Month: November 2015

California-Nevada Desert (Circa 1972-73)

On one Death Valley trip, we traveling photographers stopped in the tiny town of Beatty, Nevada after having checked out nearby ghost towns, including Rhyolite.  In Beatty, we came upon a wedding in a bar (of which I so far can find only one or two photos, although I know we shot there for a couple of hours or more), then met and followed “Death Valley Annie” in her ’59 Ford to her combined desert residence/thrift store/junk yard.  We also documented various automotive wastage along the way and into the eastern entrance to Death Valley.  I also find a roadside photo (no, I did not go inside) of the notorious Cottontail Ranch which suddenly popped up in the middle of the barren desert.  And the evening before, we spotted a strategically-placed sheriff’s vehicle with cardboard cutout of an occupant “officer”.  A few images here, must be hundreds more somewhere …

Death Valley, Thanksgiving 1971

Possibly my favorite place in North America, Death Valley became a frequent destination for photographic treks from about 1967 – 1978.  One such visit took place over a long Thanksgiving weekend in 1971; some new finds from the negative archives are presented here.  From about 1974 on, the Land Rover was the vehicle of choice to traverse terrifying mining trails.  But in 1971, it was the VW camper (pictured a couple of times here).  (I have also done Death Valley with Ford truck, Porsche and Alfa Romeo at various times.)  There is no bad time to go — of course, 120+ degree summers scare off many people, but in some ways that is the best experience.  Thanksgiving is ideal in terms of moderate weather and the least  tourists (springtime is most popular: decent weather and sometimes surprising blooming flowers).  Don’t get me started about Death Valley … it can feel like several distinct planets and a religious experience (think Carlos Castaneda) and more.

Mineral King and Sawtooth Peak Weekend (1972)

Today’s discovery in the ancient and never-published film negative archives documents a 1972 backpack with a couple of friends and Sierra Club members to the Mineral King area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range.  First day we hiked to around 7000 feet where we camped overnight on the shore, just a few feet from the water in an ice-cold snowmelt-fed lake.  (You can see the lake in pics both at shore level and looking down from the overhead peak.) The next day was a stripped-down-for-action scramble up the rocks for another 4000 or so feet to the top of Sawtooth Peak.