Back in San Francisco

Wow, I lived in San Francisco for 13 years and haven't been back here for 4 years. Feels strange. Familiar and comfortable on one hand, but strange too, almost like I never left or something, but somehow that I don't belong here anymore. And yet, I feel a nostalgia and almost sadness about being here, like reminiscing about times past. I had some good times and memories here. Although I don't think I'd live here again, at least not directly in the city. I was informed a two bedroom now goes for $2500! Unbelievable! Once upon a time, back in 1994, I lived in a two bedroom in SF for $900 and my share was $450.

I leave tomorrow for my continued journey northward. It's been great staying with Luc and Lorilee in San Jose and I'll miss them and hope to see them again sometime soon.

the next stop is just south of Mendocino and then two days in the north redwoods, first camping at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and then one night in the Redwood Hostel just south of Crescent City. Then I'll head inland toward Portland and camp near the Mt. Hood National Forest (wanted to stay on the coast but couldn't find a campground for July 4. Then afterward I'll head to Astoria.

CA Redwoods - Big Basin Park

Now staying in San Jose with some friends and we went to take some photos of the redwoods in Big Basin. Here are some pics.

Nevada: land of sagebrush, mini-forests and the lonliest road in America

I headed across CO on route 70 and then into Utah, where I saw this cool tree in a desolate landscape of salt flats. I had left 2 hours later than I wanted to so I didn't get to Delta, UT until 8:30pm. For some reason, I didn't like the "vibes" of Delta, so I was hesitant to stay there, but if I didn't, then I would have to travel much further to find a campsite as there was just empty land between there and the area around Ely, NV, which was about 2 hours further. Not staying in Delta was further solidified by the fact that the only campground was $28/night, and here I was planning on sleeping in my car (instead of setting up a tent). That's a bit much to pay for sleeping in your car!

So I continued on and hoped to find some BLM or national forest primitive camping area after I crossed the border into Nevada. So I drove on and near dusk a bat flew into my windshield. I thought this was a strange occurrence. I was concerned about wildlife being on the road so close to darkness, but I never thought I'd hit a bat, or rather the bat hit me. Poor thing.

So when I crossed the border into Nevada, there was the usual casino/motel/restaurant sign flashing. Just one though, as there was nothing else there except this one building. There was also an RV park too and I found I could camp there for just $5. It was fine except for the guy driving around on an ATV around midnight. I slept in the back of my car for the first time. Not bad at all. I fit in there diagonally. Nice to not have to put up a tent.

I drove on through Nevada the next morning, continuing on route 50, known as the "loneliest road in America." There was also some traffic passing by in the other direction, although there sometimes is 100 miles in between "services" and in that land there is nothing but wilderness - no people. But infinitely more interesting than driving on route area through desolate landscape. There is more variation on 50, with flat basins or sagebrush, then hills with mini-forests, then flat basins again. In the center of Nevada, in the middle of nowhere really, is the small town of Austin which seemed like a rather nice town in comparison to the border towns of Nevada. No signs of the usual casinos, but just a cute, small town. All the towns in rural Nevada seem to be still in the 1950's though - it has a very time warp feel of going back in time.

Past Austin the landscape gets a bit less interesting, and hence more boring to drive. So when I saw a huge, magnificent tree in the distance, I decided to see if there was a turnout to stop and rest a bit. Well, there was and also several other people were there. The magnificent tree was also covered in hundred of shoes! Known as the "shoe tree," people apparently decided to start throwing their shoes on it and it became a tradition and now there are hundreds of shoes hanging in it and more around the bottom as I guess some people couldn't get them to stay in the tree. Strange way to treat the only big tree along route 50!

Leaving today on a road trip

So, finally I'm leaving today on my forest photography road trip. I'll be driving to CA via CO, UT and NV (route 50 across Nevada) and will arrive in San Jose tomorrow evening to stay with friends. Then after the Bay Area, I'll be driving up the coast to photograph what I see along the way, including the redwoods and other forests, until I reach Vancouver Island.

So the focus is trees and forests, although I'm certainly not excluding other subjects. Here's a start with a cute local juniper tree on the Mt. Sanitas trail.