Cedarville California windmill

Issue #128 - California's Warner Range in Autumn

I packed up my gear an hour before sunrise and drove east from Alturas, across the Surprise Valley and into Nevada. A few hundred feet up the foothills, I had a better view of the Surprise Valley and most of California’s Warner Range covered with snow. Every few minutes, the sun would pop out between the clouds and light up parts of the valley, distant barns and groves of tall poplars. Nine miles east of Cedarville, I spotted an old windmill in the distance. I pulled off the paved road and headed cross-country on the dry lakebed. A cold wind was blowing. The blades on the old Aermotor windmill were stationary. I waited for the perfect light on this scene, maybe a spotlight through the clouds, but the sky did not cooperate. After a thirty-minute wait, I walked around the windmill and photographed it from the other side.

Issue #128 contains information about the seldom-visited northeastern corner of California.