April 28, 2021
The Whitewater Preserve.
A good number of photographers will just drive around country roads to see things that inspire them, I'm not one of those people. A major reason is that to get to the countryside, I have to contend with LA's notorious traffic. So I tend to do my exploration a bit more virtually, via Google Maps. When I look at an area I'm thinking of driving to, I turn on the photos in Maps and they can sometimes give me 360° views of the area and also other things around that particular area. Looking at Joshua Tree a couple months ago, I saw one photo of a lush green area, that's not Joshua Tree! It was a bit further to the west and called the Whitewater Preserve. It's along the Whitewater River that runs from the eastern slopes of Mt. San Gorgonio, by Palm Springs to the Salton Sea.
The Whitewater Preserve covers about 20,000 acres and these photos only depict the area around the ranger's station and the picnic area. This part of the preserve used to be a family owned trout farm that went out of business in 2006 and the operation was purchased by the Wildlands Conservancy(who administer the preserve) and adapted the trout ponds to the pools and waterfalls that you see in the photos. It really is a stark contrast to Joshua Tree which is only about 30 miles away. The Whitewater Preserve along with the Pioneertown Mountain Preserve, the Mission Creek Preserve and the Big Morongo Preserve are all part of the Sand to Snow National Monument established by a Presidential Proclamation signed by President Obama in 2016.
Read MoreA good number of photographers will just drive around country roads to see things that inspire them, I'm not one of those people. A major reason is that to get to the countryside, I have to contend with LA's notorious traffic. So I tend to do my exploration a bit more virtually, via Google Maps. When I look at an area I'm thinking of driving to, I turn on the photos in Maps and they can sometimes give me 360° views of the area and also other things around that particular area. Looking at Joshua Tree a couple months ago, I saw one photo of a lush green area, that's not Joshua Tree! It was a bit further to the west and called the Whitewater Preserve. It's along the Whitewater River that runs from the eastern slopes of Mt. San Gorgonio, by Palm Springs to the Salton Sea.
The Whitewater Preserve covers about 20,000 acres and these photos only depict the area around the ranger's station and the picnic area. This part of the preserve used to be a family owned trout farm that went out of business in 2006 and the operation was purchased by the Wildlands Conservancy(who administer the preserve) and adapted the trout ponds to the pools and waterfalls that you see in the photos. It really is a stark contrast to Joshua Tree which is only about 30 miles away. The Whitewater Preserve along with the Pioneertown Mountain Preserve, the Mission Creek Preserve and the Big Morongo Preserve are all part of the Sand to Snow National Monument established by a Presidential Proclamation signed by President Obama in 2016.
