Tag: Calico Basin

Seed Pod Up Close

John9 Comments

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.

Cuteness Overload!

John7 Comments

Since I was in Calico Basin the other day, I of course must photograph my cute little friends called Golden Mantled Ground Squirrels! Those little hands and feet are tiny, this time I was armed with proper seeds for the squirrels instead of tossing peanuts. The squirrels prefer the larger black seeds which are sunflower seeds, not sure, and the rest of the seeds are perfect for the many birds that live there. Learn more about this squirrel.

Concrete View, Desert View

John14 Comments

These photos are from yesterday’s ride west of the city. The weather got weird last night with the continuing high winds then rain moved into the valley but didn’t dump much which sucks. I awoke to sunshine and blue sky, but the temperature had dropped sharply to the upper fifties from the low to mid-seventies.

Sunshine and 72 degrees are online for today which is nice but the eighties are coming back in a day or two. I have a doctor’s appointment today, such fun.

California Quail

John21 Comments

These birds are very attractive and have the sweetest call and sound as they scurry about. They seem to cluster together under the thick scrub brush too, all the while making those cute sounds. The tuft feathers on the head are attractive too. This link takes you to a page with lots of information about these very cute birds.

I would like to have better photos than these, they aren’t as close or sharp as I would like…

Beautiful Geology

John12 Comments

Good morning, here are some older photos that I took in Calico Basin about three years ago. The designs and colors are beautiful, aren’t they? The photos do them no justice really! 68 degrees and partly sunny are in store for the valley today, I may take a nice bike ride later. What are your plans this Humpday?

Higher Elevations and The Beauty of Calico Basin

John12 Comments

Continuing with more photos from Calico Basin, the colors are amazing when the sun strikes the multicolored rocks. The other photos nicely show the change in elevation on the west side of the valley that can make your ears feel like they need to be popped! Cloudy and 53F are on tap for Las Vegas today, a forecast that I am not happy with! The winter months are my least favorite here, I may as well have a cabin back home in Michigan and go snowmobiling!

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More Desert Photos

John16 Comments

Are you guys tired of my repetitive desert photos? I hope not, as usual, I took way too many photos out there the other day. I hope that you enjoy the beauty of the Mojave Desert as much as I do. Today would be a fabulous day for a hike at Calico Basin, but my damn lower back just won’t permit this, it’s painful to walk and it was painful having to stand for the time it took to make another fresh pot of guess what? You guessed it! I wish that I could share a bowl with you.

The First Test Set

John6 Comments

What do you think of these new photos taken this morning just west of Las Vegas? Not too shabby at all in my view. I did notice that the focus ring and zoom rings were a little hard to decipher when I was focusing and zooming. They seem a bit too close together for my not-so-small hands. These photos are all over the place between fifty millimeters and sixteen millimeters. I was amazed at how many people were there, it’s not usually that busy during the weekdays…

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Red And Hard

John2 Comments

These photos were taken two days ago when the clouds were being kind. I’ve been reading up on the iPhone 12s technical specifications regarding its camera vs the iPhone 12 ProMax version. The ProMax version has two things my phone doesn’t have but I frankly find them irrelevant.

I’ve looked into different camera applications for the phone and concluded that the best application available for my needs is already installed. One interesting option that I had forgotten about is using externally mounted lenses. They have been available for a good while now but I’ve never considered trying a set of lenses.

They aren’t terribly costly, the better systems can run from around $100 bucks to double that but if it will add more versatility to the phone’s camera, it may be worth the investment. Anyway, these were taken using the iPhone.

Big surprise, eh?

Rocky Beauty
White Streaks
Red Rocks
Turtlehead Peak