Mojave Musings
Flying Owl, Concrete Dam, Buffington Pockets, NV
Along Bitter Springs Backcountry Parkway on the way to Hidden Valley we stopped at an old concrete dam that features a large painting of an owl. You can scramble up the right side of the dam and back down into the wash on the backside to view ancient Native American petroglyphs.
This area is called the Buffington Pockets because it is a topographic depression, but geologists call it a "window" because it is an eroded hole through an over-thrust sheet. If you’re continuing on to Hidden Valley, this also marks the end of anything resembling a decent road. The next half a dozen miles feature numerous boulder fields, a few ledges, some deep sand and a lot of hearty bushed that will pinstripe most vehicles.
Mojave Musings
The Mojave Desert extends from the Base of the Sierra Nevada Range in the west to the Colorado Plateau in the east and covers all of the southern tip of Nevada. Aside from the nearly three million people who populate the Las Vegas metropolitan area, the next largest incorporated Nevada town within the Mojave, with a population of a little more than 20,000 people, is Mesquite.
Within Whitney Pocket, Little Finland, Buffington Pockets, Bowl of Fire, Valley of Fire, Hidden Valley, Pinto Valley and Color Rock Quarry is a land of treasure and awe. Most are within either the Lake Mead National Recreation Area or Gold Butte National Monument and only Valley of Fire State Park is accessible via good paved roads.
Of the Sonoran, Chihuahuan, Great Basin and Mojave Deserts, that together form the North American Desert, the Mojave is the smallest and driest. The colorful and fragile formations, numerous natural arches and wildflower and cactus blooms belie the common perceptions of such a place. Although I first visited the area decades ago, I only began to explore it within the past few years after moving to the adjacent Sonoran Desert.
I enjoy it as a photographer because it is an endless puzzle. There is beauty everywhere you look, but seeing and photographing are different things entirely. The harsh desert light, the complexity of land forms and the endless contrails that crisscross the sky are all obstacles that frustrate even those who have learned to see the beauty in these harsh environs. The moon may be a harsh mistress, but it is the sun and sky that you must master.
These images are just a beginning. I’ll hopefully improve upon them each time I return.
