Laguna Torre review

El Chaltén, Patagonia

Three years ago today, I hiked to Laguna Torre in El Chaltén, Patagonia with Annie and Libby (thanks to Google Photos for the reminder). It was a cold summer day with a light snow flurry while we were on the trail. When we got to the lake, it was cold and windy but beautiful in a bleak way. Previous hikers had built some primitive rock walls to shelter themselves from the wind. They came in handy for us.

Laguna Torre, Patagonia

It wasn't until we left El Chaltén on a clear day that I realized the view we had missed at Laguna Torre that day:

Cerro Torre from Laguna Torre. Photo: Stefan Straub (from Wikimedia Commons)

Art of Steel 2

Santa Cruz, California

A cloudy day in Santa Cruz. See Art of Steel for this pickup as a work-in-progress.

Winter Garden: September, October

Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz, California

Harvest

Santa Cruz, California

Garden in September

Santa Cruz, California

 I added a raised bed in the front yard for some winter vegetables, because it will get far more sun than the back. Ready for planting:

Santa Cruz, California

Eclipse 2017

One of my colleagues made a great pinhole viewer from a long and narrow Amazon box. Here's an image of today's eclipse:

Solar eclipse. Mountain View, California

My cereal-box viewer worked too. The image was brighter, but much smaller.

Pinhole eclipse viewer. Santa Cruz, California

I dug through my Mom's slides last night, and found these ones from our eclipse expedition to the total eclipse in Virginia Beach in 1970. We made some really big pinhole viewers for the trip:

Virginia Beach, Virginia (photos by Angela Bacher)

Glamping in Moab

Moab, Utah

After a cold night at high altitude in a two-person tent at Cedar Breaks, Ben and I spent the evening at Under Canvas in Moab. Our tent had a comfy king-size bed, a carpet, and night tables with solar-powered phone chargers (you can see the solar panel at the end of the ridgepole)! We also discovered the joys of 3.2% beer. We took our chairs out to the slickrock ledge behind our tent, split a six-pack and watched the Perseid meteor shower.

Photographer at Dead Horse Point

Moab, Utah

Photographer and filmmaker Ben Bacher at Dead Horse Point in the Utah canyonlands.

Garden in August

Santa Cruz, California

The tomatoes are going nuts now.

Moore cows

Moore Creek Preserve, Santa Cruz, California

Garden in July

Santa Cruz, California

Moore Creek Fog

Looking toward the Pacific Ocean from Moore Creek Preserve before the fog burns off. See other Moore Creek posts for comparison.

Santa Cruz, California

Moore Creek Canyon

Moore Creek Canyon, Santa Cruz, California

(Click the photo for the full-sized view.)

Art of Steel

Santa Cruz, California

For a little balance, here's a Ford (and my dad was a Ford man too):

Mountain View, California

Artichoke

Santa Cruz, California

Cows

These are two of my favorite runs in the world. One thing they have in common is... cows!

Stone Hill, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Moore Creek Preserve, Santa Cruz, California

Stone Hill

This is probably my favorite place to run on the east coast. Also probably why I like Moore Creek in Santa Cruz so much.

Stone Hill, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Garden in June

Santa Cruz, California

You can see the progression since March.

Streamlined

When I was a boy, my dad took me to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia to pick up visitors arriving by train. You could go down to the tracks then, and we'd see the gigantic GG1 engines pull into the station. The streamlined shape was like no other engine I've seen before or since:

PRR-4935, Strasburg, Pennsylvania

photo credit: http://www.wikiwand.com/de/PRR-Klasse_GG1

I also remember seeing rounded, diesel-belching buses in downtown Norristown. Trains and buses are much more squared-off now—I'm a bit surprised, since cars seem to be more streamlined and aerodynamic. I found this beautiful old school bus a couple of weeks ago, still at work hauling students around Santa Cruz County:

Santa Cruz, California

Breakfast

Milford, New Hampshire

One of the top three breakfast places in the country.

Garden in May

Santa Cruz, California

See posts labeled garden for the time-series view.

Tall grass at Moore Creek

Moore Creek Preserve, Santa Cruz, California

The grass is growing fast after all the rain we've had this winter (50 inches in Santa Cruz—more than 100 inches up in the mountains).

Swingin' in Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, California

There's a great swing down near the bottom of the Arroyo Seco Canyon trail.

Still climbing

Santa Cruz, California

Garden in April

Santa Cruz, California

Public art: courage

UCSC barn, Santa Cruz, California

Garden in March

Santa Cruz, California

San Lorenzo River Bridge

Santa Cruz, California

Stop

San Juan Bautista, California

Sunny and Green

After a week of rain and mudslides in Santa Cruz, it's nice to have a sunny weekend.

UC Santa Cruz Farm, Santa Cruz, California

Although we've had lots of rain this winter, California is still dry country. While the reservoirs are full, groundwater aquifers are still overdrawn, and they don't recharge instantly. We can hope for regular rainy winters, but we need to plan for more drought conditions. Anyone who thinks the drought is over for good is fooling themselves.

Waves in Santa Cruz

Huge swells at Steamer Lane this morning. This is a small cove called the Toilet Bowl. On calmer days, daring swimmers jump off the cliff into the swirling waters between waves and climb up the opposite wall to get out. Not today though.

Santa Cruz, California

In the afternoon, a huge swell of humanity descended on downtown Santa Cruz to hope for a more positive future.

Santa Cruz, California

Green hills and water

We've had a lot of rain over the past week. They call it the Pineapple Express. The gentle hills near Watsonville are much greener than usual, but we've had a number of mudslides in the steeper parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains. And lots of water in the fields and rivers.

Watsonville, California

near Watsonville, California

Watsonville, California

Hills

Route 46 near Bakersfield, California

Route 46 near Bakersfield, California

Shadows

Santa Cruz, California

Last walk of 2016, overlooking the last beach on West Cliff Drive before Natural Bridges Beach.