But first, let me take a selfie. I shot this on August 28, 2019 after I finished several shots of this tower. Before heading home, I decided to take a selfie. Shot with a Canon 6D and Sigma 15mm EX DG lens at 13 sec f/2.8 ISO 3200. I had known about this tower for some time, but finally got around to visiting it last night. I had tried to go to it a few nights ago, but had bad directions and kept encountering locked gates miles below. A phone call with a very nice and helpful person at Forest Fire Lookout Association San Diego-Riverside Chapter (FFLA-SDRC) helped me find the correct way up here. It's NOT an easy road to drive and requires a high clearance vehicle up about 13 miles of rough road. 4WD is recommended. Many of these towers were decommissioned in the 1990's, but in recent years this tower and several others have been reopened and staffed. It's been determined that human eyes are still among the best technology at spotting fires. The first Highpoint lookout tower was constructed on the site in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps for the US Forest Service. That tower was replaced by the current structure in 1964. The Cleveland National Forest last staffed the tower in 1992. The cab exterior and tower are in excellent condition. The interior was removed due to vandalism in 2005. A security gate has since been installed on the tower. Tower restoration with new glass, cabinets and flooring was completed in 2009. The San Diego-Riverside Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association began staffing the tower with volunteers for fixed-point fire detection in 2009. FFLA-SDRC first achieved a 100% staffing during the 2013 fire season. FFLA-SDRC has achieved that same 100% fire season staffing for every year since with few exceptions due to weather.
I shot this on August 28, 2019 at around 9:20 P.M. This is a panorama (though not unusually wide or long) of 43 individual frames shot with a Canon 6D and Canon 50mm (nifty fifty) lens. Each frame was shot at 6 sec f/2.2 ISO 3200 and then stitched together. I had known about this tower for some time, but finally got around to visiting it last night. I had tried to go to it a few nights ago, but had bad directions and kept encountering locked gates miles below. A phone call with a very nice and helpful person at Forest Fire Lookout Association San Diego-Riverside Chapter (FFLA-SDRC) helped me find the correct way up here. It's NOT an easy road to drive and requires a high clearance vehicle up about 13 miles of rough road. 4WD is recommended. Many of these towers were decommissioned in the 1990's, but in recent years this tower and several others have been reopened and staffed. It's been determined that human eyes are still among the best technology at spotting fires. I remember years ago when I posted some photos of another tower - the one on nearby Boucher Hill - in disrepair. After a couple of HUGE wildfires in San Diego County in 2003 and 2007, people would comment on my photos "They should start using these again!" Well now they are. The first Highpoint lookout tower was constructed on the site in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps for the US Forest Service. That tower was replaced by the current structure in 1964. A 13 x 13 foot CL-30 series steel cab sits atop an all-steel L-1600 series 67-6 tower. High Point Lookout is the tallest tower remaining in the Forest Service inventory in California. The Cleveland National Forest last staffed the tower in 1992. The cab exterior and tower are in excellent condition. The interior was removed due to vandalism in 2005. A security gate has since been installed on the tower. Tower restoration with new glass, cabinets and flooring was completed in 2009. The San Diego-Riverside Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association began staffing the tower with volunteers for fixed-point fire detection in 2009. FFLA-SDRC first achieved a 100% staffing during the 2013 fire season. FFLA-SDRC has achieved that same 100% fire season staffing for every year since with few exceptions due to weather.
What was once a creek is Highway 94 aka. Campo Road these days. I'm not sure how long ago the creek dried up (or was possibly dammed up?) and converted to a highway. I've been wanting to do this shot for a while, but didn't want to bother with the drive. The other evening, however, I had a twilight real estate shoot in Chula Vista and this was only about a 45 minute drive from there. This location is pretty close to the USA-Mexico border. While wandering around in the dark here, I got buzzed at least three times by what I will assume were Border Patrol or other law enforcement helicopters. They flew by in total the dark with no exterior lights on each time. I'm fairly certainly they used night vision, zoomed in on me, and determined I wasn't an illegal border crosser and not a smuggler. This steel railroad trestle is in Campo, California - a community in southeastern San Diego County. Shot on August 22, 2019. For the sky, I did a tracked exposure at 240 sec f/4 ISO 400 with a Canon 6D and Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens. For the foreground, I shot six exposures each at 60 sec f/4 ISO 2000. The structure is illuminated by passing traffic below. This bridge is part of the San Diego & Arizona Eastern (SD&AE) railroad. Originally founded in 1906 as the San Diego & Arizona Railway (SD&A) by sugar heir, developer, and entrepreneur John D. Spreckels. Dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved, the line was established in part to provide San Diego with a direct rail link to the east by connecting with the Southern Pacific Railroad lines in El Centro, California. Spreckels donated the organ pavilion in Balboa Park in San Diego and built the Spreckels Theater building in downtown San Diego. He's one of San Diego's premiere philanthropists. Some interesting trivia: In 1908, Adolph Spreckels, heir to the Spreckels’ sugar fortune (along with his brother John), married a woman 24 years his junior. Alma was apparently quite a babe. She called her husband Adolph her “Sugar Daddy.”
