Further on in California

Here's something I failed to post earlier. Something everyone 

should see. It's a showcase of beautiful grossness. 

Chewing Gum Alley in San Luis Obisbo. Yum!

A Halloween party in Pioneer Town.

And then to Joshua Tree National Park. I'm happy they reopened.

Sunrise at Jumbo Rocks.

Barker dam. You can see the old water line. 

Things have been dry.

Bird watching by the stream.

Cholla. The Jumping Cactus. Buggers jump right up on you. And hard to 

get off. Little barbs on the needles. They hate you.

California Adventures

This is a shot of Remington hot spring, on the Kern River near Lake Isabella. 

California has been in a drought for several years and the locals

I met call Isabella Lake Isabella Puddle. The hot spring, as you can see,

has water. It's a bit of a hike from the parking area, with an elevation 

change of 300 feet. But so worth it. I got there on a Saturday

and there was a very social scene going on, with a lot of people from

Los Angeles, which is a good three hours away. After the weekend, things

quieted down and I stayed there on BLM land for five nights.

From Remington I went to Morro Bay. I've been there several times before.

I'm always drawn to the two most iconic features of the landscape:

The haystack in the bay and the smokestacks on the shore.

This old art deco building is for sale.  

Wormz flew into LA for two weeks for The Ranch Party 2013 in 

Lancaster. (In Pennsylvania, it's pronounced lank'-es-ter. In California,

It's pronounced lan'-cast-er with the vowels drawn out a little more. Just fyi. 

I try to respect the local pronunciations.) Great party with lots of good music 

and food. I met a lot of people and made some new friends.

This guy was a crazy fire-spinner. He was flipping it all around 

and burned himself a little.

Then to King's Canyon and Sequoia parks. Huge, ancient trees everywhere 

you look. The Sherman tree is the most massive tree anywhere. The Peabody tree

is less well-known but important in regards to time-travel.  

This is the top of the General Sherman tree. The old sequoias are bare 

of limbs from the bottom up to a couple hundred feet up. Then there's 

this rather Bonzai looking affair up to the top.

King's Canyon.

Moro rock is huge. You can see some people at the top.

Sierra, in Spanish, means saw and mountain, and Nevada means snow-covered.

There's no snow in this picture but the name is apt. This is the view from Moro rock.

An eagle was soaring on the updrafts as the sun went down.

A most spectacular sunset.

More from the 395

Here's some more of the unique beauty of the eastern Sierra Nevada.

Convict Lake is a small gem in the middle of a bunch of high mountains.

There's a story about how it got it's name. It involves convicts and 

wild west shenanigans; people gettin' killed and whatnot.

This is another forest service campground in the mountains. 

It was called something like Intake 2. The host closed 

the campground once everyone left. Thanks teaparty.

The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is also a federal

operation, so they were also closed but you could hike the trails.

Some of these trees are among the oldest living things on Earth.

Over 4000 years old they look half dead. At 10,000 feet elevation

the environment is harshbut they continue to live. They thrive on hardship.

Also Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in California, and the Alabama Hills.