Going North on Hwy 395
These are the results of one week spent through California parks and desert, from LA to SF, driving North on Highway 395.
Published on: 
2010
Photography
  • Going North on Highway 395
    One week through parks and desert, between LA and SF.
  • During late summer 2008, I spent a week driving alone through California parks and desert, from Los Angeles to San Francisco, stopping only to sleep in motels and take photos during the day. I drove more than a thousand miles this very week, looking at landscapes so beautiful and diverse I had to struggle with the urge to stop every ten minutes.
    Here is what I saw.
  • I have left Los Angeles to spend the weekend in Santa Barbara. I do not know yet the precise list of places I will hit during that week, though I roughly estimated how far I have to drive each day. A thousand miles in a week; arrival in San Francisco. First stage: Lake Isabella, for which I have to go to Bakersfield first, hence driving through Los Padres National Forest.
  • The first peak. Now I understand what that guy meant when he told me this trip is as beautiful as PCH. I have never seen such landscapes before my eyes. And the rest is yet to come.
  • Even on the wider roads, the traffic is almost inexistant. I do not feel alone though, I cannot keep my eyes off the distant mountains, the trees, the river. I have driven past Bakersfield and heading to Lake Isabella.
  • This is Kern Canyon Road on the way to Lake Isabella. I just passed a flock of Harley Davidson. Behind that rocky hill is the lake around which I should find a motel to welcome me for the night.
  • Lake Isabella. The sun will probably set in less than an hour. Meanwhile, this guy is quietly fishing on the lake.
  • The sun is about to set. I have hurried myself back into the car to drive past the mountains surrounding the lake to get this shot.
  • It is almost night time. The light breeze has cooled the ambient temperature by several degrees. I am heading back to the motel to spend the night.
  • Day two. Not so early in the morning, I hit back the road.
  • Driving around the lake and past it, I drive past this little town with watered lawns, basketball courts, and this strange house atop the hill.
  • The Kern river I have been following since yesterday's afternoon.
  • The road is now climbing up again, into Sequoia National Forest.
  • The highest peak I will drive through. Nine thousands feet, outside temperature of 65° F and lots of sequoias, pine trees... The car made it gently to the top and the reward is worth it: I do not remember being able to see so far away.
  • The giant sequoias. A plaque by the trees explains they are not the widest here (that's National Sequoia Park) but the tallest. Indeed.
  • Exiting the forest, here is what I stumble upon. Desert, and a long curvy road down to the 395 running below. The scenery change is drastic. Every half mile or so, the temperature meter goes up a unit.
  • Now driving on the 395. Now the temperature is 95° F, though I cannot resist to go in and out of the car to take shots of the surroundings.
  • The sun has started to set; I am still heading north and I have to stop in Lone Pine for cookies and juice before the night.
  • That's Owens Lake I am driving past, not knowing when I will make it to Mammoth Lakes.
  • The next day. I spend almost three hours walking around Mono Lake and the tufas. I overslept this morning and tried to go for a hike in Mammoth Lakes first; switching the car for a tour bus proved inefficient so I finally decided not to.
    It is late afternoon now and the heat adds a salty scent to the shore: it smells like I am on a fishing boat in open ocean, and the heavily salty water is so quiet it looks like a mirror.