Anza Borrego Moonrise
Anza Borrego State Park, California
I first saw this desert badlands in a photograph taken by the late Galen Rowell, and I had to experience it with my own eyes. The starkness of the landscape is amazing -- not a place in which I would want to be lost. The deeply eroded hillsides that stretch to the Salton Sea in the distance are striking. In my photo, the sun has almost set, and the moon has a reddish hue because the sun is shining through the lower reaches of the atmosphere. It's often best to photograph the full moon the day before it is full, because it will rise while there is still some light on the landscape; this often makes for a better photograph.
Photo © copyright by Stephen Penland.