SoCalSights

By Astrid · 6 places

Winter Sun, Seventy Degrees

December light, seventy degrees, snow on the horizon

Winter is when Southern California quietly shows off. The air clears after storms, the desert canyons run with water, and the citrus ripens under snowcapped peaks. I do more shooting in January than in July, and these are the reasons why.

  1. A steel truss bridge spans a dry, rocky canyon with steep, scrub-covered walls and a broad wash of boulders below. The black-and-white landscape is framed by layered desert rock and a distant open plain beyond the canyon.
    1

    Palm Springs

    Indian Canyons - Palm Canyon

    The largest fan palm oasis in the world, over 2,600 palms along a year-round stream. Winter is when the canyon is open, cool, and green while everything above 6,000 feet is buried.

  2. Thousands of white wind turbines stretch in long, orderly rows across the tan floor of San Gorgonio Pass, their blades tiny against the vast desert landscape. Golden light softens the scene, with rugged brown mountains framing the wind farm in the foreground and distance.
    2

    Palm Springs

    Windmill Fields along North Indian Canyon Drive

    Rows of turbines against San Jacinto, which in winter carries a snow line. The geometric repetition works best in clean post-storm air, when the mountains look close enough to touch.

  3. A narrow desert canyon opens to a small seasonal waterfall spilling between smooth pale granite walls into a calm pool, with boulders and a creek bed filling the foreground. Cottonwood trees arch over the right side, and morning light filters through autumn-colored leaves above the rocky gorge.
    3

    Palm Springs

    Tahquitz Canyon

    The sixty-foot waterfall only really runs from December through April. A winter morning here, water on rock in the desert, is the season's best argument.

  4. Sweeping view across neatly planted citrus groves, with rows of green trees stretching toward a hazy mountain range under a clear blue sky. Tall palm trunks and long golden-hour shadows frame the orchard, emphasizing the park’s geometric lines and agricultural landscape.
    4

    Riverside

    California Citrus State Historic Park

    Orchard rows heavy with fruit through winter, and the San Gabriels white behind them. Oranges and snow in the same frame is the Inland Empire's oldest postcard, still true.

  5. Several swimmers in bikinis leap in sequence from a pale sandstone cliff into the dark blue cove, with one splash already breaking the surface below. Golden morning light highlights the cliff edge while low coastal bluffs and houses stretch across the horizon.
    5

    La Jolla

    La Jolla Cove

    The turquoise water does not know it is January. Winter low tides open up the pools along the rocky shoreline, and the sea lions haul out regardless of your plans.

  6. A wide overlook above a deep blue lake curves around steep, forested cliffs and dark volcanic ridges under a bright sky filled with billowing white clouds. In the foreground, a lone visitor stands on the grassy rim taking a photo, with yellow wildflowers and scattered shrubs along the edge.
    6

    Lake Arrowhead

    Rim of the World Vista Point

    After a winter storm clears, the view from 5,100 feet can run a hundred miles to the Pacific. It is a paved pullout, no hike, and the coldest thing about it is the railing.

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