Bandon Beach II

Here are a few more pics from the workshop here at Bandon, Oregon.

Here are a few more pics from the workshop here at Bandon, Oregon.

http://www.jerrydodrill.com

Bandon Beach

This morning at Bandon Beach, with a -1.8 tide

Rhodies

We hiked deep into the forest yesterday, down and back up Damnation Creek Trail, scouting locations to shoot the best blooms of rhododendrons. This morning we went back out, with thick fog, to get the shots. The forest under-story was pretty tall, so I took the big tripod. Here is Justin putting it to good use at the best group of flowers we could find.

We're in Bandon now, gearing up for the workshop, which starts tomorrow.

Signing off for now,

Jerry Dodrill

Up the Coast - Crescent City

I'm in a hotel in Crescent City, heading north, up the coast toward Bandon, Oregon for a week with my friend Justin Black, to assist John Shaw on a Mountain Light Photo Workshop. We stopped this evening at Damnation Creek Trail in Del Norte Redwoods to check out the rhododendrons. The are just coming on nicely. For four years in a row I've driven up here to shoot them and have never gotten it just right. Two weeks ago I was up again with my students from Pacific Union College. We scouted some nice locations but it was too early. Perhaps tomorrow morning, or next week on the way home, we'll nail the images I've been visualizing.

Tonight we checked out the Battery Point Light House, a pretty cool place. There is a jetty and these strange concrete breakwater objects. I saw an Asian fisherman on the point and found him to offer a great sense of scale against the ocean and forms. More to come as the trip progresses.

Desolation Skiing

A few friends and I took off for a little excursion to Desolation Wilderness this past weekend. Berghorn and I skied in on Friday morning after getting a wilderness permit and sorting out the parking situation with the US Forest Circus, CHP, and some sheriffs officers who thought we were up to no good. Eric warded them off at the back of the car while I talked to CHP on my cell phone in the front seat. Nobody really knew what to tell us, and we ended up just parking along the road (the parking lot is closed all winter - brilliant). If it were to start snowing, we would be towed! Luckily, it didn't. The Forest Service hadn't issued a single wilderness permit this winter for the Pyramid Creek Trailhead at Twin Bridges, across from Lover's Leap. So virtually none of the snow was tracked.

Digging camp on a warm, windless day after skinning up the steep brushy slopes.
Meanwhile, Andrew and The Chiz were skiing in. Eric (Chisholm) brought a massage table up the hill with him, okay, not really, but we wished he had. They got to camp and we had a nice dinner.

Next morning the weather changed. Wind and clouds, and we were nervous about getting towed if it started snowing, which was in the forecast for the afternoon. Eric made breakfast, some amazing pancakes from scratch, and we watched the clouds.

After a while it started clearing up. Chisholm held down camp while the rest of us headed toward Pyramid Peak.


Weather was windy and funky, so we blew off the summit and headed down the awesome east slopes. Andrew dropping in...

Crossing bear tracks

Gunning it for camp

Andrew was pretty psyched on his new split board, hit the steeps and caused a little slider on the last drop. Luckily, we didn't have to use our avalanche beacons.

The weather was supposed to come in overnight and we didn't want to drive to Placerville to pick up our car from the impound, so we blasted out and caught climbing legend Fred Becky's slide show in South Lake. Good times indeed!

Whipped boys watching tv in the hotel after a great couple days schlepping loads up and down the hills. Next time we'll forgo he packs and blast it in a day.


Motivate...

Instigate...

-Jerry
http://www.jerrydodrill.com

Easy Street? Never mind.

A couple weeks ago I posted about risk in climbing relative to driving a car. Uh, yeah, well never mind. Danger is everywhere.

Yesterday, my friend Steve and I were at a popular local sport crag that we visit every week or two. He was lowering me off a route just at dark and I was swinging over to clean our draws off an adjacent line. I grabbed and pulled sideways on a feature that usually gets pulled straight down on. I unclipped the draw and still held on when to my dismay the feature rolled out out from the wall under my hand and went spinning toward the ground. It happened too fast to even yell ROCK!, though I might have yelled something else as I suddenly went flying through space. The 18" rock plate just missed Steve's head and glanced off his gloved brake hand.

It was a sobering moment. When you climb at your backyard crag all the time the risks seem to be under control. It seems like nothing can possibly happen there. It can.

Exploring the Mojave National Preserve

With the holidays approaching, Arienne and I decided to load up our van and explore the desert for a few days before joining her family for Christmas in Las Vegas. We didn't really have a solid plan but headed toward Barstow on Hwy 58. Going through the outskirts of Mojave you start seeing the quirkiness of desert life and the effects of downsizing at Edwards Air Force Base.

When we got to Baker on I-15, we followed signs south to an area we had never visited, the Mojave National Preserve. I'd seen some great photos Jack Dykinga had made in the preserve, so thought we'd take a look and headed down Kelbaker Road toward Kelso, an old railroad stop. The Kelso Depot has been freshly renovated and looked more like a suburban Vegas clubhouse than something out of the old west. Fortunately the old post office had retained its "charm."

Tracks at Kelso

Next, we headed out to the expansive Kelso dunes and went for a hike. The dunes were amazing, with signs of wildlife everywhere and remnants of the spring wildflower bloom. We'll have to come back to see that.

Just to the south we could see high granite spires sticking over the horizon so went that way and found a campsite where I could get out and photograph at sunrise while Arienne slept in.

There was a storm rolling in and despite my hopes for a great sunrise, the clouds blocked the good light. It was bitter cold with strong wind, so before long I crawled back in the van and made a second cup of coffee. Arienne was ready to face the world and we went on a nice walk through the unworldly gardens of cactus, yucca, and joshua trees. I can only imagine what it will be like in March or April when everything is blooming!

With a bit of time left we explored some dirt roads near Cima where we found what is apparently the thickest forest of joshua trees in existence. 

Off in the distance I saw an odd wooden structure and figured it could only be the remnant of an old mine. Piles of old tailings were a good clue. We followed a dirt road right to it and spent the better part of the day crawling down inside dark abandoned mine shafts. It was cool to see, and I think we found a gold nugget (fools gold most likely!).

So thats wraps up our first trip to the Mojave Preserve but you can bet we'll be back and next time we'll bring a 4wd so we can really get off the beaten path. If you have any favorite spots to see petroglyphs, wildlife, flowers, etc, I appreciate your input. 

As always, your comments are welcome, and each of the image are available as fine art prints. 

-Jerry Dodrill

photo@jerrydodrill.com