High Sierra Topix

Friday, Mar 7, 2007 (day 1 of 3)
Wildflowers and Humbug Mountain in Joshua Tree

Photos: http://snownymph.smugmug.com/gallery/44 ... #264088947

I drove to Joshua Tree in the dark and woke up the next morning to a field of flowers. The drive to Humbug trailhead took awhile cuz I kept pulling over for pictures! Humbug Mountain (2,277') was a nice easy loop hike on a ridge. I really enjoyed the solitude that day!

We moved north to hike the next 2 days, and the flowers were not as spectacular. There were some, but scattered here and there.



Saturday, March 8, 2008 (day 2 of 3)
Old Woman Mountain, east of Mojave National Preserve

PHOTOS: http://snownymph.smugmug.com/gallery/44 ... #265178528

We camped near Amboy, then drove 34 miles to Carbonate Gulch, trailhead for Old Woman Mountain. We did a loop trip, up Route D of the DPS guide, and down Route C. Nice day!

Amboy Crater from camp . . . Flowers are out at the crater


Canteberry Bells


collared lizard


cool budding cactus


some flowers on the way out

Snow

The X means that the airstrip is closed.

Great photos as always.

Thanks, parxmr. I thought that was a target or something. duh!

Got this reply from another board from Rick Graham:

“Snowy, great photos as usual. Thanks for sharing.

Did you see any Poodle-dog bush out there?

I saw this warning on SummitPost, yikes !
http://www.bsa-ciec.org/openrosters/Doc ... p?id=37136 “

I had not heard about this, so I’m posting it for those who don’t know. I’ve had a lot of itching lately where I’m breaking skin. But I think it’s the cactus needles I’m running into.

last set of photojournal:
Sunday, March 9, 2008 (day 3 of 3)
Granite Peak, Mojave National Preserve

PHOTOS: http://snownymph.smugmug.com/gallery/45 ... #265537830

Spring forward . . . we lost an hour today! I found out I lost my month old Garmin Vista! :-( We did Granite Peak, up a more interesting way than the DPS guide showed and straight down to make it a loop trip. It was a fun climb, but not many flowers out.

Astrohound went with me to look for my GPS, which was almost 90 miles out of the way. We also had to get gas to get there. No luck! :-( Hope someone knows to look for me if found.

We went a different way than described in Zdon's which made it more interesting


came down via Cottonwood Spring


saw the cutest tortoise on Kelbaker Rd, with green lips from eating Lotus

Very nice to have found some spot langloisia. I took some pics of them north of Humbug Mountain in the desertgold fields too.

I hit the Dale Dry Lake, Humbug, Sheephole Pass areas for 3 days, a week before your trip then drove south for 3 more days about Cottonwood Wash in southern JT. After a 500 mile drive continued east from 29 Palms at dusk and began smelling sand verbena. Then drove out on an obscure dirt road where thge big white-hued dune evening primrose were obvious in my headlamps. Quite nice place to wake up to in the morning for a photographer. I'll be posting a lengthy trip story with pics on my website for that trip in another day or two. Note Saturday, I just returned from a second long 10-day road trip to SoCal for more of the same. ...David

Cori...Thank you for those flowers! Awesome to see some bright happy colors after just having snow to look at
They are beautiful...Love the green LIPs Tortoise so very cute they are...I love them