Dientes del Diablo

20 February 2010

Rani visited over the weekend. She and Ingrid shopped at the "White Elephant" sale in the morning while I got caught up on some editorial work for "Indoor Air." Then, in the afternoon, we headed out for a 6 mile hike around Diablo Foothills regional park, which has become one of my favorite places in the East Bay.



What do I like about it? The landscape is spectacular, with gently rolling hills mostly covered by grasses but also with a strong presence of mature trees, mainly stately oaks and horse chestnuts.



The trails meander through the valleys and over the hills so that the views are continuously varying. There are myriad ground squirrels running about and we saw several turkey vultures on this visit too. Mount Diablo rises a short distance to the southeast, although today it was too cloudy to see the summit. And because of the moderately high level of rain this winter, distributed over a few month period, the grasses are lush and beautifully green.



The "teeth" are a ridge of sedimentary rocks that have become tilted vertically and extend for several hundred meters from hill through saddle and to opposite hill. They appear in every photo in this post. Can you see them?

Fog and Faces of Berkeley

18 February 2010

Fog evokes many moods, mystery and danger among them. So long as I'm not driving, I like fog. It creates a calm stillness to the environment that I find peaceful.



The visual character of fog is also intriguing. The rapidly decreasing clarity with distance adds a strong third dimension to scenes that might otherwise appear flat in a photograph. The absence of shadow also raises new possibility and challenge for the photographer. Fog lends itself naturally to black & white photography.



These photos were snapped quickly as I arrived on campus this morning and walked from Sproul Plaza in the south toward the Engineering sector in the northeast. I found visual interest in the campus lights that ordinarily are on only at night. And these black and white photos of faces from our campus community take on a different look in the gray light, smiling out on the world and coming to life in their natural element.

Brief respite from rain

6 February 2010

I stopped at the north gate entrance of Mt. Diablo State Park to pay the $10 entrance fee. It was almost 4 PM; just about 90 minutes of sunlight remained. "Coming for a short hike?" asked the young ranger as she took my money. "It's like Ireland up there!" Nodding, I said, "That's what attracted me."



Last night it rained. Hard. This morning more rain fell. But in the afternoon it paused. Clouds parted. Blue sky emerged. On the green hillsides sunlight danced and black cows romped in the fresh green grass.



The horse chestnuts are in new leaf. But many trees are still bare. Winter and spring in California are not synchronized. Yes, we are nonconformist.



I hiked a few miles up to the ridge line above Castle Rocks. The trail was sloppy but passable. Other than some cyclists far away on the road, there was no one else around.



As I hiked along the ridge, nice local scenes of rock, grass, and tree complemented the outstanding distant views of Mount Diablo to the east and Castle Rocks to the south and west.