{"id":2381,"date":"2024-06-12T15:20:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T15:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www-users.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/?p=2381"},"modified":"2024-06-24T06:01:25","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T06:01:25","slug":"landscapes-us-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/2024\/landscapes-us-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Landscapes, US West"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Image previews in this article add up to 221 MB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclaimer: No tripod used in any of these photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos from a road trip over 16 days in May 2024. It was also my first scenic road trip in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started the trip from San Jose, CA in a car. To begin, I followed I-80 eastbound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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San Francisco seen from Berkeley Marina. There is no fog in the morning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Golden Gate Bridge seen from Berkeley Marina.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Soon I reached the Sierra Nevada mountains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I-80 crossing Sierra Nevada Mountains, at California Mile 185.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I-80 crossing Sierra Nevada Mountains, on the California-Nevada state line.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The west side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains is considerably greener, easily because of its terrain and the Pacific from which moist wind originates. This gradient happens within a mere 30 miles. The two photos above are only 15 miles apart and both look to the east. Quite a difference for me; I grew up in the biggest monsoon system in the world, east Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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30 miles east of the California-Nevada state line, somewhere near Clark, NV.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Taken soon after the previous photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Greet the Great Basin, an arid region scattered with small mountain ranges that characterize the more general Basin and Range Province<\/a>. These ranges have a peak elevation of over 3000 meters. Grass plains and dry salt lakes fill the gap between these ranges. The biggest dry salt lake is of course in Utah, and I visited it a few hours later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A salt flat at I-80 Nevada Mile 54.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spoiler? These ranges in Nevada look mostly the same. There are a dozen ranges on I-80, give or take depending on what you count as a mountain range. And on I-80, it takes 5.5 hours to cross the state of Nevada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every mountain pass in Nevada will give you a photo like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Viewing east from Golconda Summit (should really be a Pass), I-80 Nevada Mile 203.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I-80 Nevada Mile 188. Same mountains? No.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

See dirty spots? There were about three hundred dead insects on the windshield, very difficult for any photographer to avoid. Nevada isn\u2019t a wasteland; your suburb is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these ranges are snowy. Pictured below is Sonoma Range, viewed from I-80 Nevada Mile 190. The freeway makes its way right around<\/em> many such ranges, resulting in close views like this one. There are fewer mountain crossings than what I expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sonoma Range, viewed from I-80 Nevada Mile 190.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sonoma Range, viewed from I-80 Nevada Mile 190.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, I-80 has no shortage of distant views of mountains, accompanying vast grasslands rather than human development. View from Nevada Mile 259:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mount Lewis, 30 miles ahead, viewed from I-80 Nevada Mile 259.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the best view of a mountain you can have on this route is of Ruby Mountains around Mile 321. This mountain range contains peaks of over 1500 meters prominence. There are local roads in this area you can view and photograph from, in a quiet setting. I like the wide valleys in the Basin and Range Province; they give an open rather than restricted view, and I don\u2019t need to be intimidated by vertical difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ruby Mountains viewed from I-80 Nevada Mile 314.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ruby Mountains viewed from I-80 Nevada Mile 321, NV-229 junction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Panorama of Ruby Mountains viewed from I-80 Nevada Mile 321, NV-229 junction. This is a post-processed, 109-megapixel image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Proceeding east, my next stop was the great salt flat in Utah. Specifically, I went to the \u201cBonneville Salt Flat\u201d near I-80 Mile 4. For a higher point of view, I could have gone to Wendover Viewpoint, West Wendover, Nevada, but my time was limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Above Exit 4, I-80, Utah.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Outside Exit 4, I-80, Utah.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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RVs (not mine) on the Bonneville Salt Flat in nautical dusk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Bonneville Salt Flat and I-80. The light pollution should have come from Salt Lake City 100 miles ahead, and it looked much less prominent in real life than this photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Grass submerged in Blackfoot Reservoir.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Reservoir Mountain, across from me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View due northwest over Henry Stampede Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Blackfoot Reservoir accessed from ID-34 at 42.898, -111.533, where these photos were taken. The water level was high: it had just come to submerge some green grass on the bank, presumably because of spring season. Particularly, shallow water extended by nearly 2 kilometers in my direction compared to its typical level. I like there being land, water, and not much vegetation. (I should find Cambrian period Earth very appealing.) This was the most surreal moment in my trip, being close to high water and some low hills, in cold air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could Microsoft Surface Laptop 3, 4 and Windows 11 \u201cSunrise\u201d wallpapers have been inspired by something similar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I proceeded to the Teton Range area of Wyoming. The stretch of US-191 from Jackson to Moran was in a wide, open valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking southeast from Alpine Junction, WY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hoback Junction, WY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jackson, WY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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US-191 north of Jackson, WY, featuring a Cybertruck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Flat Creek north of Jackson, WY.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Grand Teton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Teton Range is too jagged for my liking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It only takes a short detour from US highway to visit Jackson Lake with the Teton Range behind it. This area was mostly stock scenery\u2122\ufe0f, for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View due northeast from Jackson Lake Dam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Snake River from Jackson Lake Dam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jackson Lake and the Teton Range.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Because of a road closure on US-191 into Yellowstone, I continued on US-26. It was a quick ascent in the first 25 miles, then some spectacles eastward from the continental divide. These jagged mountains were much of a d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu; I felt like they came from Canada or at least Montana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Snowy slopes approaching the continental divide on US-26.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Snowy slopes due east from the continental divide on US-26.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pinnacle Buttes, viewed from US-26.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Descending to the first town, Dubois, I was surprised by some Badlands-like formations. Intriguingly, they only exist on the north side of the road which runs along Wind River. The width of carved plateau increased as I continued to the east. The final photos in the gallery below were taken somewhere near coordinate 43.407, -109.348.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Badlands-like formation near Dubois, WY north of Wind River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Formation near Dubois, WY south of Wind River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Formation near Dubois, WY south of Wind River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Wind River (Left) and Little Red Creek, ~6920 US-26, Crowheart, WY.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View due northeast of US-26, Crowheart, WY.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View of Black Mountain from US-26, Crowheart, WY.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View due north of US-26, Crowheart, WY.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The remaining segment in Wyoming was a less colorful, less spectacular version of this Badland-ish carved plateau. I don\u2019t think I need to visit the Badlands after this!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After running out of carved plateaus, I was approaching the middle of South Dakota, a land of nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nowhere in South Dakota.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Somewhere in South Dakota.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More somewheres and nowheres loved by Midwesterners, considering I stayed here for three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stewartville, MN.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Somewhere outside Cedar Rapids, IA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Somewhere in Iowa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Absolute nowhere.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Back to some mountains in Colorado! I crossed the majority of Rocky Mountains in this gloomy weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vail really is a vacation resort on steroids, and I do not like resorts even though it was not resort season. So I avoided staying there and went a little farther to Eagle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ascending along I-70 west of Denver, CO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I-70 leading into the Rocky Mountains.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I-70 westbound Eisenhower Tunnel, part of the bidirectional Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnels under the continental divide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Descending to Copper Mountain, CO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Approaching Copper Mountain, CO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next day, however, was totally clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I-70 has a segment between Dotsero and Glenwood Springs, CO in a steep, rocky canyon carved out by Colorado River. It is gray-brown rather than red. If you want to see a red canyon from below, perhaps UT-128 is a good choice. It also has free beaches in case you want to try the chilly and muddy Colorado River. There are a wide variety of geographic features along UT-128.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abandoned buildings in Cisco, UT.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Gopher near Cisco, UT.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cow on UT-128.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A little bit west of Eagle, CO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Canyon on I-70.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Canyon on I-70.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View due west from Rifle, CO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mt. Garfield near Palisade, CO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Extension of Mt. Garfield.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Leaving Colorful Colorado.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View from Harley\u2019s Dome.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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UT-128 near Cisco.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The red canyon in which UT-128 runs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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La Sal Mountains viewed from canyon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I visited Arches National Park in a hurry. Arches are not my type, but the park is fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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La Sal Mountains from Arches National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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More than La Sal Mountains from Arches National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Strictly La Sal Mountains from Arches National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Bird in front of La Sal Mountains from Arches National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Delicate Arch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Skyline Arch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A living and a dead tree in front of Skyline Arch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Impending rain on Arches National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Impending rain on Arches National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View due northeast from Devil\u2019s Garden.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The next morning I saw sunrise near Monument Valley. The actual Monument Valley is not on US-163, but is visible from around Forrest Gump Point. This location was filmed for the end of Forrest Gump<\/i>, except the modern signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can see why the Monument Valley is a sacred site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Practicing astrophotography in Mexican Hat, UT. The subject formation is on the other side of San Juan River, in Navajo Nation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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US-163 at Forrest Gump Point near Monument Valley (left).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View from Forrest Gump Point before sunrise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View of Monument Valley from US-163.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View of more than Monument Valley from US-163.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Forrest Gump Hill sign.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View from Forrest Gump Point during sunrise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The next stop I made was the Glen Canyon Dam, which forms a reservoir named Lake Powell. Although a lake on Colorado River, the water here is exceptionally clean, and I took a few drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the Lake Powell shore is managed by National Park Service and require a ticket. The shore I accessed, 36.950, -111.485, was outside of that area. Apparently if you are moderately bold you can swim to the paid Park area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artificial water level created a unique landscape without the typical vegetation around water. The rock shores are more appealing than beaches. Somehow I still liked Blackfoot Reservoir better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Descending to Lake Powell and Page, AZ.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Boat on Lake Powell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cliff on Lake Powell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Part of Lake Powell from Wahweap Overlook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Panorama from Wahweap Overlook. This is a post-processed, 383-megapixel image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I arrived in Las Vegas in the afternoon. Still cannot understand why people built a city in this desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Las Vegas skyline from I-15.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Las Vegas Boulevard near Wynn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Death Valley had a tiny bit of water left in it when I arrived, and there was a tiny amount of snow on top of Telescope Peak. However, it was 38 degrees Celsius on the lake bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View from Zabriskie Point.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View from the dry lake bed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Texture of mountain east of Badwater Basin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Telescope Peak reflected on saturated salt water.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Telescope Peak. This slope is 3454 meters high.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Because CA-1 was closed along the central coast, I went to Monterey via the less interesting US-101.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Salinas, CA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I drove the allegedly legendary Santa Cruz Highway, CA-17. It was indeed a tough route. By official numbers, in many years an average of 2 traffic accidents happen per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip finally ended in San Jose, CA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image previews in this article add up to 221 MB. Disclaimer: No tripod used in any of these photos. Photos from a road trip over 16 days in May 2024. It was also my first scenic road trip in the US. I started the trip from San Jose, CA in a car. To begin, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-2381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tebibyte.io\/~yihanwu1024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}