desert
a few half frame film shots from my day in death valley on a paleontology hike with the national park service (they do these once a year and I highly recommend it).
shot on kodak gold 200 with the kodak ektar h35 camera.
researching for my latest poetry project, which focuses on death valley & its ecology (among other things). I put together an instagram story about one of the fascinating creatures that call the hottest & driest place on earth home: the devil’s hole pupfish. if you don’t want to read the fine print, you can also listen to me talk a bit about the pupfish below.
recently I found a handful of rolls of used film. with no memory of what might be on these I sent them off the be developed. this selection is from a road trip to salvation mountain about 5 years ago.
spent some time yesterday lost in the mojave in red rock canyon state park. things could have gone very badly, but I had adequate supplies & the skills to navigate my way out & back to the highway. but it turned my 5ish mile morning hike turned into a 10+ mile trek.
I love the desert & a big part of that is the way it can be both dangerous & beautiful, as well as its unpredictability. the desert can be a hostile place but it’s also thriving & full of life. I still love the desert, but I’ll take a break from 10 mile hikes for a couple of weeks at least!
early morning desert selfies, channeling wild west vibes.
fun facts:
red rock canyon state park is one of the darkest skies within a 2 hour drive of los angeles, making it an excellent place for amateur astronomy.
the tall thin spires of rock which rise from the desert badlands are called “hoodoos”.
the center of the park is an alluvial plain, caused by the depositing of sediment over millions of years by rivers flowing through the area from higher elevations.
valleys throughout the area were caused by simultaneous or concurrent uplift (due to fault-line activity) & erosion.
several films have been shot here, including many westerns & blockbusters like jurassic park.
amboy crater rises up almost 1000 feet above its surrounding lava field.
amboy crater is a cinder cone volcano located just off route 66 in california’s mojave desert. a cinder cone volcano is the simplest form or volcano, created when lava & particles are shot into the air during an eruption from a single vent. the cooling lava falls back to the earth creating a cone shape around the vent.
the amboy volcano is considered extinct & hasn’t erupted for at least 10,000 years. an easy 4.1 mile out & back hiking trail takes you through the surrounding lava field & into the crater. temperatures get very hot in the summer, above 100 degrees most days. bring extra water, sunscreen, & sun protective clothes.
view into the crater from the volcano’s rim.
