Lava Beds National Monument (Part 4) - Tulelake, CA

From 7/17/2013 to 8/2/2013, I took a road trip from the SF Bay Area to Vancouver, BC, Canada. Half of the trip was spent driving up the west coast. On my trip, I visited many famous places such as Seattle, Butchart Gardens, Mount Rainier, and much more. Obviously I got many coastal shots and many places that isn't as famous. The reason I am posting it now is because the high amount of photos I took equaled a high amount of processing time. I took a bit over 2000 photos on the trip. After stitching the panoramas, compositing the HDRs, and picking out photos from the repeats, I have a bit over 1000 photos to show you guys. The photos will be split into parts. I will link you to the previous and next parts on each post just like I did with my Death Valley National Park photos and my Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park photos. Hope you enjoy viewing this chain of posts!

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best Lava Beds National Monument photos, use this link. To view all of my day 15 photos, use this link.

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Today I have part 4, the last part of Lava Beds National Monument. Lava Beds National Monument is part of a volcanic system and contains many empty lava tubes (caves) that you can go down and explore. In the park, only one of the caves (Mushpot Cave) is lit. The other caves are pitch dark and will require flashlights to go exploring. The temperature in the caves are very cold, a great place to go on a hot summer day! If you want to explore something you haven't seen before, this is a good place! Just make sure you have a good flashlight. Photographing in the caves was also a very hard. At night, you can work with light from the moon, which will be bright enough if you expose long enough. In the caves, all light have to be created by you! The following cave shots were shot using a very very strong flashlight and my Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT.

The Petroglyph Section is separate from the rest of Lava Beds National Monument. To get there, you will enter the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge which is where this photo was shot at. This is a photo from West Wildlife Overlook. In my opinion, one of the best photos I've ever shot. 

 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 50 10 N 121 29 25 W   

Black and white process of the photo above.  

 Here is a panorama of the giant rock face of Petroglyph Section. If you look closely, you will see barbed wire fence under the rock face. On this rock wall, Native Americans carved writing into the soft stone which is why this area is protected under the National Monument. That barbed wire fence was not always there. The officials installed it after many degenerates decided to cave their own names and initials into the wall. So sad people would do this to history!
 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 50 43 N 121 23 28 W   

Here are the original Native American writing.
 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 50 46 N 121 23 26 W   

Over here, you can see where degenerates carved over the ancient petroglyphs. 

 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 50 45 N 121 23 27 W   

Here is a portrait of the rock face. To help combat the destruction of history, the authorities has also installed quite a bit of motion sensing cameras (night vision is included) in the area. Really sad how people have to take this much precaution to stop the destruction of something historical. People who do these things deserves the death sentence. 

 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 50 47 N 121 23 25 W   

 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 50 45 N 121 23 26 W   

 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 50 45 N 121 23 27 W    

More photos of the petryglyphs.
 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 50 42 N 121 23 27 W   

A photo of the scenery near the rock face. The barbed wire fence is on the left.
 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 50 42 N 121 23 28 W   

Almost done for the day, driving toward our hotel. Last few shots from Tulelake, CA. Photo shot along SR-120.
 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 50 54 N 121 23 13 W   

Another photo from SR-120 in Tulelake, CA.
 Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 41 51 51 N 121 23 07 W   

These are all the photos for today and for day 15 (Lava Beds National Monument). I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Next time I will continue with more of the photos from Mount Shasta. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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