FighterControl

I headed out to California in October for a couple of weeks with the original plan to spend time at the Canyon doing low level,however circumstances a couple of months before I flew out meant the area was restriced for low fly,so what better thing to do than have a road trip instead with some aviation thrown in.
Driving up to Mammoth Lakes for the first couple of days meant I would get the chance for some sunrise/sunset shots at Convict Lake and Mono Lake,that was before KLM left my baggage in Amsterdam which included my Tripod so long exposures were pretty much out the question with out some dodgy balancing on some rocks,some of which worked out and others not so!
1/Convict Lake Sunrise


2/Mono Lake,Now I was in 2 minds wether to go here for sunset or not with past experience telling me it would be mobbed and usually not as spectacular as the sunrise can be,how glad was I that I went ! Lenticular clouds and stunning light which literally came from nowhere with several photographers having already left thinking that there wasn`t going to be anything much happening!


3/More Mono Lake Tufas,could really have used my tripod here!


Next day and into Yosemite with a couple of shots and locations in mind,I had previously been to viewpoints for Half Dome and I was thankful as all the areas around up there were packed and the best spot you are no longer allowed to park at,so I got to spend my time hiking out to Taft Point where I managed some small critters
in and about the logs and a crazy bunch doing hi wiring with El Capitan and the Valley floor behind them

4/Always worth looking back when driving up the Tioga Pass


5/Chipmunk


6/Taft Point and El Capitan


7/Hi Wiring with El Capitan in the background


8/El Capitan reflection


9/Tunnel View....El Capitan,Halfdome and you can just make out Bridalveil Falls


After spending the night in the small town of Mariposa just about an hour or so from Yosemite it was a drive across to San Francisco with a couple of stops along the way to check for wildlife locations,I hadn`t intended on spending to long in San Fran as it was such a last minute plan of a road trip but I knew of some shots I really wanted to get,some worked some didn`t however my main plan of visiting Baker Beach for sunset was well worth the visit,I`ll definitely visit San Francisco again hopefully for a couple of days to check it out a bit more.
10/Golden Gate Bridge from Baker Beach


11/Waves breaking on the rocks in front of the Golden Gate


12/Sunset looking across Golden Gate Strait from Baker Beach


Next was something I was looking forward to,driving down Highway 1 ... the Pacific Highway! Again so many places I wanted to stop and photograph but needs more planning for best times of day etc,could probably do with driving the road 3-4 times up and down to catch certain places a different times of the day,however a stop at Watsonville near Moss Landing meant I could fit in a 4 hour Whale Watching cruise where we were able to see upto about 10 Humpbacks feeding among literally 1000`s of Californian Sealions and about 500-700 Risso Dolphins,amazing to watch and be so close to,no breaching images on this trip but maybe next time!

13/Humpback Fluke coming right at and under our boat!


14/Another fluke


15/Mass of Sealions surfacing together during a feeding session which would be precursor for the Whales to surface amongst them all


16/Pacific Sea Otter munching on an Innkeeper worm or by it`s other name a Penis Fish


17/Catching some waves at Moss Landing


18/Bixby Bridge on Hwy 1


19/Looking north along the Pacific Coastline


20/Morro Bay Sea Otter


After spending a couple of days at some accomodation I had already booked and couldn`t cancel near Lake Isabella I headed south to San Diego to stay with friends for the weekend and to chill out,however we did spend the morning at Lake Hodges to photograph the Western and Clark Grebes "Rushing" on the Lake
21/Rushing Grebes


22/Another pair of Grebes


23/White American Pelicans


24/Belted Kingfisher


25/And I did manage to catch this guy playing on Lake Isabella brifely..VX-31 MH-60


Hope you like

Ross
10/

"Hope you like" - I love this post. You had me on the first photo, then the second and third...! All lovely shots but some real stunners too. Guess I'll have to make do with the occasional trip to Scotland!

Superb

WOW, what a fantastic set of pictures.

Ian C

Really like the Mono Lake pics and what a result with the lenticular clouds.

With the closure of the Canyon you made a cracking photographic trip.

Wow,what a post.Brought back memories from a long time ago of San Francisco and Yosemite.These pictures are beautiful and if they were on a calender I am sure would sell by the lorry load.Thanks for posting.

Fantastic set of pictures. Absolutely stunning!

Stunning locations with stunning images, bravo.

Ian in Leeds

They are absolutely superb

Thanks everyone,definitely recommend to anyone thinking of this sort of trip around California to definitely go for it!

Hi Ross - who did you whale watch with? We will be there in a couple of months.

Superb shots in a beautiful location, excellent post.

stickshaker wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2020 1:20 pm

Hi Ross - who did you whale watch with? We will be there in a couple of months.

I used these guys from recommendation and have to admit they were great,cruises leaves from Moss Landing rather than Monterrey so less time spent on the journey up to the main feeding grounds meaning more time with the whales,also the harbour area at Moss Landing has lots of Sea Otters

https://www.sanctuarycruises.com/

Ross

Thanks - we have been to the area before and were lucky with sea otters - having not seen much at Monterey, we found out about Moss Landing from a local fisherman and a chap there let us onto the pontoons. They are pretty photogenic!



We have a relatively short-notice re-attack next month (due to changing our hols from the far east ). I think we will be staying west of the mountains because of the time of year, and plan to spend more time at fewer locations, but Moss Landing is definitely on the list. I had found Sanctuary Cruises but couldn't find anything actually in Watsonvile so thanks for the recommendation.

stickshaker wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 12, 2020 11:34 am

Thanks - we have been to the area before and were lucky with sea otters - having not seen much at Monterey, we found out about Moss Landing from a local fisherman and a chap there let us onto the pontoons. They are pretty photogenic!



We have a relatively short-notice re-attack next month (due to changing our hols from the far east ). I think we will be staying west of the mountains because of the time of year, and plan to spend more time at fewer locations, but Moss Landing is definitely on the list. I had found Sanctuary Cruises but couldn't find anything actually in Watsonvile so thanks for the recommendation.

Somewhere else to look at is down the coast at Morro Bay,really nice little town and plenty Sea Otters casually swimming around and the place has a nice elevated boardwalk which goes around the back of the shops,bars and restaurants along the harbour area.
Its only about 5 mins from Watsonville to Moss Landing and the Motel 6 there is of a really good standard,infact I stayed at 3 different Motel 6 on the trip and all 3 were excellent standard.

Any other info just pm me