Bertha Peak

It's May in California and in the midst of a ridiculous drought, it happened to snow quite a lot in the mountains. We got some rain - two days worth - out by the coast, but the mountains got the good stuff. The white stuff. We anxiously waited for the week to end so we could head to the mountains. Saturday morning rolled around and we hit the highway. The winding road that leads up to Big Bear Lake was a cloudy, foggy mess. There were moments when we literally couldn't see much more than a few feet in front of our car. The Subaru took it nice and slow and got up the mountains, through the mist, and safely delivered us to the trail of the day.

We headed up the Cougar Crest Trail from the Big Bear Discovery Center. A couple of miles in, we met the Pacific Coast Trail and trekked along that for a short distance. Eventually, we came to a fork, veered right, and hiked up a steep, steep fire road. Suddenly, some radio towers were in front of us, and we were at the top of Bertha Peak. She sits 8,200 feet up in the air, and we took every one of those feet in by wheel and by foot. The view was worth it.

Neighboring mountains and a lake and ski slopes... all surrounded in clouds and fog. A lovely day hike - slightly less than 8 miles, with an almost 1,700 foot gain. (Legs = sore.)

Zoe In A Cone

The little bean got an eye ulcer. It's a quite painful thing to experience, which means she is getting all of the snuggles. She's on some pain killers that leave her in a pile on the couch for a few hours, which honestly is a good thing. When she is a awake, she is running into walls and kicking the cone and just hating the "cone of shame". We have no idea how this happened to her, but hopefully it gets all healed up rather quickly. It's a hard thing to see her hurting and so uncomfortable. Hopefully her follow-up at the dreaded vet in a couple of days means the cone can go away for good! 

A Cairn Photo

I am so excited that a photo of mine was featured in the Cairn Box for May 2015. It's pretty cool to see my photo printed in something like this. We signed up for Cairn a couple of months ago and love it! It is a surprise box of outdoorsy goodies delivered every month. So far, the things in the box have been fantastic - from a backup battery for my phone, to chap stick and sunscreen, to fire starters, and a fantastic Hydroflask pint glass, and some tasty trail snacks. It's a great surprise in the mail every month, and the company behind the box is pretty fantastic.

For more info, check out their website!

An Idyllwild Adventure

We took a quick trip up to Idyllwild a while back. Kim lived a few young years in this little mountain town. She showed me the house she lived in, the school she briefly attended, and a few other little places that she remembered. We browsed the little downtown area, purchased some cute little souvenirs, and enjoyed a tasty lunch at "The Lumber Mill". A big burger and a burrito, and some cold beer, was a great way to head into the mountains. We got our permits and headed to the trailhead. From there, we met a couple of friendly rangers - good to have those permits! This was my first time ever walking through a mountain forest and the views were just amazing...

Camping At Joshua Tree

We finally got out first camping trip to Joshua Tree on the books. This magical place is definitely one of my favorite little spots to run away to. It was so much fun to sleep under the stars and under our own little Joshua Tree at our campsite. We started off the day by stopping at a couple of campsites to find the "perfect spot". We just so happened to land on a weekend with a wind advisory, so most of the spots were way too windy for a tent. We finally settled on one spot, with a nook between some rocks and bushes... hoping it would shield us from the wind overnight. It's pretty rough sleeping - or not sleeping - in a tent being blown in wind gusts. We did that at Anza-Borrego, and basically, stayed awake all night. After picking a spot, we took a little hike from our site to let the sun go down a little before making camp. This place, it's a desert wonderland... so much to explore.

The SX-70 Goes To The Desert!

The SX-70 took its first trip to the desert (with me, anyway). Instant photos with focus and some sharpness. Who knew! I love this camera. :)

My First SX-70 Photos

I joined the "Polaroid Week" group on Flickr this year on somewhat of a whim. I don't shoot a ton of instant, but I sure do love the little bit that I do. I didn't have much to share, since everything you share has to be "new" and unshared previously. I blog most of my photos, so I didn't have much. It worked out quite perfectly that a good pal happened to mail me a surprise pack of authentic Polaroid film. I used that on an 11 mile hike, along with a pack of Impossible, so I would have some photos to share. 

I didn't know that there would be giveaways, but oh, there were! I entered one giveaway specific giveaway really hoping to win, but highly doubting that I would. A Polaroid SX-70 camera was the prize. I went to bed early one night and missed the winner announcement. Thanks to one guy tweeting at me, I woke up to a wonderful surprise. I won! A few days later, a new camera arrived in the mail and I stuffed in with one of two packs of film I had on hand. 

The first photo I take is always the wife and the kitty. Here they are. :)

Joshua Tree on "Infrared" Film

I shot a roll of the always surprising Ilford SFX out at Joshua Tree last weekend. This film is one of my favorites, mainly because it never ceases to offer a surprise when it comes back from processing. It's a faux infrared black and white film. You add a red filter to the camera and shoot away, and the result is super dark skies, super bright foliage, and apparently, it has fun with Joshua Tree rocks, too.

Purple Chrome Joshua Tree

Here is another film that is completely new to me. This roll is another from Lomography called Purple Chrome. It is hyped as a faux color infrared, but also for just giving crazy purples and teals. I took this to the other-wordly terrain of Joshua Tree to see what it would do. I love the teal skies and the purple trees and cacti. It's strange to shoot film that sees things other than what my eyes can see, but makes for a fun surprise when the film comes back. 

My First Try At Redscale

I attended the Film Photography Podcast Walking Workshop a few weeks ago. There was some discussion there about redscale film and it intrigued me. I spent a little bit of time researching about this film, and decided to try it out. Here is my first shot at trying out a roll!

These photos were also taken in a little Minolta Auto Zoom that I got at the same workshop. We went camping in Anza-Borrego, which included climbing around on big rocks. This camera came in so handy and was so easy to run around with.

For some strange reason, sometimes this film gave me yellow results, sometimes red, sometimes hot pink. I'm assuming the light variances played a roll in this. Otherwise, no idea why or what caused it, but I like the variances. Also, notice that super cool date stamp in the corner - prior to my figuring out how to turn it off. :)