It seems, Brian, that you devoted more helpful time here than usual, the overlaps of Ecological Communities, to be found, starting with the Northernmost Transverse Range of the Tehachapis, running all the way down to the Peninsulars. Those separate, distinct ranges, are big islands set for the most part, in the middle of deserts, as opposed to the far vaster feature of the Sierra Nevada, so, that to my reckoning, not one of these Communities, that you show us, of your SoCal stomping grounds, is entirely "pure". That's okay, for the result is far more Species DIVERSITY, than you can find in nearly any other place in California, and perhaps Arizona. These overlaps are very broad and deep. Onyx is only a shade lower than Tuolumne Meadows, yet TM's more "purely" subalpine setting, that gets plenty of summertime t-storms--NorCal's famous maritime fog flows, orographically/adiabatically transformed by the very broad Western Sierra Slope, plus some Monsoonal additions, later on. Onyx still possesses a bit of a little desert component, to my reckoning, from what you'd shown us. Even along the "Tahquitz Headwall" & its peaks, in spite of nominally being "subalpine"--as shown in your previous Video--displays just a smidgen of desert to it. And, the Southernmost Sierra exhibits some of this selfsame Ecological behavior/display, throughout the Southeast Kern River country. Where else can you find Jeffreys and some Sugars/Red Fir, mingling with SL Pinons, Yuccas, Joshuas, and . . . high-elevation Mourning Greys?? I ought to know; I've been there . . . and so have you, in perhaps a slightly different area of that province. I would suggest that you, and-or you and Brett, ought to show us, feature for us, the Domelands Wilderness, in one of your Videos. There is a little bit of lack of Ponderosa action, in this general province except at the Sherman Pass/Great Western Divide Highway Wye (a stringer of Ponderosas amongst the general prevalence of Mourning Greys, in the mainstem Kern River Canyon), where the Ponderosas increasingly represent the lower Yellow Pine constituent, going towards Camp Nelson. There's been a little bee in my bonnet, lately, that's growing, and that's the increased reliance upon many Internet venues, to use AI, for the "writing" of prose--if you can call THAT, true writing--and for its use of arguably faulty algorithms, in making various compilations and photos sets. Photos are often reversed, mis-cropped, automatically photoshopped, and there's "facts" that obviously are not true. On the Microsoft Edge Homepage, I saw a piece about the Rim of The World Highway. They said that you can find THE GENERAL SHERMAN TREE, not far from The Lake, at Bluff Meadows! They're OBVIOUSLY mixed-up, concerning the VERY CHAMPION LODGEPOLE, which you'll REALLY find there. And, these same nitwits sometimes place HALF DOME, in Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP's! Sigh, oh well; nobody checks their facts anymore. They honestly believe that they're honestly addressing adults, but grade-schoolers, from back in my day, would be gravely insulted, believing themselves profoundly patronized! Part of the decline of a once-great civilization. Probably too much LSD in the '60's, to begin with.
Amen to the AI business! I am somewhat "old school" myself, and I love to rely on the "old methods", or at least relatively so! I do use Google Earth for hiking research, but then use my old sense of direction in off-trail navigation, as seen in the early part of this hike! That Western Divide HWY area and western Sherman Pass, it does ring true with the Ponderosas! That Kern River Canyon has some HUGE Gray Pines, the largest of which are just upslope from the river itself! I am always amazed when I drive M99 highway!
It seems, Brian, that you devoted more helpful time here than usual, the overlaps of Ecological Communities, to be found, starting with the Northernmost Transverse Range of the Tehachapis, running all the way down to the Peninsulars. Those separate, distinct ranges, are big islands set for the most part, in the middle of deserts, as opposed to the far vaster feature of the Sierra Nevada, so, that to my reckoning, not one of these Communities, that you show us, of your SoCal stomping grounds, is entirely "pure". That's okay, for the result is far more Species DIVERSITY, than you can find in nearly any other place in California, and perhaps Arizona. These overlaps are very broad and deep. Onyx is only a shade lower than Tuolumne Meadows, yet TM's more "purely" subalpine setting, that gets plenty of summertime t-storms--NorCal's famous maritime fog flows, orographically/adiabatically transformed by the very broad Western Sierra Slope, plus some Monsoonal additions, later on. Onyx still possesses a bit of a little desert component, to my reckoning, from what you'd shown us. Even along the "Tahquitz Headwall" & its peaks, in spite of nominally being "subalpine"--as shown in your previous Video--displays just a smidgen of desert to it. And, the Southernmost Sierra exhibits some of this selfsame Ecological behavior/display, throughout the Southeast Kern River country. Where else can you find Jeffreys and some Sugars/Red Fir, mingling with SL Pinons, Yuccas, Joshuas, and . . . high-elevation Mourning Greys?? I ought to know; I've been there . . . and so have you, in perhaps a slightly different area of that province. I would suggest that you, and-or you and Brett, ought to show us, feature for us, the Domelands Wilderness, in one of your Videos. There is a little bit of lack of Ponderosa action, in this general province except at the Sherman Pass/Great Western Divide Highway Wye (a stringer of Ponderosas amongst the general prevalence of Mourning Greys, in the mainstem Kern River Canyon), where the Ponderosas increasingly represent the lower Yellow Pine constituent, going towards Camp Nelson.
There's been a little bee in my bonnet, lately, that's growing, and that's the increased reliance upon many Internet venues, to use AI, for the "writing" of prose--if you can call THAT, true writing--and for its use of arguably faulty algorithms, in making various compilations and photos sets. Photos are often reversed, mis-cropped, automatically photoshopped, and there's "facts" that obviously are not true. On the Microsoft Edge Homepage, I saw a piece about the Rim of The World Highway. They said that you can find THE GENERAL SHERMAN TREE, not far from The Lake, at Bluff Meadows! They're OBVIOUSLY mixed-up, concerning the VERY CHAMPION LODGEPOLE, which you'll REALLY find there. And, these same nitwits sometimes place HALF DOME, in Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP's! Sigh, oh well; nobody checks their facts anymore. They honestly believe that they're honestly addressing adults, but grade-schoolers, from back in my day, would be gravely insulted, believing themselves profoundly patronized! Part of the decline of a once-great civilization. Probably too much LSD in the '60's, to begin with.
Amen to the AI business! I am somewhat "old school" myself, and I love to rely on the "old methods", or at least relatively so! I do use Google Earth for hiking research, but then use my old sense of direction in off-trail navigation, as seen in the early part of this hike! That Western Divide HWY area and western Sherman Pass, it does ring true with the Ponderosas! That Kern River Canyon has some HUGE Gray Pines, the largest of which are just upslope from the river itself! I am always amazed when I drive M99 highway!