I was going through my images and found these two that were taken at about the same spot 15 years apart. I thought it was real interesting to see the changes. The road is washed out about 5 miles from here … and so it hasn’t been maintained since the storms of 2001. So the top photo was after 5 years of erosion. The bottom photo is 15 years later, in 2021.
Glass Mountain is southeast of Prineville in north central Oregon. It got the name from the large pieces of obsidian that are scattered across the surface. I like the showers showing off in the distance.
The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is located in the White Mountains just north of Death Valley National Park. The Bristlecones here include the oldest living trees on the planet. They are only found at about 10,000 ft (3048 m) and above in a few isolated locations. There are a number of nature trails providing paths through the forest … the erosion caused by human presence off the trails results would result in many additional tree losses … natural loss of soil being one of the main causes of Bristlecone mortality. This view is looking SE across the Owens Valley (unseen) towards the Sierra Nevada.
This shot is looking west from the White Mountains (the Bristlecone Pine area) towards the Sierras in late April. Much earlier and the road up the White Mountains is still closed from snow most years. Elevation here is over 10,000 feet.
The road is in the hills southwest of Chelan, Washington. Once you’re on it, it’s a little hard to find a place to turn around. So, I just kept going. I ended up in an area that had been involved in a fire in the last year or so… and the shadows crossing the road were dramatic.