Pine Nut Road ~ Desert NWR

Flickr album link:  flic.kr/s/aHBqjAfV5z

​Pine Nut Road goes uphill from the Yucca Forest and ends at the base of a mountain where an entirely different desert micro environment exists. All along the way a visitor will notice the transition from yucca and sagebrush in the valley to piñon and juniper trees way up the hill. There are plenty of unique cactus species and other flowering plants to view along the way. Where the the temperatures are icy cold during winter in the higher elevations is where the forest begins. Water seepage at the base of the mountain ensures that the trees will grow, so there will always be some shade to be found at the end of Pine Nut Road.

Pine Nuts have been an important food resource throughout the west since ancient times and there are several other vegan dining options to discover at the end of Pine Nut Road. Food resources are not only for humans and there is one animal in particular that hoards pine nuts. Desert squirrels certainly do stay busy in a piñon forest, so this area is a good place to do some squirrel picture taking with a medium telephoto lens. There are lots of rabbits in this area too, which are prey for mountain lions, so it is best to be well aware of the surroundings while wandering around the shade trees.

Pine Nut Road is easy to find, but a high ground clearance vehicle will be needed for the trip since the bumpy desert dirt roads have a way of tearing a regular passenger car apart. As always, the cold weather seasons are best for this trip and be sure to pack plenty of water in case the unexpected occurs. There are many side roads like Pine Nut Road in the vast Desert National Wildlife Refuge and each offers plenty of natural wonders to ponder over. Just be sure to bring a camera in case desert the desert bighorn sheep are present!

*On a side note, I personally do have a way of thoroughly wearing out a camera with heavy outdoor usage. A Nikon Z5 mirrorless camera was used for the Pine Nut Road Tour, which replaced a very high mileage crop sensor DSLR camera. I prefer a 1.5 crop sensor camera for content photography for many good reasons, but a full frame camera is fun for gathering content too, especially during daylight hours in the desert. The full frame pictures look different than what a crop sensor camera produces and it is much easier to control the highlights when the bright desert glare is at a peak. A polarizer filter is recommended for desert glare, but this type of filter may cause imaging issues that can make a picture look unrealistic. A light neutral density filter on any kind of camera will also help to dampen the desert glare with no loss of image quality. I prefer no filters at all in order to maintain the highest possible image quality, so a full frame snapshot camera now resides in my bag. This is something to keep in mind if you wish to increase the number of keeper photos during the trip.
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