The West

Carole and I have taken several trips out west. And I took one without her to go backpacking. And when I look at some of the photos I took and recall the places I saw, I still find it hard to believe that I got to go and see those sights and experience those moments.

Two Medicine, Glacier NP.

Devils Tower.

Iceberg Lake, Glacier NP,

Bison, Black Hills.

The Needles, Black Hills.

Blue Lakes, Colorado.

Rocky Mountain National Park.

Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park.

Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado.

Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado.

Absaroka Mountains, Yellowstone National Park.

Geyser, Yellowstone.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Sleeping Grizzly bear. Lamar River, Yellowstone NP.

Bull Moose, Grand Tetons National Park.

Joshua Tree National Park, California.

Outside Joshua Tree NP.

Carole, in Joshua Tree NP.

Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree National Park is one that surprised me. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it all that much, but I was very impressed with it. We were only able to spend one entire day there, so barely scratching the surface is an apt description of our time there. Still, we saw a lot and I was even able to hike to the summit of one peak.

Someday I'd like to visit again. But Carole says that she saw enough of it and doesn't care to return.

We'll see.

Carole at Skull Rock.

Carole took this one of me at a small reservoir in the Park.

Typical terrain in Joshua Tree. I got some kind of cactus bud stuck in my boot walking around out there. It was NOT easy to remove from the sole of said boot. Jove help you if it gets in your flesh.

This was actually really high up on a jumble of boulders. Maybe thirty feet up. I have several online pals who go to Joshua Tree to rock climb.

Preparing for the Book Tour

Since we're busy getting ready for the book tour, I guess I'll just post a few photographs from this past year's trips. Despite the fact that I went out west twice, I didn't get out to go hiking and backpacking as much as normal. This was because of the deadline for the sequel to THE FLOCK. I had a lot of pressure to finish it in time (I missed deadline, but not by much).

I'm looking forward to getting out and climbing some mountains this year.

Until then, here are a few shots from earlier trips:

Huge mountains on the other side of the San Andreas Fault.

Down there in the haze was the San Andreas Fault. I took this one from near the summit of the highest peak in Joshua Tree National Park. I've forgotten the name of the mountain.

This is a rock that I picked up right at my feet where I took the middle photo. I would loved to have brought it home with me, but one is not allowed to muck about with National Park objects...not even rocks. So I did the next best thing and took a photo. Some type of volcanic rock, I assume. It looks like common slag.

Skull Rock and TWILIGHT ZONE

While we were in Joshua Tree National Park, one of the spots we hit was Skull Rock. This was so that I could climb around on the boulders like the big kid that I am. It's called Skull Rock for the obvious reason that it resembles a quasi-human skull.

However, I could not help but think of the TWILIGHT ZONE episode "Eye of the Beholder" which aired when I was just a tiny kid and which starred Donna Douglas, best known for playing Elly May Clampett on THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES. So, here is the photo I took of Carole standing beside Skull Rock:

And here is the creature effects makeup by William Tuttle from "Eye of the Beholder":


It seemed fitting that the next day I would meet so many people who were so closely involved in the production and creation of the original TWILIGHT ZONE television series.

Various Photos of Joshua Tree National Park

The following are just random photos that we took on our day-trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Some are from outside the park, the rest are things that we saw within the park borders.


This was part of a truly vast wind farm that covers miles and miles and miles of territory in and around Desert Hot Springs.

My first look at some truly big western mountains. Not the biggest ones, of course, but some of the larger peaks around southern California. Bigger, of course, than anything we have here in the Southeastern USA.

Obligatory photo at the park entrance sign.

Carole walking along the trail to Barker Dam.

Beside the little lake. The first time that it's had water in over a year, according to the park ranger we spoke to.

Carole took this one of me at the dam itself.

Ancient petroglyphs at a rocky overhang along the trail.

I had to have a portrait taken with one of the Joshua trees.

And of course Carole could not keep me from scrambling up on the boulders and rocks.

One of the few wild animals we saw in the park. These little ground squirrels were begging for food at the Keys Point overlook. We didn't feed them anything.

Detail of a Cholla cactus. I was careful not to get stuck.

A self-portrait I took on one of my lone hikes while Carole waited at the trailhead.

The well-named Split Rock where we stopped to have a picnic lunch.

Carole took this one of my just before we left the park. There was a vast grove of these plants at the flat lands below the higher country in the northern part of the park.

Joshua Tree National Park Panoramas

Here are more panoramas that I stitched together from photos on our journey through Joshua Tree National Park. We drove through the park, North to South. The northern part of the park gets more rainfall than the southern section and is quite different in flora, fauna, and in elevation. The southern section is also quite lower than the northern section.

Frankly, I don't care for the desert. I know that some people love looking at stark desert scenes, but they don't generally appeal to me. Instead, I get fairly frightened when I look out at the desert. You can freaking die of thirst in the desert. I'd rather not do that.

However, that said, there is beauty to be found in such places. Carole and I were both impressed with the views and the changing landscapes at we traveled around the park. I didn't get a lot of time to hike there, so we'll go back again some day and I'll make sure that I have more time to spend there hiking and scrambling around on the peaks. But I'll make sure that I go back in the winter, as I did this time. I have an aversion to suffering from dehydration.

The stream from the spillway from Baker Dam.

This was in a canyon area near Barker Dam. Wonderful scenery and lots of the Joshua Trees for which the park is named.

I took this one from a ledge above Keys Point, the highest spot to which you can drive in the park (about 5,100 feet above sea level). The San Andreas fault is plainly visible in the flatlands far below.

This is Ryan Mountain, the only mountain that I was able to hike in the park. On a cool day it's an easy 1.5 mile hike to the summit.

A huge rock formation on the flank of Mount Ryan.

View along the road as we entered the southern and much drier section of the park.

This was a vast stand of Cholla cactus. The woman who described these plants to us at the visitors center had both Carole and me scared witless of them by the time we reached the trail through the cholla cactus garden. We hiked through it, but were pretty careful along the way. We avoided the spines.

Not long before we got to the end of our drive. The scenery was hideously arid.

Carole hiking toward a moist area of the park that supports a small oasis. There is a spring here which doesn't quite reach the surface, but which provides enough moisture for these enormous California fan palms.

This was the last spot where we stopped before leaving the park. If I go back, I've vowed to climb the mountain on the left of the photo.