Author: Wolfgang

Crater Lake in Oregon

About 7700 years ago, the volcano Mt Mazama exploded, leaving a nearly 1km deep caldera that over time filled with water, creating so the Crater Lake. Today the Lake is at near 2000m of elevation. It is estimated that Mt Mazama reached over 4000m in elevation before it erupted.

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Crater Lake

Wizard Island, one of the two volcanic cones that formed over time. The other cone is hidden underneath the surface.

Looking from the West Rim farther towards the Northwest, we can enjoy those beautiful mountain meadows.

Fort Ross, Imperial Russian Settlement 1812 – 1841.

It is commonly know that imperial Russia sold Alaska in 1867 to the United States of America. But Russia also occupied land in Alta California, belonging to Spain/Mexico at that time. In order to keep the Russian population in Alaska healthy, Fort Ross in Northern California was established in 1812 to grow vegetables and fruits and other vitamin containing food items. Especially during the winter months, it was impossible to sail through the Bering Sea from Russia to Alaska and so the supply of agricultural products from Alta California was important.

The Fort was not the only Russian Settlement in Northern California. Small settlements stretched from today’s Point Arena to Tomales Bay, including Port Rumyantsev in Bodega Bay, a sealing station on the Farallon Islands (18 miles out to sea from San Francisco). Today, Fort Ross enjoys about one million visitors per year. Surprisingly, here and there in especially Sonoma County, Russian Orthodox Churches can be found. Fort Ross also had one of the first will mills to grind grain. A replica can be admired today, an interesting simple engineering design that can be easily disassembled and transported to a new location.

The cannons in the Fort supposedly were only used to greet visitors.

Today, kids love to play on those cannons.

In the corner of the Fort, a simple Russian Orthodox Church with it’s bell right in front of it.

The kitchen building is rather cosy

Supply arrangement

Visiting the Beach … 1

I took a view days off from my busy retired life in the mountains and headed to the so much cooler coast.

Here a couple of iPhone and Nikon shots at Morro Bay State Park which was dedicated in the 1930s and harbors a pretty golf course and an old campground, also built in the 1930s, with heavy walled structures … to survive.

Another Beach I visited is in Santa Barbara County and is known by Jalama Beach (ausgesprochen: Hä-lama Beach) that was given as a gift by the Richfield Oil Company to Santa Barbara County in 1942. It was once a settlement of the Chumash Native American called Halama. It has an amazing beach with natural tar spots here and there and the Jalama Creek flowing into the ocean. The LA to San Luis Obispo train line is rolling over an old bridge over the creek. The bridge even in daylight looks as being held together mainly by iron oxides.

In the evening, the fog rolling over the hills from the Vandenberg “Space Force Base” towards the Jalama Beach.

Early in the morning, at the Jalam Beach, a cargo train pushing wagons over the old bridge up north, another lucky crossing…

More on Bodie

A

diffrent

view

of Bodie

by inverted daylight

The photographer and the Staircase. This gentleman spent a good amount of time with an old “film” camera to take photos of the staircase. He later told me about the pleasure he has with maximal 3 photos of one subject.

Don’t huff and puff if you want to keep the ghost town Bodie alive!