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

Easy Street

As a rock climber of many years, I've endured numerous lectures from well intentioned folks about how dangerous climbing is. "Do you have a death wish? How can you justify such unnecessary risks?" These are age old questions that I continually fail to answer convincingly. A death wish? No. You've never felt more alive than when you're on the edge. But rather than describe the unexplainable about an activity which must be experienced to fully appreciate, I generally ramble on about the odd fact that statistically speaking, rock climbing is quite safe, and that the most dangerous part of climbing is the drive to and from the crag. Strangely, this is true. 

Climbing is indeed a high risk environment, and as a result, we learn redundant systems and methods of communication to mitigate risk. Its heads-up all the time, and because of the inherent risks, we're on our guard and are actually being relatively safe. But at the end of the day, its all too easy to load up your gear, fasten the safety belt, crank the tunes, and blast home. I've never fallen asleep while climbing, but like many of us, I've caught myself nodding behind the wheel more times than I'd like to admit. RedBull and Starbucks have kept me going many hours late at night when I should have stopped and crawled in the back seat. 

Having used this argument over and over to rationalize the risks involved in climbing, I at some point became aware of the staggering number of roadside memorials. One day I was driving along the levees over in the Sacramento Delta and began stopping to photograph them. It was immediately apparent how dangerous our roads are. The memorials are where they are for good reason. Each one was intriguing, unique, tragic, and packed with emotion. Personal items belonging to the deceased, religious icons, newspaper clippings, notes, ornately carved crosses, portraits, plastic flowers, wreaths and statues are left at the place of passing, often mixed with broken glass, bits of rubber and chrome. The weather decomposes everything, adding drama to these impromptu shrines. 

I've made a point to watch for the memorials during my travels and climbing trips, and stop when I can to make photos of the interesting ones. My mind wants to know the story; What happened? Where were they going? Who were they? Just another traveller at the wrong place/wrong time? With so many variables and high rates of speed, anything can happen and there is little time to react. It could be any one of us.

The images here were made this past week out in the desolate Mojave Desert. At some point I'll figure out what to do with this growing body of work. Until then I'll just quote a warning from the Grateful Dead: "When life looks like easy street, there is danger at your door." 

You've lived another year. Congrats, and be safe!

-Jerry Dodrill

http://www.jerrydodrill.com

photo@jerrydodrill.com

Nov. 5, 2008. Did you get a newspaper today?

I drove all over town looking for one. I hadn't realized how many newspaper machines there are. They are everywhere! But they are all empty. News stands, drug stores, super markets, the liquor store, gas stations... nothing. I thought about stealing one off a neighbor's front porch. Drove to the Press Democrat printing facility in Rohnert Park. Nothing. Sold out. Not a single paper. My wife was looking in a recycling bin at the loading dock when a guy came out. He was sympathetic, looked around then said, "They screwed up and didn't print enough. Meet at Walmart in an hour. I'll have one for you."

We drove to Walmart, about a mile away, and hung out watching the odd big box social phenomenon. The guy rode up on a bike one hour and fifteen minutes later. He had bags of papers on his shoulders. They had finished a second run and he was filling the vending machines. He smiled and gave me one.

"NEW DAWN" was the headline, above a full page photo of President-Elect Barack Obama.

Now on NPR I hear that the whole country is sold out. Go figure.

Got mine.