For the third morning in a row, I woke up along Steel Pass Road. Unlike the previous days, the Tacoma was the only vehicle in sight, and I was alone in the desert. I'd hoped for a repeat of the clear skies I'd had the previous morning, but the nicely tinted clouds were a reasonable substitute. Today was going to be the day that I summited Waucoba Mountain - the high point of the Inyo Mountains - but I'd gotten a glimpse of it from Saline Peak the previous morning and it was covered in snow that looked to be…
38 CommentsTag: Deja Vu (Jan 2026)
Sunrise on the Inyo. One of the things I'd really appreciated about my time with Matthew @Beardilocks was the speed at which we moved. It was slower. As someone who lives in his truck and spends several months a year in Death Valley, he's in no real rush. On the other hand, I always feel like I've only got a couple of days to squeeze in as much as I can. It was freeing to move at Matthew's pace, but hard habits die hard and given that I'd be hiking Saline Peak solo, I was - once again - up…
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It was a cold night camped above Steel Pass. At 5,000 feet, it was 31°F - about 10°F cooler than it'd been at our lower-elevation-camp the previous evening - just before sunrise. Luckily, my electric socks made going to bed easy, and two down comforters kept me nice and toasty until it was time to roll out of bed in the morning. I was relieved to see that I was Matthew @Beardilocks was still around; I hadn't scared him off on our first day together! Grabbing my down puffy from the cab and pulling my beanie down over my ears,…
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Five years ago now, I received an email that began thusly. Needless to say, I was intrigued. I just wanted to drop a quick line to say howdy. I only recently stumbled across your site and felt a bit of deja vu. I'm a photographer and I've spent the last 3-4yrs exploring the western side of North America in my 1998 Taco (with 400k miles on her!) and have been to a lot of the same amazing places you have. Luckily, you've been to a lot of places I haven't as well and given me some great inspiration. It seems…
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