Thanks for giving me too much credit, Bill. If I could have cropped the towers out of the photo without subtracting from the canyon as a whole, I would have. And the blue sky was provided by mother nature. So, I really didn't have a whole lot to do with how the picture came out.

Bad daddy! I can’t believe you didn’t go back for another gallon of milk. Some tough guy.

"The falls used to power the flour mill.." Power the flour? I see what you are doing there, a very subtle way to throw in your liberal anti-war politics. "Flower Power" was a symbol of passive resistance to the Vietnam War; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_power for more detail. Being of the age so as to have been subjected to the last military draft, I anxiously awaited the results of the lottery that could determine whether I lived or was shipped home in a box. My draft number was such that it was estimated that I WOULD indeed be drafted, but they reached their quota shortly before my number - so I simply got lucky. Friends weren't so lucky, and I've now lived 50+ years longer than their shortened lives.

But did I deserve to live when others died simply because of a lottery? This much I know; if we had a standing draft for military service, our Senators and Representatives would be much more cautious before committing our military to action. When the sons and daughters of Congress folks are subject to the draft, when it's not just poor folks who may die from the fighting caused by our political decisions, then perhaps we would get more rational thinking from our "leaders."

So then; well done, sir. "Power the flour" indeed. Flower power, make love not war. And, FWIW, I popped an opiod pain pill some minutes before I commenced writing this - man, that's good stuff, I'm not hurting any more. Peace all,

Nice!

I suspect you intentionally included the concrete towers in the shot for context. Although the sharply contrasting blue sky does add some bling.

Greg yes that’s true. I have a fat tyred 29er bike (an off-seal touring bike) which I’d be willing to try out on snow. We get sub-zero temperatures here, but the lowest I’ve cycled in is -7°C . Dry, frosty cold. That’s where I stop feeling my extremities.

Graham, if all you had for four or five months of the year was winter conditions, I'm pretty sure you'd get out there on your bike. Riding on slippery surfaces is better than no riding at all.

Nothing gets G-2 down. I don't think I've ever seen a frown on his face.

What you said about pain being invisible is true. Most of my falls just result in a sore body that lasts several days. Luckily, abrasions are rare in the wintertime thanks to all the layers over my skin.

Greg now I’m 100% convinced that I’ll never cycle in real winter conditions like you have. I have enough trouble staying upright on grippy surfaces.

Slippy surfaces which induce lumps on riders intimidate me by their shininess.

Nice that he’s smiling through the pain.

Impressive! My hits rarely are so aesthetically pleasing, if at all. Pain is rarely visible, but almost continuous. Abrasions are another matter, they take ages to go away and usually leave impressive badges of honor.

Truth!

And I concur with your photo imaging reproduction over keyboard input. If you are like me, you will have back spaced out several typos by the time you finish one line.

To quote a little kid back maybe 70 years or so... Well maybe a paraphrase...

"I don't got much balance."

Yeah, so familiar to me, but to newbies, maybe a vid would be more effective?

With constant views down into the Panamint and/or Death Valleys, it really is a spectacular hike.