The Great Basin Desert is just a bit interesting. Until a shooting trip last Spring I've always treated Nevada as a necessary hindrance to transect on my way to the rich red walls of Southern Utah. On our way back Westward after a particularly wondrous time adventuring, shooting and wandering Abbey's country we decided to cross the Nevada expanse on the least driven highway we could find. Driving the barren stretches of the two lane back country highways I started to appreciate Nevada as more than a crossover, a gambling destination, a burning man gathering, I started to see it's landscapes for the first time. As the road in front seemingly disappeared into the horizon, immense barren mountains rose out the expansive creosote plains to shape a shaved landscape where geology was as apparent as the forming weather. Unlike the fiery red walls and canyons of the Colorado Plateau, The Great Basin Desert is subtle, it creeps up and slowly reveals its complex beauty.
After several hundred miles the desert slams up against the menacing walls of the Sierra Nevada Mountains that seem to rise straight up as if Nevada had suddenly at some ancient point been pressed down like a giant footprint. At the base of this mountainous wall lies an alkaline lake with a mineral content far exceeding the briniest oceans where calcium deposits seeping out from underwater fresh water springs form large calcium formations that slowly creep out of the water. I've photographed here several times throughout the years, but this particular time we happened upon the most beautiful sunset mixed with an outrageous thunderstorm that had me running around frantically shooting all I could.
Thank you travel Buddy!
2 comments:
Anytime pal! (It's not Nevada if you don't stop for emergency roadside lunch!)
I love the picture of the dark clouds over the ocean with the white spray.
Post a Comment