I would never have given the drive a chance, because mostly I'm a Highway 120 guy. I found a silver lining in the smokey clouds of the Yosemite fires.

I got inspired when I caught glimpses of this around bends in the road:

I pulled out at the first good spot to check it out, and what do I find right next to the parking spaces?


I immediately started lay-backing that thing in my flip-flops, got about 15 feet up and chickened out with sweaty feet. Down- climbed but vowed to return. Here's the spot:


Closer to the actual pass lies a wonderland of rock that looks like the lord put J-Tree, Tuolumne Meadows, and Dakota Badlands in a blender:



And the sunset was exquisite:





And I saw a bad moon rising. It was a full moon, obscured by a drift of clouds:

Pay attention to the road in them parts:


And then near Mono Lake, I decided to take advantage of the full moon light and take some longer exposures. This one I lightened up a bit, but no other retouching:

And this one absolutely no retouching:


As I neared the turn-off to crawl up Yosemite's backside, I couldn't resist the urge to visit the Mono Lake tufas by moonlight. My first experience in Joshua Tree ages ago was by full moon, and I went nuts scampering across the crazy landscape that looked like a college black-light party. This time I was looking for a more mellow contemplative communion with nature.

But I was also feeling playful, so experimented with flashlight painting:





It made me more tired than I wanted to be for the 3:30am start on Conness the next morning, and it made the drive back the following night almost unbearable. But I'm glad for the memories, for opening my horizons, and feeling like I'm getting my money's worth out of this spin around the planet.