June 30, 2016 – You can’t get much simpler for a “landscape simplified” than a high-desert vista, with its sparse vegetation, amazing skies, and long-forgotten treasures, like the ruins of this limestone mine where we made camp. During both days of our adventure, we never saw another soul, just wide open spaces and the quietest quiet you’ve ever heard. (Part one of our adventure, HERE)
52 WEEK PHOTO CHALLENGE
WEEK 26: Landscape/Simplified
Simply the scene to make your primary subject stand out!
Funny what a bit of golden light can do. I shot the same photo moments before the sun broke over the hills, and boy! The photo without the rays doesn’t have nearly the same ZING. There’s no editing in either picture, just Mother Nature’s brilliance.
Landscape Simplified Runners Up:
SOLO PEAK
My second choice photo I shot from up on a hill next to the dunes.
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THE DUNES
Third choice. Our original planned destination. The Dunes. Much as we wanted to go deeper in, that dang sand was soft, even with our four-wheel drive. I love the simple vastness in this image, but there’s no solid focal point, no primary subject.
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THE ROAD
Third choice, this cool road cutting through a dry lakebed, one we found thanks to a wrong turn. Really wrong. Like dead-end wrong. When this gust of wind kicked up, we left.
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The Rest of Our Anniversary Journey
(WARNING: WAY TOO MANY PICTURES)
On our way to the dunes, about 26 miles down Cadiz Road–a graded chunk of dirt rough enough to shake the swivel out of Elvis–we came across these ruins, which we later figured out were part of the long-gone mining town of Chubbuck.
“Chubbuck was truly a town. It had a company store, post office, and a school. There were perhaps as many as 40 buildings, including residences for the some 24 predominantly Mexican workers and their families. The school was opened by 1932, housing grades one through eight. The post office was established in May, 1938, and was housed in the company store.”
Sadly, by the mid-nineteen-fifties–due to a change in the lime industry–Chubbuck went away.
Someone seriously took out their frustrations on this poor beast.
I walked down the road a bit (shameless selfie)…
… and ran across this little bunker, complete with tiny wood burning stove.
After our exploration of the mine ruins, we continued to the dunes, another six miles or so down a side road. At times, we got out to walk and make sure the sand wasn’t too soft. A couple of sections we had some nice sliding action, but thankfully, the Ram-a-Ram-a pulled us through.
Even though we made it only to the edge of the dunes, it was still pretty spectacular.
Had the sun not been setting, and the wind picking up–erasing any signs of the road–we might have made camp there, but instead circled back to Chubbock where we watched the sunset.
Ate an anniversary tailgate dinner.
Made S’Mores.
And slept under the light of a full moon.
Morning brought this beautiful sunrise.
We drank a nice thermos of almost-hot coffee.
And back to civilization we wandered. A grand anniversary trip for sure!
See? Way too many pictures.
Until next week’s ARTISTIC BLUE…
Later gators!
