Faithful To The End

As Southern California color spotter Kathy Jonokuchi returned from the Eastern Sierra following a recent getaway, storm clouds were gathering as a Frémont cottonwood stood guard among the jumble of rocks that form the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine.

She snapped a picture of it with her camera phone, worrying that it might not be good enough to make the big screen, but this is just the kind of scene that John Ford would have captured in one of his westerns.

A lone tree stands resolutely against the elements, not ready to give up its autumn gold to the dark forces of winter. A last holdout, faithful to the end.

• Alabama Hills, Inyo County – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, You Almost Missed It.