Rocks – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Panum Volcano Cone, California

Near Mono Lake there is a volcanic cone called Panum. Panum is not a dormant volcano. This area is monitored by geologists for any signs of activity that might signal another eruption.

There is a 2.1 mile loop trail around the Panum crater. My son and I hike a portion of this trail. Mono Lake and the Sierra Nevada are visible from portions of the trail.

Large chunks of obsidian are common along the hiking trail.

In addition to the large chunks of obsidian there are common layered rocks of obsidian and pumice scattered around the area.

Relic – Monochrome of an old tree remnant.

A view of the Sierra Nevada from the crater trail

A portion of the trail is visible in the lower portion of this image.

This information sign is posted at the trailhead.

This wraps up my March visit to California.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Alabama Hills Scouting Photos Part 8

This is the final part of exploring Alabama Hills, California and capturing scouting photos with a phone camera.

The rock on the right reminds me of a turtle stretching its neck out to bask in sunlight.

Sky Pointers 2 is a view from behind Sky Pointers.

The rock on the left seems especially in awe of the sky.

I promise to move on to photos from other areas in upcoming posts,

Ken

Alabama Hills Scouting Photos Part 7

More iPhone scouting photos from Alabama Hills, California, March 2024.

Until next time,

Ken

March 2024 iPhone Photos – Part 5

And even more iPhone scouting photos in Alabama Hills, California.

This monochrome version of an iPhone photo was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page July 25, 2024. The bright white clouds behind the arch draws the eye to the arch. Against a clear, bland sky, a photo of this arch would be much less interesting, maybe even boring.

I called this natural rock feature “The Head”, because it looks like a head on a neck looking across the broad valley into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, maybe thinking it would be cooler to be in those mountains, under a blanket of snow, rather than stuck down here forever.

The arch on top of the weathered, massive rock outcrop is called The Eye of Alabama Hills.

From this view point, The Eye feature reminds me of a big eyed puppy draped over its owner’s body, peering into its master’s eyes.

Thanks for following my posts,

Ken

March 2024 iPhone Photos – Part 4

More iPhone scouting photos of Alabama Hills, California.

Until next time,

Ken

Alabama Hills, March 21, 2024 – More Wandering

After our early morning sunrise shoot, my son and I went on another short scouting expedition.

Of course, I made a few shots during our little hike, scouting the area for possible sunrise or sunset shoots, but the two in this post are the only ones that I deemed presentable.

Until next time,

Ken

Alabama Hills, March 21, 2024 – Early Morning Photography – Part 2

After shooting at my preferred location this morning, I wandered around the area looking for other scenes to shoot.

I don’t think the many dirt, back roads here have names, but the early morning quiet led me to call this one Serenity Road.

Shooting from another point of view, I thought it would make no difference which way one turned at the T, as either way would let one see more of the awesome geology of this area.

Standing in the shadow of the massive rocks behind me, I watched as the early morning sun began to highlight the top of the rock features in front of me.

I wandered back through and over rocks and boulders to the place of my initial shots this morning. I climbed onto a massive rock and made one last image, wrapping up this sunrise shoot.

Until next time,

Ken

Alabama Hills, March 21, 2024 – Early Morning Photography

Early this morning we were at a location that we had previously scouted near some interesting pointy rocks for sunrise photography.

The first images here are pre-sunrise and a few minutes later the light is totally different.

These are the pointy rocks that look like guardians over the valley, standing at attention for the coming sunrise.

After shooting from behind these rock features, I began to wander around the area, looking for other photo possibilities, but you will have to come back again to see how that search turned out.

Until then,

Ken

Back at Alabama Hills, March 20, 2024

After our morning shoot at the Hot Creek Geothermal Area, we returned to Alabama Hills, with no clue about where to shoot at sunset. So we drove around looking for someplace inspiring our imagination. We failed with the inspiration and finally settled upon the location for the movie Gunga Din, simply because we had no more time to scout around.

There are still a few remnants from the movie set, where a bridge had been constructed over a ravine.

I don’t know how these gears were used, but there were at least a couple of these embedded in or near the roadway.

There were some concrete items, which I assume were anchors for the bridge, in some of the rocks near the roadway.

I wandered around the area looking for potential sunset shots, finding little inspiration, but I did get a few images that I liked.

And that’s it for this shoot. We have a plan for tomorrow morning, so stay tuned to see how that works out.

Ken

Hot Creek Geothermal Area, California – Part 2

After shooting from an elevated location here, my son and I drove to the parking lot at the official visitor area and hiked down the steep, icy path to the creek level.

There are signs posted at frequent intervals warning visitors of the scalding hot waters of the creek and to stay at least ten feet from the creek bank and from steam vents.

At about this point and westward, Hot Creek is fed by snow melt before the water enters into the portion fed by hot springs. Anglers fish the waters here and to the west. I’m guessing the fish are smart enough to turn around before getting into the scalding hot water area.

As one of my Flickr contacts pointed out, the hot water was providing clouds for the otherwise clear sky this cold morning.

I stopped to photograph this lone, bent tree with the mist from the hot water behind it as I was hiking back up the trail to the parking lot. This image, which I almost neglected to even process, was chosen for Flickr’s Explore Page May 30, 2024.

That is all for this area. Until next time,

Ken

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Tag: Rocks

Panum Volcano Cone, California

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