Zion National Park

Zion National Park
is a masterpiece of geological evolution.  It is another example of National Park wonders that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated.  The many pictures I'm posting here were taken without leaving the Tunnel Road.  It's my hope that some will convey the real perspective.

Located in southwest Utah Zion National Park has just one public road.  It leads from the south entrance to the north entrance/exit.  It's called the tunnel road because of the 1.2 mile long tunnel that was blasted out of sheer rock.  At the time of my visit in April '13 the weather was mild and being a desert Park there was never a threat of rain.  I couldn't have asked for more perfect conditions on any of the three times I photographed the park.

First pull-off entering into Zion National  Park.

Each rock formation makes a unique impression on our senses.  

Basalt over sandstone note the arch in the formative stage on the right.

Closeup of the arch formation.

Notice the micro layers of sedimentary buildup.

Yet another arch in the forming.

So, how are the "cones" formed?

Looking up at this formation you half expect the thing to fall over on you.  It's a monstrous rock.  I believe the dark rock is Andecite, but wouldn't bet on it.  The smooth surfaces are a result of a cleaving phenomenon called exfoliation.  Don't know why they cleave with a rounded top arch as seen in the top/left of this pic.

An astounding rock formation.

Fascinating micro layers of red sandstone.  Note how the angle changes.

Romeo in his now traditional riding position.

Couldn't resist the temptation.  I think it turned out pretty well.

Another magnificent example of what Nature has wrought.  So, how are the spirals formed?

View upon exiting the tunnel.

Emerging into the light once more.

I hope the vertical perspective is conveyed in this pic because it gave me vertigo to just take the pic.  

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park doesn't create the same emotional impact as other National Parks.  Joshua Tree is another Park under the Dept of Interior selected for its unique qualities.  I'll attempt to convey those qualities in my photographs and commentary.  In my desert travels in the Southwest I have encountered Joshua Trees in unexpected locations.  It would appear they grow and thrive at between 3,000 and 4,000 feet in elevation.  The Park has that ideal combination of climate and elevation that enables the trees to thrive.  The rocks are a bonus.

The Park is all about the trees and the rocks.

Silhouettes of Joshua Trees against a bright sky.  My attempt at being artsy.

 

The Park is a Meca for rock climbers.  Here are some young people using a foam pad to break their falls.

If you look closely there is a wire anchored to the top of the rock and a man climbing into a harness.

I hope this climber is attached to a rope.

Notice the two climbers at the top of this rock.  I wonder what it would be like to be in this kind of shape?

Shot taken in town.  Turns out the best specimens I saw all day.

Kind of a "Kilroy Was Here" moment.

Joshua Trees bloom every 2-3 years.  I was really lucky to visit the Park at exactly the right time between January and early March.  The blooms reminded me more of cauliflower than normal flowers.  The leaves are spines like on a Yucca.

The Park has mile after mile of Joshua Tree groves like this.  Combined with the rocks and mountainous terrain it was pretty surreal given there is no other place like this on earth.

Romeo and I after a lazy day in Joshua Tree National Park.  Stacked like a child's building blocks the rocks are a product of 200 million years of erosion.

Wind turbine generators require average wind speeds of at least 21 km/h (13 mph). The largest of these windmills stands 150 feet tall with blades half the length of a football field. The compartments at the top containing the generator, hub and gearbox weigh 30,000 to 45,000 pounds.

A wind turbine's cost can range upwards to $300,000 and can produce 300 kilowatts - the amount of electricity used by a typical household in a month. Almost all of the currently installed wind electric generation capacity is in California. The high-tech megatowers are engineered in cooperation with NASA and nursed by federal and state subsidies. This wind farm on the San Gorgonio Mountain Pass in the San Bernadino Mountains contains more than 4000 separate windmills and provides enough electricity to power Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley.

When viewed from the end of a row the windmills create a unique aesthetic.  The effect is lost in a still picture, but when seen in motion it appears to the eye as a rotating monster cactus.  It's almost hypnotizing.  

Redwood National Park & Pacific Coastline

I was told parts of a Star Wars movie was shot here.  It was the chase scene
on the low flying scooters with the bad guys crashing into the trees.

Redwood National Park is an old place in the sense that the pyramids of Egypt are old.  When the Mayans were building their temples and pyramids in Central America the giant redwoods of northern California were seedlings.  Trees don't have a voice and we don't know if they think, remember or feel anything.  But, when we walk among them we feel a sense of their majesty.  If there is royalty in the plant domain then some of it is rooted in the natural world of coastal northern California.  The largest diameter in the Park is over 30 feet.  Taking pictures of huge trees must require more skill than I possess because I am not able to capture their true immensity.  I think anyone who experiences these redwood groves would have to wonder how loggers could cut them down to make backyard fences and boardwalks.  Thank goodness for the environmentalists who saved huge groves from the harvest just because of one little spotted owl.  I am thankful.

Most of the groves in Redwood National Forest have some kind of plaque or other marker of dedication.  I am most grateful for the private party generosity.  Such a gesture is a fine testament to the consciousness of the donating families.  They could have just as easily made their fortunes by cutting the trees, but they didn't.

My front yard in Crescent City, CA.  If you look closely you can just see the breakwater jetty that keeps the worst of the storms from washing out the town.  After the big quake in Japan a few years ago a tidal wave hit here and washed out everything from the shoreline to the highway 1/3 of a mile away.  It's the worst damage from a tsunami ever to hit the continental USA.  Without the jetty the damage would have been much worse.

Visiting Redwood National Park meant finding a place to park.  Crescent City, CA owns the largest RV park in the area.  It was my host for the 3 weeks I visited the area.  My parking space was on the front row closest to the bay.  The perpetually windswept and stormy seas meant an almost constant ocean spray on my windshield.  It was also the best seat for watching the young men kite surf.  It was awesome.  My only concern was the potential the wind had for destroying my coach slide covers.  The worst it got was one night of over 60 mph winds with rain.

If you look just above and to the right of the wind surfer you'll see a red roofed light house.  I'm told it is the most photographed light house in the entire country.  Come to think of it it does look familiar.  Waves routinely crash over the jetty in the background and more than a few thrill seekers have been killed and washed away.  The waves breaking on the jetty were easily 5 times bigger than those you see here in the harbor.

When you drive deep enough into the redwood forest you come across something I thought was pretty clever.  Notice all the scrawled names on the surface of this stump.  The National Park Service's idea is to provide people with a pallet onto which they can inscribe their names or other graffiti.  Pretty cool and seldom do we see that kind of foresight on the part of a governmental agency, eh? The top of this stump is about 6 feet across.

This dual trunk Redwood's base was easily over 20 feet in diameter.

View through the sunroof of the Nissan.  Note how thick they are at the top.

 The redwood tree's longevity has to be attributed to something, right?  On first glance I would have speculated that redwood trees must be resistant to insects, parasites and forest fires.  On a closer inspection, though, I found something all the biggest redwoods had in common.  Shooting the picture to the right through the sunroof I could see something that isn't obvious at first glance.  The tops of all the trees were extraordinarily thick.  Hidden by a plume of foliage at the top we're not talking about a tree that would break easily in the wind.  And if the northwest coast of California is known for anything it is its winds and rain.  From a Darwinian point of view it makes perfect sense that the trees would have adapted to their environment in order to produce these huge specimens.  Some appeared to be over 5 feet in diameter at the very top.  I don't know about you, but in my experience pine trees grow to a relatively thin taper at their tops as compared to their bases.  Redwoods, on the other hand retain a much bigger percentage of their diameter.  I expect to see a similar kind of growth pattern when I finally make it over to Sequoia National Park in 2013.  Another attribute of the redwood tree is an extraordinarily thick bark, which makes it extremely fire resistant.

Being alone with Romeo in the presence of such majesty provided an experience in great contrast to the norm.  Romeo enjoyed the huge trees, too.  He had never lifted his leg on anything so gigantic.

It isn't very often I get the opportunity to photograph wooden covered bridges.

This is a section of the Klamath River just a few miles upstream from where it meets the Pacific.  It's a major salmon run and is named after the Klamath Indian tribe that first inhabited the area.  The continuing repair and rehabilitation of the coastline is put on hold when the salmon start their run in December.  Hey, it's California.  What would you expect?

With the silhouette of the lighthouse in the background the sunset views were breathtakingly beautiful.

An uprooted giant reliquishing its place on the forest floor.

No other sight in the forest yielded more of a sense of "being" than this tree along the fire trail.  It's my understanding that these knots are created from injuries to the trees.  Considering the magnificent burl that would lie under these knots I was a bit surprised to see it still standing in the grove  Each of these knots was the size of medicine ball.

Ferns were everywhere in the groves.  Being plants that grow in low light brought home the fact that very little sunlight makes it through the canopy.  I'm told there are 2 separate ecosystems contained in every tree; all that grows at the base under low light and then all the plants, insects and animals that flourish in the tree tops.

Staying in Crescent City, CA meant having to sleep every night to the barking sounds of California Sea Lions.  I saw a female get up from her nap and do her business over the side of the floating dock rather than on it.  Not as bad as pigs.

I didn't press the issue, but I'm sure the boat owner has a strategy to get the California Sea Lions to get off his floating dock.  It's the bump on the heads of the males that gives them away as not being Stellar Sea Lions.  Not to mention Stellars do not bark.  They growl like a lion or so they say.

Blocking the bottom of the ramp this male did not want to wake up from his little nap in the sun.  Guarding the harem the dark male reared up and started up the ramp toward me.  It shook the ramp and I politely withdrew.

I felt so sorry for the little ground squirrels that live in the rocks along the shore.  The weather was always lousy, but show up with a few pieces of bread and you'll soon find out who is king of the rock berm.  

At most low tides you can walk across to the island.  Forget it at high tides, though.  It's still a functioning lighthouse.

If you could read the red sign to the left it would state something about the extreme danger associated with walking out on the jetty in high seas.  In other words, proceed at your own peril.  I was told that thrill seekers get killed every year after being washed off the walkway onto the rocks below. 

Another remote view of the lighthouse.  I tried many times to get a pic of the light blinking, but alas.

This is the view to the north.  On one day I saw water washing over all these rocks.

The wind surfers would race back and forth along the shoreline.

A place to watch a great sunset or waves crashing against the rocky shore.

I was a bit concerned for their safety until I realized the water was only waist deep here.  Atop the rock in the distance is a fog horn that sounds every 30 seconds or so regardless of the time of day or whether it is foggy or not.  So, depending on which way the wind is blowing you are either hearing the fog horn or the sea lions.  It's the price of admission.

Showing a bit worse for wear this commercial crab company building is boarded up, but I don't know if it is just a seasonal thing or the economy.  The fish company building looks just the same and was also closed while I was there.

Captain, there be dragons in these waters.  Driftwood art strapped to the roof of this Crescent City home.

Home sweet home in the center of the frame.

It was wonderful to be in northern California in December with the temperate weather.

Just a word to the wise.  If you're ever going to visit this area of northern California in the future and expect good weather then do not visit in November/December.  It's going to be stormy if you do.  But, on the other side of the coin are no crowds and great photographic opportunities.  Great sunsets were the norm during my visit, that is when it wasn't too cloudy.