The granite slabs of the Rostrum on Highway 41 have flat-topped bumps, remnants of erosive action. The clouds echoed the staccato texture at dusk.

Patina’d silver
against an indigo sky
Night shouldering in.

This is an ongoing series of posts on the principles of Leave No Trace. I’ve received permission from the kid folks at Leave No Trace to lift information wholecloth from their website. It is our duty as photographers to learn, practice and preach Leave No Trace ethics from the mean streets to the back country.

At Vogelsang High Sierra Camp, I pitched my tent in the shade of a stand of trees not far from the tents, but not in the official backpacker’s camp. I was concerned about the location, fearing it was too close to the trail. A friendly back country ranger approached and asked for my permit, which I gladly gave him. “Am I too close to the trail?”, I asked. I was tired, hungry, and the last thing I wanted to do was move my camp. But I would have if asked. I was lucky. “Technically, yes, but I’d rather that you camped on an area that already is impacted rather than on the grass at the official area.” I was safe.

The site was sandy, tucked between a large glacial erratic boulder and weathered pines. It was out of the wind, private, and offered an unparalleled view of Fletcher Lake and Fletcher peak. It remains one of my favorite campsites.

From the Leave No Trace website comes this bit of information:

Choosing a Campsite in High-Use Areas

Avoid camping close to water and trails and select a site which is not visible to others. Even in popular areas the sense of solitude can be enhanced by screening campsites and choosing an out-of-the-way site. Camping away from the water’s edge also allows access routes for wild life. Be sure to obey regulations related to campsite selection. Allow enough time and energy at the end of the day to select an appropriate site. Fatigue, bad weather, and late departure times are not acceptable excuses for choosing poor or fragile camp sites.

Generally, it is best to camp on sites that are so highly impacted that further careful use will cause no noticeable impact. In popular areas, these sites are obvious because they have already lost their vegetation cover. Also, it is often possible to find a site which naturally lacks vegetation, such as exposed bedrock or sandy areas.

On high-impact sites, tents, traffic routes, and kitchen areas should be concentrated on already impacted areas. The objective is to confine impact to places which already show use and avoid enlarging the area of disturbance. When leaving camp, make sure that it is clean, attractive, and appealing to other campers who follow.

Two benefits of camping far from water’s edge are less mosquitos, and less chance of bear incursions in your camp. A final tip for moving about in the back country is stop on the trail to cook and eat your food, then continue on after cleaning up to camp. Bears are attracted to the smell of food cooking, and to any bits of food that find their way to the ground. If you don’t cook in your camp, there’s less chance a bear will visit begging for scraps.

Fuchsia flowers are native to South America, as are nasturtiums. Nasturtium literally means “nose twister”, and shares the name with members of the watercress family, but is not related. The genus is Tropaeolum, and the flowers are edible, imparting a sharp, peppery flavor to salads.

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine

Cloudy days give soft, even light which emphasizes color. These brugmansia blossoms hang in front of a garage door frame in San Fransisco, California. Thanks to my new pal Rebecca Jackrel for her kind hospitality over the weekend!

Tracks from wagon wheels are still visible on the arid soil of Death Valley. Travelers made their way from the mountains in the distance to a land rich with water, arable soil, and cool breezes. These tracks lead to the now defunct and capped Stovepipe Wells.

Last light gilds this phalanx of Shooting stars at White Wolf Lodge.

Trees reflected in a tarn.

Meltwater from a snowbank drips into a stream