Vegas: Charleston 03 - Scenic drive

Despite stopping to take photos of and greet the wild burros down the road, we still had some ways to go before we actually reached Mount Charleston proper and all the things it has to offer. The drive to get there is beautiful, though, and in and of itself quite a worthy inclusion on the blog. The higher the elevation climbs, the more the desert landscape recedes to make room for the mountain trees and all the lush foliage the snow melt provides for. It's always fun, to me, to see the drastic change so close to home. You can see a similar change in the scenery on the drive out to Los Angeles once you pass the state line and start ascending into the mountainscape. Here at Mount Charleston, you'll find yourself quickly elevating out of the Joshua trees and dry, desiccated shrubbery of the lower desert, to find the shuddering leaves of cedar and pines predominant. The temperature dips into a more comfortable chill as you leave the valley bowl, no longer scorching the goodness from the earth with as much rapidity as the harsher elevations below. It's still rough terrains, with a gravel-rich soil forming the base from which the life grows. Even so, life, uh, finds a way. Always. And the life in this area is especially rich and green, especially after the many small rainstorms that worked their way through the region over the summer months.  I mentioned it and then Antho kind of paused, before reassessing the scenery and thanking me for calling it to his attention. The desert is a landscape of extremes, after all, and it's not exactly one to boldly proclaim it's resources to those without eyes. If you know what to look for, though, it's quite beautiful. 

Blue skies provide a sharp contrast to the greens, tans, and greys that proliferate below. After decades of living here, I've grown to love the desert scenery for what it is, but I can't acknowledge it's beauty without also giving nod to the scarcity it exists under. While deserts make up a fair portion of the landscape of the United States, the conditions they exist under are extremely fragile. Lake Mead is already down to 38 percent of it's capacity, and while it's an unnatural addition to the landscape thanks to the workings of humans it has provided an important facet to the area since its inception. Charleston, though, is its own locale...

Vegas: Valley of Fire part 4

This will be the last in the series of Valley of Fire posts I'll be doing for now, so if you're sick of seeing all these pictures of pretty rocks you can rest easy as the posts on this blog will soon be back to different subject matter. As for me, I absolutely love Valley of Fire and am excited to get back out there again soon and take more photos! Anyone with access to a camera can be a photographer, really, but it's the practice and personal perspective you bring to it that defines you from the rest- at least in my little ol' opinion. Everyone has a different way of seeing the world, as is especially clear when asking others to take photos for you when you have a particular vision in mind. My camera is nothing terribly fancy, at least compared to those massive lensed things I see the professionals using, and I've had it for years yet I'm still learning how to fully utilise all the functions it has at it's disposal and am always finding something new and interesting to try. So far it has worked well for my needs and I'm grateful to my past self for picking it up on a whim back at that shopping center in Shin-Urayasu station. Every day, every outing, is a new opportunity for exploration and experimentation and documenting it along the way helps to preserve those memories for years down the road. As long as digital media remains I can literally scour digital impressions of my memories. I think that's pretty amazing. 

And Valley of Fire? It's beautiful. I highly recommend going if you're ever in the area. We didn't even set foot near their visitor center, but if you have the time you can learn a lot about the area and it's history. By this point in our stay the sun was starting to dip lower in the horizon and we were starting to feel a bit of a crunch for time. The park is open from sunrise to sunset, and once the sun goes down it gets dark out there- very dark. The city lights of Las Vegas are miles away and the winding roads are only sporadically lit with street lights, making it a bit of a nerve-wracking drive if you're not careful. By the time we neared Lake Mead it was far too dark for photos as the distance between pools of light grew and their pale beams barely pierced the shadows. 

What photos remain will continue after the cut!