Lone Pine Canyon

abraxas

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Not much for art, but a fairly decent illustrative shot.

800-e-lone-pine.jpg


About this photo;

This is a young, or new, canyon formed by the San Andreas fault which separates the Southern California and Mojave Desert geomorphic regions. The fault runs pretty much down the center of the long canyon, follows the edge of the foothills across the ridge in the distance and passes to the left of San Jacinto Mountain furthest away in the shot. At the base of San Jacinto Mountain lies Palm Springs.

Visibility in this photo is about 60 miles. The high mountain to the left is the 10,000 ft. ridge and Mount San Gorgonio in the San Bernardino National Forest. San Gorgonio sits on the North American continental plate while San Jacinto sits upon the Pacific plate. San Jacinto will someday, millions of years from now, move west along the transverse range and sit to the right of where I'm now standing- The Lone Pine Canyon saddle.

One hundred and fifty years ago Mormon settlers came to the canyon and found a single pinyon pine tree about half way up along the way. Near the pine is where they built the rock shelter where they lived until called back to Zion to go to war with the United States. The lonely pine still stands today in better condition than the fallen pile of rubble that once was the stone cabin.

Lawman Wyatt Earp's sister and her husband (Almon Clyde) lived in the canyon later on and planted apple trees. The orchard still produces sweet apples that when in season, may be bought from the rancher that now owns the place- Sometimes not. The orchard is high upon a terrace on the side of the mountain, so a thief would have to first brave late summer rattlesnakes in the brush before dodging buckshot.

The odd-looking spire in the foreground is a Lord's Candle yucca. The flame is gone, but will/may ignite again in several years, if the rain is right. The big bush front and center is a rubber rabbitbush. Note that this shrub is the only thing a rabbit will not eat. Rubber rabbits don't eat, 'cause they're rubber. During World War II experiments were made to attempt to extract the rubber from the plant.

To the right, and out of the shot, is Slover Canyon. This canyon at the head of the Lone Pine canyon is where the last grizzly bear in southern California was killed by Isaac Slover, and interestingly enough, where the last grizzly bear killed Isaac Slover. That being a whole other canyon is a whole other story, which I'll save for a time when I get a decent shot. :)

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Beautiful shot and thanks for sharing the story. Love the colors.
 
Like the photo, but I think its a bit over sharpened.
 
Question for you dude. The two peaks in the background that are showing white at the top, is that development?

Love the the backstory, especially about Isaac Slover.

How many times and in how many variations am I able to say these sentiments, well done.
 
Beautiful shot and thanks for sharing the story. Love the colors.

Thanks.

Like the photo, but I think its a bit over sharpened.

Thanks, I'm a bit oversharpened myself.

Question for you dude. The two peaks in the background that are showing white at the top, is that development?

Love the the backstory, especially about Isaac Slover.

How many times and in how many variations am I able to say these sentiments, well done.

Thank you Kundalini- The white stuff is snow. The development is in the valley beneath the peaks. It's San Bernardino, CA, the drive-by-shooting capital of the U.S. Population, the damned.

There's a few more 'grizzly' tales in this area. Two of 'em are even about bears. One not bear related is at the end of the valley and around the bend to the right, there was a small ranch with beautiful vineyards with the sweetest grapes you'd ever eat, and a tiny house near a spring with clear mountain water to drink and enough to irrigate. The owner was an old man, pretty much an hermit. One day a pennyless drifter came across the little homestead lost and hungry. The old man took him in and fed him. He was so happy to have a visitor, and they got along well so the old guy asked him to stay on. He explained, "I'm old and lonely and may not be long for the world. If you stay I'll treat you well and after I pass on I'll will the ranch to you and you'll never want for a place to stay again." Needless to say the drifter became his companion.

The old man was old, weak and thin and the drifter figured it wouldn't be that long before he could sell the place and move on to greener pastures with his stake. So he waited and helped out, with the old man teaching him about the spring and plentiful game to hunt, the clean air, the peace and quiet miles and miles from the hub-bub and gunfights of San Bernardino (previous population, the damned). The drifter turned companion was anxious but waited for his day should come soon. But no matter how thin or sick the owner became he always recovered.

Thirty-three years later he killed the old man- Tired of waiting. The drifter went to prison and that's where he died.

The cabin fell into ruin and the pine-post fences went back to nature. The little spring kept running and the vines kept growing and went wild. I've been to the place and the grapes have hidden under the brush and scrub. They're just as sweet as ever.

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What a fun thread...love the scenic view, and enjoy the stories. Look forward to future tales n pics!
 
Thanks Anti and Jeff.

I've been researching Isaac and found that his story is quite interesting. I've put together a few notes here;

Issac Slover

Probably not so much his story, but his association with mountain men and trappers like W. Wolfskill who introduced commercial orange growing to Southern California, and Ewing Young (who, please forgive me if I'm incorrect), hated Indians and was accused of bloody depradations and even possibly cannabalism against them.
 

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