Without the Roar

Wow, I've never had a tweet go viral before.

This photo I tweeted got over 18,000 views, hundreds of likes,
and over a hundred retweets. In two days!

I'm not sure what to say... except thank you. And follow me live next weekend on Twitter as I climb Mt. Shasta--just kidding. My favorite comment: "this looks like my lawn during baseball season."



And, if you liked that, you might like this new blog category called Without the Roar. This category contains photos from places without the roar of cars and other machines, where the background noise is... silence. And usually that also means places without the glare of bright night lights destroying our views of our precious and beautiful night sky.

This category is also a game--to see if you can guess where each location is. I'll give you hints. But I won't tell you where it is--with the exception of this first one (you can find out where I took this photo following links on this page). If you look for #WithoutTheRoar on Twitter you'll find links to my challenges here and can submit your guesses--I checked, so far no one else is using this hashtag.

This online game comes from my idea of a dream job, which would be hosting a Discovery Channel show where I get dropped with a backpack by a helicopter/vehicle somewhere in California (blindfolded on the way) and I get a couple of days to figure out where I am. During that time I interpret my discoveries of the natural history of the area, and an expert naturalist from the area joins me as a guest on the second day. Kind of like "Man-Woman-Wild" meets "California Gold." I get to pack anything except detailed maps and electronic devices. I get a single phone call to someone who I know who could help me figure out where I am.

I'll have to learn how to navigate with a sextant :).

Of course, since I don't have my dream job, and it would be more fun to have others play this game,  I'll post the challenges here and additional hints and guesses can happen on Twitter at #WithoutTheRoar.

Why won't I tell you the answers? Social media is creating insane visitation problems in many areas, and many remote areas aren't equipped to handle lots of visitors without sustaining damage. Especially with federal funding for rangers declining. I don't want to feed that problem. I mean, what's up with Mono Lake getting crazy visitation last summer, complete with plenty of bad behavior, but visitation to the Mono Lake Committee Information Center and Bookstore--where people can actually learn how to properly behave--actually declined? I mean, all the cool interesting fun people hang out at the MLC and the other businesses in Lee Vining.

Ok, ok, what fun is it if you don't get to find out the answer? I'll choose locations carefully so we don't run into any problems.

Hint: not on the way to anywhere, but along the way to everywhere.

Additional hints:
Not part of the Basin and Range Geologic Province, yet a closed  hydrologic basin with no outlet.
Owned and operated by the BLM, and initially protected thanks to the hard work of The Nature Conservancy and others.
Click here for the answer.