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Alex writes: “Seasons Greetings 2011, 35mm scan, Sierra City 1975″ … Never before published. Click image for larger file. Photo by Alex Forbes.

But there’s a story behind it. As I wrote a good friend,

My friend Art, his dad “Uncle Art,” Art’s brother and our two dogs had all just tossed in the towel after a miserable, rainy, cold, wet, unsuccessful fishing expedition to a nonexistent place called “Shad’s Resort” on the muddy, rain-swollen Mokelumne (vicinity of Placerville). We decided to drive north to look around Wild Plum, since we were already in the same neck of the woods. With our luck, by that time and altitude  it had started to snow, and was obviously coming down heavier with every passing minute. The old campsite area and the waterfalls had become a winter wonderland, almost unrecognizable to us seasonal tourist city types. If we tarried too long we risked getting stranded.

But we stopped at the bridge again on the way out for a last look. I took the photo you see, which looks like a black and white unless you look really carefully, and another photo of Sierra Buttes, the craggy mountain to the north that overlooked our old campsite. And then we began the long, long drive down highway 49 to highway 80 and home.

Merry Christmas!

Also browse all images in Alex’s galleries. Most recent: Alex’s Gallery.