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A mile before the steep rise to Sonora summit, waiting for construction. |
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Bristlecone Pine trees are larger than life. Near Big Pine, California. |
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Only a thin strip of live bark (on the right) supports the entire tree. The rest has been weathered away over centuries of windblasting. |
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Where the Bristlecone Pine gets its name. They are sharp enough to be used as needles. |
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Looking west to the Sierra Nevada from 10,000 feet on the road to Bristlecone Pine forest (visible on left slope). Mount Whitney is just over the distant ridge, which drops 6,000 feet to the valley in the right center of the photo. There is still snow on the ridge from last winter. Notice the smog layer drifting in from L.A. to the south. |
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The right arm of the Joshua Tree points to the half moon (barely visible). An information marker tells how the rock domes are pushed up by the San Andreas Fault which runs along the park. Then weathering breaks the domes into boulders. |
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Mr. Coyote (sans any Acme equipment) went to rest under the tree on the left, whereupon I took the shade of the next tree. After our conversation, he paused for a pose. |
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Looking north in Salt River Canyon. The road goes down to the river then climbs the canyon wall. |
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The Salt River, looking back to where the previous picture was taken. |
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The Pie-O-Neer Cafe, Pie Town, New Mexico. |
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Very long shot of the Very Large Array. Even a telephoto doesn't capture this well ... each arm of the Y (seen going off in the distance in the center) is 13 miles long. |
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Most important to many visitors ... what Americans use to 'prove' they have been somewhere. (At least they didn't say "I survived ...") |
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Outside the site fence: "Jumbo" bomb containment vessel. It was intended to prevent scattering of uranium if TNT did not set off the nuclear reaction, but late calculations determined it was not necessary. Mounted on a tower 100 yards from the blast, it survived the explosion unscathed! Then it was destroyed by the Army in a conventional explosives test years later. |
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... application of cosmetics? |
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The only remaining corner of the base of the tower which held the bomb 100 feet above ground zero (marked by the monument in background). |
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Blue desert flowers of power at the tower. |
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Trinity. |
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The man at the left took off his jacket for the photo. His T-shirt is adorned with the paper birds of Hiroshima. He was there when the world's second nuclear explosion detonated. |
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Filling the site with educational material ... a "Fatman" casing similar to the one used for the bomb. |
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View from the edge of the site. Ground Zero marker to the left of Fatman, parking lot and entry gate 1/4 mile beyond. |
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.006 seconds |
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.016 seconds |
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.053 seconds |
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.100 seconds |
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2 seconds |
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10 seconds |
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"Warning: Do Not pick up trinitite or other material. It is still radioactive." |
Photos by Sam Lepore <sam@sanfransysco.com>