I had set my eyes on the area east of Highway 395 after our morning visit to McGee Creek. We took Benton Crossing Road, a little bit north of Lake Crowley, and followed it to the junction with Highway 120 East. We continued down to Benton Hot Springs and Benton itself before going back west, now on Highway 120 towards Mono Lake.

The two roads lead through a landscape that is peaceful and empty. It’s all sagebrush and soft hills here, and occasionally wooded areas with mostly pines. It is almost astonishing that these roads exist at all – in particular Benton Crossing Road which, once past the Owens River, seems to serve little purpose. That it is a paved road at all is surprising. It is hard to put this feeling into words – perhaps the photos will give you an idea what I found so attractive about the area…

I tried to resist the urge to add more “pop” to the photos. I wanted to preserve the feeling of this somewhat strange, dry and dusty landscape. The vast expanses of sagebrush steppe seemed to be striking and unique enough to me.