Graceful beauty- As with just about anything wild in Nature, flash floods are only to be feared if you do something stupid.
Desert flash flood meets its end at a playa
Flash Floods
Author Archives: Walter
At Least I Didn’t Get Shot …
I suppose the good news is, is that I got this photo of a shack in the little ghost town of Dolomite. I suppose the bad news is that I shot it in 2001 with a low resolution camera. Then again, some good news is that I doubled the size of it and cleaned up a few rough spots on it with my fancy software. And I suppose the bad news is, is that for all my efforts, Dolomite isn’t an authentic ghost town. I’m finding out that it was built for a movie set. It is a bit of good news that the movie was Nevada Smith starring Steve McQueen, one of my favorite movies. The bad news is that I won’t e able to reshoot it because of circumstances beyond my control at the moment. That’s good because it was on private property. It could have been worse when I was caught trespassing the first time. The owner chased me down and started giving me hell for being on his property. So it was a good thing I told him I came in a few miles over and followed the base of the mountain shooting some other ruins while I went along. It was another good thing when he laughed at my little truck and said, “I wouldn’t think you could make it through there in that.” I told him I was just taking some pictures. He told me to “Have at it.” At least I didn’t get shot.
Downtown Dolomite
They were Ready to get Rich!
A newspaper headline in March, 1926 read, “Tonnage of ore from new California district will be large.” The road went in, and over 300 people moved to Leadfield, a post office was built. The residents were ready to get rich —
Leadfield, at the top of Titus Canyon in Death Valley National Park
The Playas
Playas, dry lakes, they hypnotize me. Flat and dry and scarred but still pure. Hardened earth and soft skies. An elegant monotony that locks in on whatever lobe in my brain it is that controls my fascination for seeking a niche, an edge, a flaw as my eye draws up to, in this specific case, a dark and slivered horizon. Few words. Clear and open thought. Appreciation. I clap my hands. The sound dissipates and the ever so slight vibrations go on endlessly.
Dry Lakes of the Mojave
About Garlock …
Cow Wells doesn’t sound like that great of a place to have a good time; but Garlock sure does, and that made all the difference!
Garlock Ghost Town
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New Dale
New Dale – New Dale wasn’t called New Dale back then, it was just called Dale even though it was new, at least newer than Old Dale, which wasn’t called Old Dale then either, just Dale. But you see the problem with them both being called Dale then don’t you? To further complicate matters neither Old Dale or New Dale was too much worth looking at. In fact if you click on the link you’ll probably be a might disappointed because if there weren’t a title on the page you wouldn’t be able to tell if you were in New Dale or Old Dale, because New Dale doesn’t look any newer than Old Dale and Old Dale doesn’t either. BTW, nobody knows who Dale was in the first place. He moved out of Old Dale while it was still new.
New Dale Ghost Town – Twentynine Palms, California Area
Barrel Cactus
There are many different varieties of barrel cactus, but a couple of things pretty much hold true with all of them. First, the taller ones tend to point toward the south. This is due to the fact that for most of the year the sun is more toward the south. Second, it is not a good idea to drink the juice from the cactus when out of water. A couple of reasons for that; one, these cacti are tough, and the perspiration expended to open one of these up would exceed the available water within. Secondly, the liquid will most likely cause a horrible case of diarrhea, further depleting the body of water and accelerating dehydration.