Alabama Hills @en
now browsing by tag
Salt Tram…
I met Andrew with whom I went to Baja last year. He’s gonna make a little way with VivaLaVida before I hit the road toward East…
1. Beautiful colors to the first camp together near hot springs.
2. Stop at Alabama Hills that I discovered last spring with Jean-Luc.
3. This place is really fun with these conglomerate concretions.
4. Withney Portal Arch.
5. These hills are located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada.
6. Visit of Mobius Arch I had already presented here.
We then went to discover the Salt Tram, a construction that I wanted to explore. We had seen some pylons with Jean-Luc in the Saline Valley, thinking it was an elevator built for mining. In fact, it was a tram designed to exploit the salt deposit of the Saline Valley. Built between 1911 and 1913, the numbers are just amazing! It starts from 3,300 feet above sea level in Swansea, in the Owens Valley, rises more than 8,000 feet and goes down the other side of the mountain in the Saline Valley. The hauling cable was 27 miles long!
7. Up the Swansea Grade, above Owens Valley.
8. The Sierras received some snow three days ago.
9. Owens Valley with VLV and Baja Shaker camping at 5,500 feet elevation.
10. I approach a first pylon.
11. Assembly.
12. The dry climate has preserved the wood for over a hundred years.
13. Second pylon.
14. One of the intermediate stations to cross a ridge.
15. The construction is very similar to modern lifts excepted it’s made of wood.
16. Hauling cable detail.
17. Framework.
18. Pylons alignment with the top station at the bottom.
19. View of a lower intermediate station in front of the saline still in use today.
20. Graphics of saline.
21. Baja Shacker going down the Swansea Grade quite steep and dissected in places.
To be followed in some days… 😀
Alabama Hills & Racetrack
Before to cross the border to Canada later today, here is still an update from the US. 😀
After visiting the Pinnacles, we went East of the Sierra Nevada. We stopped at the Alabama Hills, nice site just next to Lone Pine.
1. Contrasts with the snowy Sierras…
2. Mobius Arch.
3. Valley near Lone Pine.
4. Tiny plant growing in the sand.
5. VivaLaVida on the Hunter Mountain trail.
6. We’re now in the Death Valley National Park but in more remote places…
7. Wonderful altitude desert…
8. Photo stop at Tea Pot Junction. Unfortunately we forgot to bring a teapot… 🙁
9. Arrival at Racetrack after several hours of stony track and with a leaden sky..!
10. Racetrack, this unique site where rocks move leaving traces without anyone being able to date to explain the phenomenon. Some assumptions, such as high winds on a wet and therefore slippery surface, seem plausible…
11. Interwoven traces…
12. We camped on the site of a disused mine just a few miles away to return to Racetrack in the morning hoping for a better light.
13. And it is the sun that welcomes us!
14. VivaLaVida seems so small..!
15. Light highlights the tracks.
16. Don’t they look like they are racing..? 😀
17. We then borrow the Linpintcott Road, a little-used track to join the Saline Valley.
18. Cactus flower.
19. Another “hairy” flower…
20. Exposed portion of the Linpincott Road. Some passages were quite narrow but Vivalavida managed to crawl through.
Stay tuned for more to come soon in Saline Valley… 😉
D5 Creation