I spent the next morning exploring Joshua Tree National Park. After entering the park, the sunrise was fabulous. However, this was short-lived. Soon it became overcast as a Pacific storm moved in. I entered the park through a north entrance and exited through the southern entrance. There is a marked change in the landscape as the Mohave Desert transitions to the Sonoran Desert.
After leaving Joshua Tree National Park, I headed along I-10 to Palm Springs and on towards the Los Angeles area in the pouring rain. Eventually, when I reached Camarillo, where I stayed, the clouds had cleared. Later I met up with our daughter in Ventura. The next day, after she finished work, we headed to the Emma Wood beach, close to Ventura. We walked along the beach and later watched the sunset over the ocean.
After leaving Ventura, I headed north along highway 101, where I stopped at several locations; finally reaching King City. After checking in to the hotel, I headed towards the coastal range that I had briefly explored a couple of years ago. Autumn comes much later than inland areas, so the oak trees were still in their fall colors.
I had planned to spend a couple of days in the Monterey area. From King City, I headed to Point Lobos, where I spent the rest of the day in overcast conditions. This was great for making images of various rock formations along the coast.
This is one of the interesting images of natural rock features. This was made along “Weston Beach”, named after that great early 19th century photographer, Edward Weston.
There a was a big Pacific weather system that was forecast to make landfall in the coming days. The waves started increasing in size and became more aggressive.
I made several images over a couple of hours, attempting to catch spray as the waves struck the rocks along the shoreline.
This image is one of the more successful images, that shows the white spray with the translucent blue of the ocean waves.
Much of the California coast has towers of kelp growing offshore below the waves. This provides an ecosystem that supports marine sea life. Occasionally, kelp is washed ashore. I found this kelp trunk among the rocks.
Point Lobos is one of two locations along the coast where there are groves of cypress trees. I made this image the shows the edge of the cypress grove along the cliffs.
Soon after leaving Point Lobos, the weather system arrived dumping rain and snow for a couple of days.