For my November Photo of the Month, I return to a familiar muse, El Cajon Mountain in San Diego’s East County region.
ECM25 Background
November is the month where, for now, our clocks change back to Standard Time, and chasing sunsets collides with the reality that I have a job to do that often goes past Winter sunset time. I missed a couple nice sunsets due to work, and I missed another due to running errands. Those are the breaks, sometimes.
Early in the month, we had some legitimate precipitation. I walked outside just to get soaked, because the feeling is so ephemeral here. And indeed, it has been forecast that we are heading back into prevailing dry weather that may last through Spring.
This brings me to a favorite location, overlooking El Cajon Mountain, also known locally as El Capitan. This is one of the most distinct landforms in the entire County, but I often feel it is a bit overlooked.
This location is contained in the Blossom Valley Summit Preserve, which is preserved by the Center for Natural Lands Management. While many of CNLM’s preserves protect habitat so sensitive, they don’t allow hiking, this one actually features the Flume Trail from El Monte Park to the top ridge of Blossom Valley.
I have photographed here many times, and it remains one of my favorite County locations. It can be a challenge to return home with something unique to my previous work. The light and shadow cast from this storm made it possible though. In this particular moment, the mountain glowed, while the surrounding area was steeped in shadow. It framed the image very well. I was pleased with the result.
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the image.
Further Viewing
Photos of the Month Portfolio Archive
San Diego’s East County Portfolio Archive
T.M. Schultze Fine Art America Print-On-Demand Store
T.M. Schultze is a San Diego-based photographer, traveller, and writer. He writes, photographs, and draws things of the outdoors that have inspired humans for thousands of years. He co-authored the Photographer’s Guide to Joshua Tree Park which can be purchased here.
ECM25 is just a gorgeous capture of our beast of a mountain (the hike up it is pretty brutal on the knees). I just love looking at this mountain.