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Friday, December 15, 2017

California trip landscape photos - November 2017

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

During the San Andreas Fault chase last month, didn't do any sightseeing other than of the fault itself. I passed within easy distances of landmarks like the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, downtown Los Angeles, Joshua Tree National Park and New Mexico's Zuni-Bandera volcanic field, but in the end, I just did not have time to make the diversions to go see them. However, there was some interesting scenery encountered along the routes I took, so I thought I would devote a blog post to them.

A BNSF double-stack train passes in front of a mesa on the southern end of the Tohajiilee reservation west of Albuquerque, New Mexico:

BNSF double-stack train in front of a mesa on the southern end of the Tohajiilee reservation west of Albuquerque, New Mexico

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Albuquerque was one place I wish I had more time to explore on this trip. This is a panorama of the city and the Sandia mountains from the west of town:

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Mountains near Cubero, New Mexico, again along I-40:

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Panorama of Soda Lake in the Carrizo Plain National Monument, California, looking southwest from Wallace Creek on the San Andreas Fault:

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View on I-40 westbound into Flagstaff, Arizona:

Interstate 40 westbound into Flagstaff, Arizona

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Panorama of the Temblor Range along the Carrizo Plain near Soda Lake, California:

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Mojave Desert scenes along I-40 west of Needles, California:

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In California's Central Valley, the thickness of smog and haze was really hard to believe. It was just like fog, but gray instead of white with a ubiquitous smell hinting of both smoke and vehicle exhaust. At night, it was thick enough to mask distant lights, and sometimes was dense enough that I could see it in my own headlights. Apparently this is worse in the cool season when a long-term inversion settles into the valley, and much of the particulates come from agricultural burning. Experiencing this, I can't fault most Californians for being strong environmentalists - I would be too if I had to breathe this day in and day out! I've never personally seen pollution on this level before.

The thickness of the smog was most apparent when viewing it from above, like from here along Hudson Ranch Road south of Maricopa:

Smog and haze viewed from mountains near Maricopa, CA

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And viewed here from McKittrick:

Smog and haze viewed from McKittrick, CA

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Here, the smog and haze nearly obscure the Temblor Range near Taft, creating the illusion of "phantom" mountains:

Smog and haze masking mountains near Taft, CA

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Contrast this with normal fog, viewed from the same road as those first two smog images (Hudson Ranch Road) looking in the opposite direction (to the west):