Good Tuesday morning, I had one more purple flower photo left, such a nice color. 91 degrees is up for today with a cooling trend into the 80s this week, wonderful! It’s that time of year that I’ve had enough of the summer heat… How is the weather in your area?
It’s beautiful and very moody, isn’t it? And, just a few miles beyond this location stands Mount Charleston at 11,916 feet. Sunshine and a high of 94 very toasty degrees are on for today, too hot for me to ride the bike.
Just two Nikon clicks from the other day heading out of town for some photos. Sunshine and 56F today, I hoped for the 60s for today. Apparently, the NWS changed the forecast. I miss riding… 😂
Do you see what looks like a hole in the image just right of center near the bottom of the photo? That area is Calico Basin proper. Lots of pretty red rocks, a few private homes, and a public parking area with toilets and access to hiking and rock climbing. This photo was taken about a week ago using the Nikon and a 200mm lens. Mostly cloudy and a high of 65 degrees are on tap for today, I’ll take that temperature!
Today is a great day for a drive so off I went after picking up some medications. I just wish the temperature would rise about twenty degrees so that bike riding would be comfortable.
Far Hills is an east-west road that crosses the 215 freeway on the west side of the valley. I use this road as a shortcut to get outside of the city and avoid getting off the freeway at the Charleston Boulevard exit. The photo with the small car shows how steeply the road drops off when heading east. The other photo is just some fun colored rocks in Calico Basin. So, today marks my 62nd year on planet Earth. I have traveled around the sun for 62 complete rotations. That should earn me a nice birthday present, right?
Two more shots from this early afternoon west of the city. When working on these photos this eve, I thought to myself that the photos are really grainy even though I try to clean them up on the MacBook. I just can’t get the kind of photos I really want and that has been pervasive from day one in my photography journey.
Sure, I can shoot in Manual but don’t always have the time to get the settings set right as I tend to shoot on the fly too often. Other than using a tripod for more of my photos, there doesn’t seem to be any way that I can get better photos. Once an amateur, always an amateur photographer?
On another note, I am sure that some of you find my uploading up to five images per day a bit too much, but that number used to be much higher. I have thought about reducing that daily number again from five to perhaps just one or two. Your thoughts on all of this are welcome! Thanks. John
Actually, the chili photo is from a couple of days ago but the others were taken today. I am amazed at how many people are in my favorite places today just west of the city. Hikers and rock climbers from several states and British Columbia too. I love Canadians!
I don’t know either, I forgot! And, I can’t find it specifically either with an extensive search which is odd. Anyway, the big clouds under a much bigger sky make a beautiful photo. How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was quiet as usual and relaxing.
Just right of center about 2/3 the way down the photo you can see some much lighter-colored rock. In this area is Red Rock Canyon proper, it can’t be seen unless you are directly on or near its edge and it drops way down! Think of it as a giant gash on the surface of the earth. Ouch!
Driving down into Calico Basin.
Somehow, riding the Pedego eBike seems much colder this year than last even with blue jeans and three layers on top. The ride was about half as much fun because of the 55F temperature. Add to that the windchill factor. Brr! This photo was taken a few days ago near Calico Basin as I was heading home.
Friday was Veteran’s Day so the locals were out and about in full force heading for a favorite rock or trail. I want to do a little hiking soon but I will wait for a weekday when the number of bodies is lower. A high temperature of just 58 is forecast for today.
I have been in Calico Basin a few times this year and have yet to see these adorable little ground squirrels there again. Bummer! The donkey and cart have appeared in this space at least once before, I used white cardboard paper as the background. It was my grandmother’s, and I remember it from when I was a child.
These cute little fuzz balls are on a Creosote bush, aren’t they attractive! The wind wasn’t blasting in Calico Basin which allowed me to get a clean photo of them in manual mode. I took about forty photos out there this morning, so a few more photos are coming up. I used the 140mm lens for this photo, the other photos were taken with this lens or the 200mm lens. I hope that your Thursday is going well. Click the pic!
The heat has kept many hikers, rock climbers, and whoever else out of Red Rock Canyon apparently. I took a ride out to Calicl Basin this morning and saw just three cars in the parking area. Taking a short walk, I saw zero Golden Mantled Grond Squirrels and very few birds. The heat really did a great job, didn’t it!
I took very few photos today, pulled three out for this post, and tossed two of them as being too fuzzy. There are still plenty of Joshua Tree seed pods on top of the trees, some of them are decayed like this one pod. It’s currently 100F outside and a very comfortable 73 inside, perfect for assuming the couch potato mode.
