calledtocreation
Adventurer
First off I always start by thanking my Lord and Savior ************************ for blessing me with the ability to do what I do for a living and for allowing me to enjoy his Creation.
This trip was a true sacrifice that ended up being well worth it. I had a major National Event that I should have covered but instead I chose family and friends over money. I even paid out of pocket for an associate photographer to cover the event for me. In the end his camera was having issues and he (we) missed several photos / categories. I wouldn't find that out till the end of the trip, which is probably better anyway, so I could relax and enjoy the company of my wife and a couple of ExPo families as well.
The first day's plan (Friday 3.21.2014) was to leave Orange, CA and head to Joshua Tree National Park where my wife and I would find a great location in Jumbo Rocks to save and return to Saturday night with Torquey (Jason) and his family as well as Alexbv (Alex) and his family. When we arrived at J-Tree we were greeted by numerous signs advising all camp grounds were full except those in Cottonwood on the far South end of the park (not what wanted to hear). We hadn't really anticipated that big of a turn out as it was a non-holiday weekend. Then we realized oh yeah it's Spring Break. Now you should know I'm not really as flexible in life as I should be, however my wife (the true voice of reason) convinced me that there is always another way, so we hit the road to Pioneer Town and decided we would literally pass by Pappy and Harriet's on the way up the dirt trails in to Big Bear (where we originally planned on camping Friday night).
We headed up 3N03 and around 130pm we stopped here for a nice picnic lunch
After packing up we continued up to 2N02 where things were a bit more challenging. We finished the dirt portion and headed down the summit on Hwy 38 to the town of Sugar Loaf. We crossed over the lake to the North side where we had a reservation at Serrano Campground. I love the beauty of Big Bear, no matter what time of year, photo opportunities abound, with great lighting even in the peak of the day and so many different landscape angles to choose from. Even what would seem to be a boring photo with a little LR touch up can turn out to be the capture of a special moment in time that combine to share a story. See what I mean below!!
After a short walk from camp down to the Lake, the wind and the temps drove us back to camp (the highs were in the low 60's with lows in the upper 20's). On the way back I was captivated by the way the light was shining through the trees
Pine cones could be found everywhere and made for excellent kindling
At dinner in town (Maggio's is amazing) we made a plan to run Gold Mountain in the morning then head down the North side of 18 to the 247 to Slash X Cafe, followed by 15 North to Kelso-Baker Rd to the last section of Mojave Rd., since Jason and Alex had never seen that. We returned to camp after dinner and the temps dropped quickly. We started a fire but turned in for the night just after 1030pm because the fire wasn't really doing much for keeping us warm.
This trip was a true sacrifice that ended up being well worth it. I had a major National Event that I should have covered but instead I chose family and friends over money. I even paid out of pocket for an associate photographer to cover the event for me. In the end his camera was having issues and he (we) missed several photos / categories. I wouldn't find that out till the end of the trip, which is probably better anyway, so I could relax and enjoy the company of my wife and a couple of ExPo families as well.
The first day's plan (Friday 3.21.2014) was to leave Orange, CA and head to Joshua Tree National Park where my wife and I would find a great location in Jumbo Rocks to save and return to Saturday night with Torquey (Jason) and his family as well as Alexbv (Alex) and his family. When we arrived at J-Tree we were greeted by numerous signs advising all camp grounds were full except those in Cottonwood on the far South end of the park (not what wanted to hear). We hadn't really anticipated that big of a turn out as it was a non-holiday weekend. Then we realized oh yeah it's Spring Break. Now you should know I'm not really as flexible in life as I should be, however my wife (the true voice of reason) convinced me that there is always another way, so we hit the road to Pioneer Town and decided we would literally pass by Pappy and Harriet's on the way up the dirt trails in to Big Bear (where we originally planned on camping Friday night).
We headed up 3N03 and around 130pm we stopped here for a nice picnic lunch
After packing up we continued up to 2N02 where things were a bit more challenging. We finished the dirt portion and headed down the summit on Hwy 38 to the town of Sugar Loaf. We crossed over the lake to the North side where we had a reservation at Serrano Campground. I love the beauty of Big Bear, no matter what time of year, photo opportunities abound, with great lighting even in the peak of the day and so many different landscape angles to choose from. Even what would seem to be a boring photo with a little LR touch up can turn out to be the capture of a special moment in time that combine to share a story. See what I mean below!!
After a short walk from camp down to the Lake, the wind and the temps drove us back to camp (the highs were in the low 60's with lows in the upper 20's). On the way back I was captivated by the way the light was shining through the trees
Pine cones could be found everywhere and made for excellent kindling
At dinner in town (Maggio's is amazing) we made a plan to run Gold Mountain in the morning then head down the North side of 18 to the 247 to Slash X Cafe, followed by 15 North to Kelso-Baker Rd to the last section of Mojave Rd., since Jason and Alex had never seen that. We returned to camp after dinner and the temps dropped quickly. We started a fire but turned in for the night just after 1030pm because the fire wasn't really doing much for keeping us warm.
