| Beautiful Sunset and Sunrise January 11-12, 2005 |
| I witnessed the most amazing sunset last night and sunrise this morning. Not your usual brightly colored showy sunset and sunrise, but that of a more quiet and subtle sort, but nonetheless very beautiful. The storm clouds we had been under for about a week started clearing yesterday afternoon, but not before they emptied themselves of moisture one last time. The snow level came down to about 3,500 feet around 2:00 pm yesterday, I can guage that by looking at the line of where green meets white on nearby Black Mountain which I can see from my office window. At around 4:30 pm yesterday I left the office and headed west into the San Joaquin Valley. The clouds were colored turquoise to deep indigo but each was lit and had a lining of, well not silver, but a bright white. The Sierra was still mostly shrouded with these clouds but here and there a crisp white mountain catching a bit of light stood out against the dark sky. I drove south on Highway 65 and marveled at the view. I attempted to take a few pictures but the light was subtle and I could not capture the beauty of the scene... An impressive line of mountains playing peek-a-boo with the light and clouds. Then soon the light disappeared and the night fell around me. This morning the sun came out in the mountains. Wow, what a dazzling sight! From Hwy 190 in Porterville you can look north and see Mt. Silliman and Alta Peak in Sequoia National Park and east are nearby Moses and Maggie Mountains. I've climbed the first two and someday hope to climb the latter two. Again the distant views of Silliman and Alta did not photograph well but I did get one good picture of Moses and Maggie, they are such photogenic mountains! Now the magic of early morning is gone but the day has begun and sun is streaming in through my window and the clouds have all but disappeared. But there's still a little wisp of a cloud hanging around the top of Black Mountain floating just above the trees. The frosted trees at the top are outlined against the bright blue sky. I imagine how quiet it must be up there right now and I close my eyes and try to remember these beautiful moments. Back to Tarol's Homepage |
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