2024 Calendar images

2024 Calendar  

 

cover: Boynton Canyon, Sedona, AZ, 1999

January

 

    Zim and Maureen moving cattle at V6 ranch, Parkfield, CA 

The V6 ranch is a huge piece of land very far from anywhere in central California. We went there in October, 2022 for a Chris Ellsworth clinic. In the dry Diablo Range mountains, Maureen and Zim had a good time working cattle out on the range. This scene is from a photo that Maureen took as they were bringing the herd back to camp.

February

Seven Gables and Marie Lake, John Muir Wilderness, CA

In 2001, my friend, Gerald, and I hiked the John Muir Trail. After seven days on the trail, we came to Marie Lake, a very beautiful lake with many little islands and peninsulas. As the sun sank low, alpenglow lit the mountain beyond the lake, a peak named Seven Gables.

March

Graveyard at a pueblo north of Santa Fe, NM

In 1992 we made a trip to many places in the Southwest, and we enjoyed the art and culture of the area. We spent a few days camped on the Rio Grande between Santa Fe and Taos. One day we visited one of the native American pueblos nearby and walked around the village and this graveyard gate caught our attention.

April

Fremont River, Capitol Reef National Park, UT

On our 1992 trip, one of our favorite stops was Capitol Reef. We camped on a lawn next to an apple orchard where deer gathered in the evening to eat apples. The Fremont River runs through the park making a green oasis in the middle of dry, red-rock desert. We really enjoyed hiking several of the trails near the river.

 May

Downtown Darwin, CA

My cousin, Joe, passed away recently, and we went to a memorial for him in Darwin, the town where he spent the last 40 years or so with his wife, Jody. Darwin is an interesting little community off the road to Death Valley, a semi- ghost town inhabited by a few who like the remoteness of the place.

 June

Beavertail cactus near Darwin, CA 

On the morning of Joe’s memorial, my cousin, Bill, led a bunch of us on a hike to a mine up on a hill just outside of town. I enjoyed seeing some of the desert environment close-up. The brilliant color of this cactus flower stood out against the muted colors of the hillside.

 July

Fair in Ganges, Salt Spring Island, BC

 One of our favorite places is the area around Vancouver Island in British Columbia. We have made a number of trips there spread out over 50 years, and in 2019 we went back again. We spent several days on Salt Spring Island, and one day we went into the main town, Ganges, and found a small fair going on. It was a colorful scene.

August

Sunset and San Francisco skyline from Alameda, CA

On my 79th birthday we went out to celebrate and ended up at a restaurant on the bay shore of Alameda. We found the food rather ordinary, but we enjoyed that it was quiet and uncrowded. At the end of our meal, we went out to see an amazing sunset over the bay, which made the day very special.

September

Snow bank, west side of Mt. Ritter, Ansel Adams Wilderness, CA

In September, 1976,I did a solo backpacking trip across the high sierra from Yosemite Valley to the east side of the range. For a good part of the trip, I was off trail and didn’t see any other people. I love the stark beauty of high mountain places and saw plenty of it on this trip. As I was climbing out of the North Fork of the San Joaquin toward Mt. Ritter, this snowbank caught my eye.

October

Teakettle Junction, Death Valley National Park, CA

The last time we visited Joe and Jody in Darwin was in 1999. They took us on a long drive in Death Valley on rough desert roads to see the Racetrack, a playa where rocks mysteriously move across the salt flats leaving long trails. On the way, we passed Teakettle Junction, a very remote location where people have left many teakettles hanging from the sign.

November

Barn in Fruita, Capitol Reef National Park, UT

Recently, we made another trip through the southwest, and we spent a couple  of days at one of our favorite places, Capitol Reef and the area of Fruita, the remains of an old farming settlement of Mormon pioneers. On our first trip in 1992, I took a photo of an old barn and later painted the scene. We saw the barn again on our recent trip, and it has not changed at all.

 December

Dolly in the snow at Mike and Norma’s ranch in the Livermore Hills

We had a cold, wet winter last year and some of the storms dusted the local hills with snow. Our friends, Norma and Mike, have a ranch up in the mountains south of Livermore, and one day Norma went up there and took a few photos which she shared with us. Some years ago they had a male donkey named Guido on the ranch and they adopted a female, Dolly, to keep him company. Guido got old and died and now Dolly is all by herself, but she gets along quite well.