Owens Valley

…more new(ly digitized) old (35 mm.) images

1975-6-011©

Whitney trail

oct75-014 Stitch

Approaching the Sierra crest after a night at Trail Camp: a series of switchbacks pass beneath the needles, or aiguilles, that line the crest south from Whitney summit to Mt. Muir, the 14,025′ peak immediately above the trail.

needles-labeled

Looking back

Looking back from Trail Crest down into the Owens Valley through Whitney Portal: The Owens River winds through the valley beyond the Alabama Hills and the trees of Lone Pine. Across lie the Inyo Mtns, with 10,668′ New York Butte. On the distant horizon, the Last Chance and Cottonwood mountain ranges disappear in dust blown up from the intervening Saline and Death valleys.

Looking west from the Whitney Trail Crest: The Hitchcock Lakes and 13,188' Mt. Hitchcock. In the distance, Mt. Kaweah and the peaks of the Great Western Divide.

Looking west from the Whitney Trail Crest: The Hitchcock Lakes and 13,188′ Mt. Hitchcock. In the distance, Mt. Kaweah and the peaks of the Great Western Divide.

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/wattifoto/6179965484/in/photostream/ for a labeled view of the above peaks]
From the top

Looking east atop 14,495′ (then) Mt. Whitney (14,505′ now). Mt. Williamson, 5.5 miles distant, is at my elbow.

North from Whitney

Looking north from Mt. Whitney:14,384′ Mt. Williamson (center) 5. 5 miles away. In the right foreground is 14,190′ Mt. Russell.

After climbing Mt. Whitney, then returning to Trail Crest, we hiked west, down to the John Muir Trail, then north across the Bighorn Plateau, over Shepherd Pass and back home to Independence, California.

After climbing Mt. Whitney, then returning to Trail Crest, we hiked west, down to the John Muir Trail, then north across the Bighorn Plateau, over Shepherd Pass and back home to Independence, California.

Map-Whitney-ShepherdPass

Home in sight

Home in sight: Looking down Shepherd Creek from the pass, Independence straight ahead.

by

another Cliven Bundy?

Norman Sparks & arrowheads he collected

The Indians that made this stuff didn’t think it was anything special. They used it and tossed it aside. It was just used junk to them.

Here’s another story of a man whose family roots in a place predate today’s rules and who scoffs at “outsiders” who come to enforce the new rules:

http://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-me-c1-relic-hunter-20140724-story.html#page=1

Mr. Sparks reminds me of a lot of men I knew in the Owens Valley and Death Valley areas. When I moved to Tecopa in 1974, I wrote about the impact a then proposed Wilderness designation would have on the mining tradition that, in part, led to designation of Death Valley as a National Monument:

“Death Valley Prospect: No Miners Allowed,” Coast, Aug. 1974.

I don’t think it’s just my Libra nature that sees these as more complex issues than they first appear. I’d be interested in your thoughts.

Another instance of a similar phenomenon occurred when thousands of Mormon pioneers persecuted in the East headed for what was Mexico when they left and became part of the US frontier shortly after the first of them arrived. They set down deep roots in Deseret and built a virtual empire around a religious principle, only to have new rules enforced upon them by a larger, outside power.