The Buttermilk Hills
I recently returned from several days exploring California’s Owens Valley.
This week, I’m talking about the Bishop, California area. Bishop is the largest town in the Valley.
In 1861, Samuel Addison Bishop arrived with his wife, several hired hands, a herd of 600 cattle, and 50 horses to settle in the Owens Valley. He established the San Francis Ranch, alongside a creek that still bears his name today (Bishop Creek).
Within a year, a few miles east of the ranch, the frontier settlement of Bishop Creek became a town and is today the City of Bishop.
It’s an area well worth visiting. The Bishop Visitor’s Center describes it as follows:
“Sweeping views. Big mountains. Fresh air. Sunshine. Burbling streams. Blossoming woodlands. Trails that weave through alpine forests and around sparkling blue lakes. Rivers and streams that create verdant paths down rocky canyons and across high-desert plains. Boulders that can be climbed. Waters that can be fished. A canopy of stars that shines at night, brighter than at almost any other accessible place on earth. Home to the planet’s oldest living things.”
It lives up to the hype as “Halfway between heaven and, well … heaven!”
If you go, stay at the Creekside Inn. Bishop Creek runs through the beautiful property. And it features dozens and dozens of photographs taken by the late Galen Rowell, often featuring the area around Bishop.
Former longtime news anchor Tom Brokaw described Galen as “creating photographs as timeless, as stunning, and as powerful as nature itself.”
Creekside Inn entry to the breakfast area with three Rowell photographs
The Buttermilk Hills
The Buttermilk Hills, just outside of Bishop, are a well-known bouldering destination. You’ll see groups of climbers in all seasons working their way up the rock formations.
The area is known for large "highball" boulders. They don’t match the rest of the rock found in the area because they were carried by glaciers from far away.
The Shot
Fellow photographers Jon Christofersen, Mike Loebach, and I were in Mike’s car headed for the Buttermilks. At first, it was a pleasant ride on the dirt road with groups of climbers on the rocks.
We pulled off on a very sketchy side road to reach our destination. It was so steep and bumpy that we were unable to make it to the top. Spinning tires and the sound of a bottoming out suspension almost made us give up.
Fortunately, a fellow photographer who could care less about Mike’s vehicle, hopped into the driver’s seat and tore up the hill, making it to the top. From there it was a 15-minute scramble to a solitary picturesque tree.
We waited until the sun was ready to set behind the mountain and took several shots. To get the correct framing, we were standing on top of a small boulder with our cameras as high as we could hold them over our heads.
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus