Reader James Blilie has returned with some recent photos of California. James’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them. The road he traveled down is my favorite one in the U.S., and, I think, the most scenic. I used to travel it when I went from Davis, CA. to Death Valley to collect flies.
Here is a set from our trip to the southern California desert in January 2025.
We again traveled down US 395 through eastern California to the Palm Desert area for some warmth and sunlight to break up the Pacific Northwest winter. We returned up I-5 through California to Weed, California where we turned off onto US Hwy 97 through eastern Oregon.
These are mostly landscape photos, which is my thing. As you can tell from the photos, we were lucky with the weather.
Descending to Mono Lake from Conway Summit:
Moonrise over the White Mountains from the Owens River valley, near Bishop, California:
Mount Whitney range from near Lone Pine, California (also in the Owens Valley):
A shot from hiking in the Andreas Canyon, near Palm Springs, California. The canyons in the San Jacinto range above Palm Springs have flowing rivers and are full of life:
Next are two shots from a hike in Joshua Tree National Park. Mojave Yucca (Yucca schidigera) and Teddy Bear Cholla (Cylindropuntia bigelovii). Both of them shouting at you: “don’t touch!”:
Next are two shots from the Thousand Palms Oasis. An overview of the site, which has thousands of California Fan Palms (Washingtonia filifera) and then a show of the palm foliage:
Then a few shots from our homeward journey.
At a rest area on northbound I-5 in the Central Valley of California, we found olive trees growing with lots of fallen fruit underneath them. (Olea europaea):
Mount McLoughlin and Upper Klamath Lake at dawn (Oregon):
Equipment:
Olympus OM-D E-M5 (micro 4/3 camera, crop factor = 2.0)
LUMIX G X Vario, 12-35mm, f/2.8 ASPH. (24mm-70mm equivalent)
LUMIX 35-100mm f/2.8 G Vario (70-200mm equivalent)
LUMIX G VARIO 7-14mm f/4.0 ASPH
Thanks James. What incredible variety California provides. Thanks again for documenting some of it here.
The moonrise picture reminds me of one by Ansel Adams. (Honey, they’re comparing me to Ansel Adams!)
Ha, ha! Thank you. He has always been an inspiration to me.
Curt Nelson beat me to the Ansel Adams comment (by a number of hours, admittedly). These are just superb! The composition of each one is a delight.
Thank you. I work hard at composition.
Exhilarating!
Yuccas are remarkably widespread. I remember being greeted by some planted around the Welcome to Maine sign, too.
Otherwise, are olives like that edible/palatable as is, or do they require processing/curing of some sort?
As far as I know, they do require processing of some sort to be edible.
Olive trees are a sturdy, drought-resistant source of shade, and many roads around Davis, CA are lined with them. People like to harvest these free-range olives. From my college student days I learned that weeks of soaking in lye is an essential part of processing the fruit into edibility. Unharvested roadside olives are quite a hazard as they break down into an oily residue . A friend of mine had a serious bike accident from sliding out on olive oil.
Thx to you both!
Beautiful! Love the black and white photos especially.
Fantastic shot of the California fan palms
Lovely! These take me back to my years in southern California, a lifetime ago. The Cholla soon became a respected favorite of mine, after one kicked my ass for daring to walk a few feet away from one in sneakers. You gotta respect a plant like that.
I liked the B&W’s, especially the moonrise. Don’t blush, but I, too, thought of Ansel Adams.
Beautiful, Jim. Love seeing Owens Valley. That region is near and dear to me. Always enjoy your photos.
Lovely, thanks.