Fourteen hours southbound, gripping the wheel while swerving around minivans and growing frustrated with RVs clogging the fast lane, the appeal of our destination includes a comfortable bed.

Our first day of adventure starts early, while the sky is still black we race across the desert, fast and slow, navigating crude stones embedded in the dirt road. Frantically scouring the landscape, my eyes measure up every peak, every hillside, anticipating the light as it arrives. Quickly jumping from the car, I retrieve my lens and extend my tripod, anxious to find a prime perspective of the rising red sun. I capture a momentary glimpse of the early morning luminance as it lightly dusts the landscape.

Bishop is a classic Pioneer town, nestled in between the Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains. Nearby are thousands of boulders, big and small, fully featured and glamorous.
A rock climber’s mecca, with an Old West nostalgia.

My brother and I were able to visit the area on two excursions this year. Our time was was mostly dedicated to climbing, although discovery was just as exciting. Each and every direction we look, behold, another impressive formation of quartz monzonite.  Some of the small ones prove a joyful scramble to the top, while others can be a life threatening gamble to reach the summit at over 45 feet above the sandy desert gravel.

Humbling. We came away with more than bloody fingers and sun burned shoulders,  each of us privately recounting the pleasures of such an experience.

This post is tagged Bishop, Bouldering, California, Climbing, Desert, landscape, Photos, Road Trip