Photography . . . Travel . . .

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Madagascar - Sort Of

Everyone seems to know the Lemurs of Madagascar, but only some seem to remember the Fossas.  Fossas are the dominant carnivore on the island of Madagascar, and one of their favorite foods seems to be Lemurs.  At the San Diego Zoo the new Fossa habitat is directly across the walkway from the new Lemur habitat.

That might explain these looks.



Or maybe I'm reading too much into this.
 

Cheetah at the San Diego Zoo


Meerkats Waiting for Holiday Festivities

I don't know if these Meerkats were in fact waiting for the Fourth of July fireworks to start, but this was taken on the Fourth, and at least a couple of them look like they're just sort of waiting around for something to happen.


This guy looked particularly relaxed.


Click here to see a few more from the San Diego Zoo on July 4, 2018.
     

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Convict Lake

We stopped at Convict Lake while in the Mammoth area earlier this month.




Actually, we stopped there twice; this next one is from the next morning.

     

Mammoth Lakes, California

Earlier this month we spent a few days at Mammoth Lakes, California.  We drove up from San Diego for a little 5-day road trip, staying 3 nights at the Westin in Mammoth followed by one night at the Dow Villa Motel in Lone Pine on the way home.  Our first day in Mammoth was spent mostly at Devils Postpile National Monument; the next day we wandered around the area checking out the scenery and especially the mountain lakes of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains.

We started our day with a drive up to Minaret Vista, at 9,265' elevation, to get a view of the Sierras.  There was a forest fire not too far away, so the sky was somewhat hazy.




Without knowing it in advance, we somehow managed to time our visit to some good wildflower viewing.




From Minaret Vista you get a pretty good view of Mammoth Mountain and the gondola to the top.  We rode up there back in May of 2013, and had zero visibility due to the clouds.  We decided to skip it this trip, since the sky was still a bit hazy from the fires.



There is a chain of lakes not very far out of town with some spectacular views.


At Horseshoe Lake we found an area where there is an abnormally large concentration of CO2 coming up from the ground due to a series of earthquakes in 1989 that opened cracks underground.  The result so far is an area of over 100 acres of dead and dying trees.


It's a popular recreation spot, but you don't want to spend a lot of time too close to the ground.  There is a sign explaining what is happening, and reminding you that CO2 is heavier than air.



Lots of people were fishing, this one is down the road aways at Lake Mamie.




The road above provided a nice view of Twin Lakes.


Later we drove down to Twin Lakes and walked around. There were a lot of these bright blue dragon flies.


And a few ducks.

   
Click here to see a few more images.  For some reason I've not yet figured out, the blog software seems to be making the images a bit fuzzy - they look a lot better on the gallery in the link.
     

Inyo Craters - Inyo National Forest, Mammoth Lakes, California

A little ways outside of the town of Mammoth Lakes are the Inyo Craters.  They're basically big holes in ground, formed about 650 years ago when magma rising up (from wherever it is that magma rises up from) hit the water table and caused a series of three big steam explosions.  The three craters are said to have been formed at almost the same time, perhaps even on the same day.  The easiest one to see is about 200 feet deep and about 660 feet in diameter, with a small lake at the bottom.

To get to the Inyo Craters you drive a short distance along an unpaved forest road, then hike about 0.8 miles through the forest.  When we visited it was nice to have the whole place to ourselves for most of the time we were there.


A remnant of volcanic activity.


Here's a chipmunk's view of the forest.  I didn't pose this pine cone - I really did find it just like that.




It's a pretty steep drop in some spots, and the US Forest Service has put up some guard rails and an interpretive panel to explain what you are looking at.  The guard railing has seen better days I think.




There was a light on-and-off rain when we were there earlier this month.  The forest was quite nice to walk in.  There is sort of a trail almost all the way around the crater.





Click here to see a few more images.
      

A Walk in the Woods - Inyo National Forest at Devils Postpile

Here are a few images from the hiking trails in and around Devils Postpile National Monument, in the Inyo National Forest, near Mammoth Lakes, California.

The trail from the shuttle bus stop at the Devils Postpile Ranger Station follows the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River southward past Devils Postpile and on to Rainbow Falls.








Quite a bit of this area burned in the Rainbow Fire in 1992


       

Rainbow Falls - Devils Postpile National Monument - California


About 2.5 miles south from Devils Postpile, via a nice hiking trail along the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River, is 100' tall Rainbow Falls.  




       

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San Diego, California, United States
About me . . . When I'm not working I like to be out exploring and photographing. I do this blog just for fun, and to be able to share these images with friends. I hope you enjoy viewing these images as much as I enjoyed creating them.

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All of the content and images on this site (c) Frank B. Baiamonte. If you would like to use any of these images please contact me via email at frank@frankbaiamonte.com to discuss terms of usage. Note that images from the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park are not available for commercial usage. You can also see more on my Instagram page @frankbaiamonte.

Header image: Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, Cibola, Arizona. End image: Downtown San Diego, California skyline from Coronado Island. Profile picture: Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho, by Heather Baiamonte.