Mono Lake Escape #4

I do this strange thing sometimes. Where I live, in the summer, the weather is well kind of like winter, only duller with less color and sky. I live on the N. Coast of Santa Cruz County in Central California and as much as I so love the deep beauty of this area and the sea, I find it really refreshing to actually feel some heat on my body in the middle of July. So, on a whim and a thorough scouring of the satellite imagery and discussion boards at NOAA (where the meteorologists are pretty much talking to themselves- see example), I take that most profound of drives straight across California to the eastern side of the Sierras. This usually takes me from around 60°F through 100°+ back to 60° and finally around 78°. Warmth, but not too much. Just right and if my weather skills did me right, I'm looking at skies majestic with monsoonal dynamics. Just what the doctor ordered. Welcome to the far western reaches of the Great Basin in just 6 hours. I might return the next day, but I try for at least 2 nights.




The last picture is the Sonora Pass where I got hit hard by a hail storm. The first is the wonderful mountains above Convict Lake and the others are Mono Lake. As usual, it's hard to really find the magic photographic in just a 2 day trip as weather has it's ways of teaching patience, but I just love this zone and even if I never pressed a shutter, I'd be recharged and heated for another month of the wind and grey at the coast.