir called the magical Sierra Nevada range the "range of light" because he took the time to live and experience the amazing places within the vast mountain range. He sometimes referred to his experiences in the mountains as spiritual and once said "....climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."


 The Sierra Nevada, which in Spanish means snowy mountain range, can be experienced while fishing and any experience in these mountains will cause any and all visitors to wonder out loud about all of nature and its forces.  Wondering and talking about such things together makes for memories like no others in life.
 
So the act of fishing is a way of sharing nature with friends and loved ones and thus enriching life's memories.