Can we go back a week?   "Do you remember? The kind of September..."

1:00 AM Saturday 11/23/13...   Listening to rain on the roof for 3rd night...

Or even last week when it was bone dry and dust choked the air?  I need to watch this video a couple times, close my eyes, click my heels three times and repeat, "There's no place like the dry lake.  There's no place like the dry lake..."  

Another day of rain...   Some creep has been out on the lake already on dirt bike... ugh.

South of here in Phelan there is about 2" of snow.   Still raining and 41 degrees at the visitor center at 5:00 PM Friday.

Mixed day at El Mirage Dry Lake...   Rained most of the night.   By 5:30 AM the lake surface was damp but no standing water.   Took a ride out early to convey the conditions to the Ranger...

 Several cars had been out on the lakebed overnight.   No damage but the decision was to close the lake for the day...   Good call...   the rain came and went all day and now there's complete water cover and it's raining again at 5:30 PM. Colusa road is under water where it reaches the edge of the lake.

So What's to do the Weekend?    Come on out and enjoy the other 20,000 acres of mountains, dunes, trails and rocks!

Camp sites are high and dry and offer wonderful views of the El Mirage Valley!  

28,000 ACRES!    NO WAITING AT EL MIRAGE DRY LAKE!

Lots of action here on the lake last weekend!   I missed the land sail boats, but still plenty to see.   Film crew preparing, rocket launches, quads, ultra light air plane...   always families and always great coler here at El Mirage Dry Lake!   Just add water!

Photo Shoot by pros at El Mirage Dry Lake today!   Undisclosed company with an undisclosed client product has a team of about 40 people here today... Should be interesting!

Fun weekend at El Mirage!  Rockets, film crews, ultra lights, quads, and motorcycle training!   Lots of action and great color... just add water!

ATV Training at El Mirage Dry Lake OHV Training Center.

 

Good Morning for Photos

Happy Friday!  

Warm temps made it a nice morning to go for a shoot.  Started right about 7:00 at the entrance Road, Mountainview right off Ell Mirage Rd.   Caught the warm dawn light in the branches of the joshua trees.

Then up to the OHV Training area to take 'before' photos of the new training track being cut into the dunes.

From there I followed the south fence west most of the way to the far end of the property.  Remind me to practice u-turns in soft unturned sand...   that photo is on the phone.   Will post later.












Greeted the first campers of the weekend and they shared their riding colors and all their gear.

Heading north, I worked my way off the lake to the Hess Ranch remnants.   The last 1/4 on that road is knee-deep sand.   Lots of work on a 650 but I managed.  

Then back to the lake bed.   Discovered an area of stress cracks.  the sun was high already so the photo op was limited.  Perhaps will return there this afternoon or some morning.  

On the right you see an example of a 'dunnie bush.'  Once these things start growing they allow nature to create a small but firm sand dune around their base.   If you are watching what you are doing they aren't a problem... unfortunately by mid-day the lighting gets so flat that there are now shadows and these things are very difficult to see.  If you hit one while unprepared you become airborn,,, with our without your vehicle.

By the time I turned east toward the entrance the wind had picked up and was carrying dust from the races off to the desert.  Could hardly make out the roads at the east end of the lake.  Hopefully the wind will clear that dust away today and leave us a clear and less dusty weekend.  

Where do I begin in describing this weekend... simply fascinating!  SCTA races for two days...  So many great things to see and discover.  was on assignment at El Mirage Dry Lake for SCTA (So Cal Timing Assn) land speed races.  Two days of races and aerial shows...  RV's quads, ultra lights...   Color... great food!  

Great fun... Dozens of new friends.

There are about 100 photos posted from the 2,000 frames I shot.  Will try to set up link to a slide show.   

Entries included any number of wheels!  2 wheels in motorcycle divisions... 3 wheel was a MC with a sidecar.  4-wheels included most of the cars.   Around the perimeter we saw ultra-lights, para sails, a pylon racer, gyro copter, helicopter (life flight unfortunately, but the guy is fine), RC, quads, all sorts of atv's and off road buggies, choppers and a few BMW ADV types.