Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - Blair Valley, CA

Blair Valley's elevation is over 2,000 feet and therefore cold at night - down to about 25F (umm, -4 or -5 C?), but daytime highs are in the 70s and sunny, so we're back in shorts and tank tops.  We camp in a primitive state park campground, which means there are no hookups, but there are pit toilets, all of which we don't need anyway - but it's FREE.  The campground is beside a dry lake, and the vegetation here is much more lush than in Borrego Springs where the elevation was around 800 feet.  Again, mountains (with peaks around 5,000 feet) surround us.  Grady likes his walks here amongst the bushes.

Yaquitepec ruins - the water cistern with homestead wall behind me

Ghost Mountain and Yaquitepec - this is the primitive experimental homesite of Marshal and Tanya South who raised three children here from 1933 to 1946 without any "comforts of home" as we know them - no electricity, nearby grocery stores, etc.  They had to search for sources of water, food and fuel.  The remains of their adobe home and water cistern remain.  The views of the valleys to the east and west are stunning, although I expect that, after a few years living atop this mountain desert wilderness, you wouldn't be so excited by it.

The view southeast from Ghost Mountain

The Narrows Earth Trail - a very short, interpretive trail explaining some of the geology of the area.  The trail is along a fault line and the fault cracks and different types of rock on either side of the fault are easily seen.  We took no photos here because they're just, well, more rocks.

Marilyn climbing down a dry waterfall

Rainbow Canyon - so far the best hike in this park yet.  As its name implies, it is somewhat colourful (although, again, compared to Utah it's drab).  We find rocks that are grey and brown, but also white (quartz and feldspar), black (mica and tourmaline), red, greenish and bluish.  The canyon walls are high and close together, so it is like hiking through a wide slot canyon with several (about 8 or 9) dry waterfalls that we have to scramble up (and then down on our way back).  In total, we climb about 500 feet in elevation from the road to where the canyon widens out at about 1.6 miles in.  The vegetation is very lush here with many plants - ocotillo (awk-oh-tee'-oh), cholla (choy'-ya), barrel cactus, agave (ah-gah'-vay), beavertail cactus, and many others I can't begin to name.  The cholla are starting to flower - they get tough, yellow buds at their ends which will bloom soon I expect.  I would love to see the ocotillo in full bloom - their flowers are scarlet.

A new barrel cactus

A Teddybear Cholla with buds

Desert flora - barrel cactus on left, teddybear cholla with an ocotillo sprayed behind them

We also see some wildlife in the area.  There are roadrunners near our camp and we often see them scooting across the road, and we see a few Anna's hummingbirds on separate occasions.  The Chihuahuan Ravens are a constant on the desert landscape.  There is evidence of nocturnal species like coyotes (there is scat everywhere!).  What's scary are the holes in the desert sand, usually under bushes - I read that tarantulas and scorpions hibernate underground during the winter and Grady likes to stick his arm down these holes during his walks.  A warning from us makes him pull back.  However, the poor guy does get stung by a bee - inside the trailer.  Bees surround the trailer.  They are not at all agressive, but we can't leave our door open and just the screen door closed.  There are about two dozen bees buzzing at the screen the day we arrive and we have the door open because it's hot.  Well, I guess a bee got inside but we didn't see him.  In the evening while we are watching TV, Grady starts sniffing something on the carpet.  I don't see anything there but then he suddenly jumps straight up, then jumps up and to the side again.  Then he starts licking and shaking his head.  Brad catches on right away.  "He's been stung by a bee!"  I turn on the overhead lights and look around the carpet and sure enough, I find a bee with the stinger just pulled out lying dead.  Poor Grady licks his chops for half an hour, but he is otherwise fine.

Tomorrow we head further south in the park to Mountain Palm Canyon where we will stay for a few days and explore the southwest section.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - Split Mountain and the Badlands, CA

The weather is finally a lot warmer - over 70F and a LOT hotter than that in the sun, which is out all day thanks to cloudless skies.  Nights are no longer below freezing, but Grady is still snuggling under the covers with me.  I guess he's decided he likes it.

Marilyn in The Slot

We spend a day at Split Mountain, about 25 miles from where we are camped.  First, we hike "The Slot", a slot canyon which is very narrow in spots but not colourful.  The walls are a drab grey and brown, with small rocks to small boulders cemented into the sand/clay conglomerate - these are called concretions.  But it has the typical shape of a slot, snaking back and forth like the track of a serpent.  It narrows several times so that I have to turn sideways and position my bum-pack (not my big bum, but a pack to carry water and emergency gear belted around my hips) at the widest point to get through.  It's fun squeezing in and out of the waves.  Once it opens up into a wider wash, we turn around and head back the way we came.  In the parking lot when we arrive, we meet a couple from Newmarket, Ontario (near Toronto).  They are here only for a two-week vacation and we chat about the various places we have visited

View of folds and mountains; Fish Creek Wash snaking through

The drive along Fish Creek Wash takes us through a dry wash of a very deep canyon.  The sandstone walls tower above us over 500 feet high.  We have to avoid some large boulders in the sandy road.  At one point, we reach "The Anticline", a rock fold that looks as if Popeye bent a straight pipe until the ends meet.  The stone layers form several semicircles radiating out from the centre.  More forces of nature - this desert park sits on several fault lines where the northward-moving Pacific Plate meets the southward-moving North American Plate, just like along the San Andreas Fault.  We do not get an earthquake during our stay.

Brad (beside the white dot) having a nap on the Wind Cave rocks

Our destination is the Wind Caves trail, which climbs very steeply to these sandstone formations.  The holes in the rocks have been eroded by wind and blowing sand, not water.  We feel like we are in Bedrock and Fred and Barney will emerge from one of the stone houses at any time.  The view is actually the most spectacular thing here.  From the Wind Caves, we have a view of the Elephants Knees: sandstone cliffs eroded into peaks and valleys that actually resemble the legs and knees of elephants.  Unfortunately, they are to the south and directly into the sun, so the photos don't do them justice.  We can see other valleys, washes and mountains all around us, in the typical golden California colours.

The Elephants Knees

Inspiration Wash in the Badlands

And today (yes, really today as in the date this was posted), we drive up to Inspiration Point in the Badlands.  Another rugged road, another fabulous view of the Badlands, the valley with the town of Borrego Springs and mountains.  In fact, we can see our trailer from here (with binoculars).  We intend to also visit Fonts Point (another overlook of the Badlands) and drive through Short Wash, but decide we've seen what there is to see and return home for a lazy afternoon in the sun instead.  Tomorrow, we will move to Blair Valley, another region of this park and explore the canyons and mountains there.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - The Calcite Mine, CA

Borrego Springs is a really cool, little town nestled in this desert valley surrounded by mountains.  There are no franchises in town - no Walmart, no MacDonalds: all restaurants and stores are independent - a refreshing change which reminds us of southern Utah.  It seems many people have retired here and several RVers winter here.  At the northeast edge of town are hundreds of acres of citrus trees bearing grapefruits, oranges and lemons.  We purchase a bag of grapefruits for $3!!! for 14 huge Ruby Reds direct from the orchard.  We pay a buck a piece for these at home.  For another $3, we buy a large bag of tangelos - a cross between an orange and a tangerine.  The fruit is very sweet and juicy and picked just the day before!  Yum!

Between Borrego Springs and Salton City to the east is an old calcite mine which was activated after the bombing of Pearl Harbour as the government wanted the calcite crystals for the manufacture by Polaroid of optical ringsights for weaponry.  The road to the mine is a very technical, 4x4 road from the area where we park (.7 mile in from the highway) with its rock base frighteningly narrow, steep and uneven but still scarred with black rubber from the high-clearance vehicles that dare to make this trek.  The road is difficult for us to walk, let alone drive, and I can't imagine being a passenger.

At the Calcite Mine, Salton Sea in the background

At the mine site, we are standing close to the peaks of the Santa Rosa mountains (highest peak is around 3,500 feet, we are probably around 1,500 feet here) with views of the Salton Sea to the east, the valley to the west and mountains all around us.  We can see the Algodones or Imperial Sand Dunes (with binoculars) some 60 miles southeast.  Mexico (the Baja region) is about 50 miles south, San Diego about 60 miles southwest.  All "as the crow flies" miles.  The air is fairly clear and there is not a cloud in the sky.  Today is the first day it is warm enough to hike in t-shirts.

We can see where the calcite was mined from notched cuts that were made in the rock ridges, wide enough for a person to sling a sledgehammer; some only 10 feet high, others up to 100 feet high; most seem to be about 20 feet deep.  The veins of calcite are still visible in the rock cuts, and the ground all around the site sparkles with the crystal shards.  None of the buildings or equipment from the mining operations remain.

Yeah, I'm not climbing up that!

On our way back down the mining road (we climbed up a heart-pumping, steep incline to get here), we cross a dry creek bed which our guide book tells us becomes a slot canyon both up and down canyon and meets the main wash which will lead us back to where we are parked.  We decide to go up the canyon, which does quickly narrow into a slot.  But these canyon walls are a grey mix of clay and sand with small boulders cemented into it, called conglomerate.  The rocks and canyon walls are not very interesting, unlike those in Utah.  We have to scramble up a few boulder jams, one as high as 6 feet, and the accomplishment of the challenge is a bit of a rush.  But, when we reach the 12-foot high waterfall, we are done and return the way we came, then head down-canyon from the mining road.  Going this way, no challenges higher than a few feet interrupt our descent through the sandy wash.  Using our GPS, we find the road that will take us up and out of the canyon to the mine road, and we (almost surprisingly) emerge at the top 50 feet away from our truck.  Part luck, part skill.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

After such a long, harrowing drive to get here, we are excited to be back in the southern desert where the clear, blue skies and golden California mountains dominate the scenery.  The park is named for Captain Juan Bautista de Anza who led an expedition of soldiers and settlers through this land in 1775; and Borrego is the Spanish word for lamb or sheep as in the bighorn sheep which call this park home.

Marilyn in Borrego Palm Canyon
the large grove of palms is just further up-canyon

At 9am, we are ready to hike the Borrego Palm Canyon Trail, the only trail for which there is a fee.  However, since we are camped in the campground where the trail begins, we "get in free".  And we have to be out of our campsite by noon so we hustle to do the 3-mile round-trip hike.  We climb up the canyon, sometimes through the dry wash bed.  We pass many desert plants - desert lavender (with some scented, purple blooms still on them), cholla (choy'-ya) and ocotillo (o-co-tee'-yo) which are now dormant for the winter.  The area must be gorgeous when the cacti bloom.  Suddenly, a small creek emerges, with grasses and small palms alongside it, and a few waterfalls as we progress up the canyon.  Then the grove of about 75 huge fan palms (California's only native palm tree) standing about 50 feet tall appears over the rocky, bubbling creek which is really a spring that surfaces just above the palms and disappears underground again a little further downstream, perhaps 1/4 of a mile.  It surfaces again in the valley and feeds the aquafer that is the water life-line of the town of Borrego Springs.  An oasis not only in the desert, but in this canyon which climbs thousands of feet.

At the Visitor Center, we learn that a flood (specifically a wall of debris) in 2004 swept away a couple of hundred palms from Borrego Palm Canyon, devastating the trees and part of the campground at the end of the canyon.  The Center is also full of very informative and passionate volunteers and staff who share our disbelief at the lack of popularity of this amazing desert park, except in late February and March when the wildflowers bloom.  Then, extra staff are posted in the Visitor Center parking lot and there is a "wildflower hotline" that people can call, similar to our Muskoka fall leaves hotline, to learn when the peak is.

Marilyn at Maidenhair Falls (the fern on the left)

Hellhole Canyon is another hike amongst various desert flora to a palm grove and just beyond to Maidenhair Falls which is currently only seeping, but the Maidenhair Fern is beautiful and lush along the rock wall.  The view of the valley and Borrego Springs far below (900 feet from the falls) is quite a site.  During our lunch stop on the rocks above the palm grove, a medium-size bird of prey glides in and lands on a rock only about 30 feet from us.  He perches for several minutes and poses for a photo.  I think it is a falcon at first (they have some here), but looking in my bird guide later I discover it is a Northern Harrier.  Other tiny birds I think are wrens also swoop around us and hide under the palm skirts on the trees probably picking out small insects.  They are quite noisy and very tiny, about 4 inches high.

Norther Harrier in Hellhole Canyon

Second Crossing in Coyote Canyon - it's deep but we're not stuck!

A trip up Coyote Canyon proves to be disappointing.  This is a 4x4 road that crosses the creek several times, but the road becomes more and more rough with large rocks pointing up out of the sand.  We drive as far as the Third Crossing, several miles shy of our intended destination of Salvador Canyon (where there are more palm groves), have lunch and return to town.  Here, we auto tour the Sky Art metal sculptures: horses, dinosaurs, birds, farmers, and my favourite the serpent.  These were created by artist Richard Breceda at the request of Borrego Springs' great philanthropist, Dennis Avery (his father invented the self-stick "Avery Labels").  Avery lived here from 1990 until 2001; he passed away last year.  He had purchased several parcels of land on which the 131 sculptures sit throughout 28 different sites, called it Galleta Meadows Estate, and invited the public to visit, even camp, on the property.  What a unique and interesting man and place.

Marilyn with the serpent Sky Art metal sculpture

More on Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to come in future posts...

Going North - Lone Pine, CA

Our most northerly destination in California is Lone Pine, famous for the hundreds of movies and TV series shot here, including High Sierra with Bogie, Joe Kidd with Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall, The Great Race (one of my favourite movies from the 1960s) with Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood, Gunga Din with Cary Grant (with the Sierra Nevadas standing in for the Himalayas), Hop-along-Cassidy features, the Lone Ranger, and more recently Tremors, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VII: Generations.  Here's a complete list.

Our campsite in the Alabama Hills

The scenery is majestic.  To our immediate west are the snow-capped, jagged granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with Mount Whitney just northwest standing at about 14,500 feet, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states.  We are camped in the foothills of this section of the mountain range, the Alabama Hills.  Here, the granite has been eroded not by freeze and thaw like the high peaks, but by a process called exfoliating which causes the rock layers to fracture and peel.  To our east is the Owens Valley and Owens Lake (now mostly a dry, briny lakebed).  West of this valley are the Inyo Mountains, not as tall as 14,000 feet but still big with beautiful golden folds.  Death Valley is behind this range.  The result is a scene unlike anywhere we've seen so far.

Grady enjoying the scenery during his morning walk

Lunchtime in the snow at the foot of the Mt. Whitney Portal Rd.

Once again, there are tons of dirt roads through the Alabama Hills and up into the Sierras.  These roads were developed over the past 80 years by the multitude of film crews as a way of hauling cameras and other gear in and out of movie shoots.  We follow Movie Road (the main dirt road so named for this area's claim to fame) for several miles, and fork west onto Hogback Road across the valley towards the Sierra Nevadas.  At about 5,800 feet elevation, there is slush and snow covering the road.  Hmmm, I thought this is what we were leaving behind in Ontario!  It is here, against these grandiose mountains where we stop for our picnic lunch and, thanks to the sun, it is fairly mild sitting on the tailgate above the snow in only a long-sleeve t-shirt.  We can see the steep, almost vertical, grey granite cliffs with pockets of snow in crevices blowing down the mountainside.  Dozens of black ravens are catching thermals, floating above us.  At night, while having a campfire and watching the stars (no moon so the Milky Way is easily visible as is the Little Dipper), we hear an owl calling, probably from miles away.

The town of Lone Pine is fairly small, but typically authentic and quaint with some authentic western buildings, the fabulous Film History Museum, and a wonderfully informative Visitor Center with many exhibits displaying the nature and history of this scenic area.

Marilyn with the killer worm from the movie Tremors

The Lone Pine Film History Museum boasts many exhibits from the hundreds of movies (mostly westerns) filmed here.  I must admit, I'm not familiar with many of the titles, but I've certainly heard of the old film stars - Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, Roy Rogers, and Randolph Scott to name just a very few.  The museum has costumes made for Dale Evans by designer Nudie Cohn as well as his custom, tricked-out El Dorado Cadillac, the car used by Bogart in the movie High Sierra, and the stagecoach used in the movie Rawhide (no relation to the TV series).  There is also an exhibit for Django Unchanged, the latest Quentin Tarantino flick partly filmed here.  An informative 15-minute film describes the movies made here, the stars who visited, and the history behind the locations.  For $2, we purchase a booklet that will help us find shoot locations along Movie Road in the Alabama Hills where we are camped.

Aside from the fun and fame of the movie shoots, there is serious history in this area too.  An earthquake in 1872 leveled the original town of Lone Pine and we visit the gravesite where the 27 victims were buried, 16 of them in a common grave.  Today, only a fence and a plaque are visible, as is the 20-foot high scarp (uprising) created by this quake which was about the same magnitude of San Francisco's earthquake of 1906.

Memorial in the Manzanar cemetery

But most touching to us is the Manzanar National Historic Site, the site of the first of 10 relocation camps built in the U.S. to house Japanese-Americans during World War II.  The buildings have all been removed at the request of the land owner - the Los Angeles Water & Power company as the LA Aquaduct runs through this area.  Manzanar was, from 1942 to 1945, "home" (aka a prison camp) to about 10,000 Japanese-Americans, two-thirds of whom were born in America and were therefore U.S. citizens.  These people had to leave behind their homes, businesses, professions, and everything they couldn't carry (including their pets); most had nothing when they left the camps at the end of the war, although a few had managed to rent their homes to neighbours.

While they did not suffer the brutalities of the concentration camps half a world away in Europe, they were still prisoners behind barb-wire fences who faced prejudice, humiliation and human indignities.  But during the three and a half years at the camp, they built lives and a town complete with a general store, barbershop, beauty parlor, bank, school, hospital, churches and a newspaper.  Most had jobs working in the fruit orchards, raising livestock, tending gardens (vegetable and ornamental), digging irrigation canals, or working in the camoflauge netting factory located in the camp.  Others were doctors, nurses, teachers, police officer or firefighters.  They were paid for their work, from $12 to $19 per month.

Offerings left on the memorial at Manzanar

In 1988, President Reagan issued a formal apology and each survivor was awarded $20,000 - small compensation but a wrong at least acknowledged.  All that is left today is a huge auditorium which now serves as the Visitor Center and exhibit hall (including an excellent 22-minute film on the camp and a few of the survivors), a few reconstructed barracks in which the internees lived, and a cemetery with a memorial.  Only 15 people were actually buried here, nine of whom were relocated after the war at families' request; others who perished here were cremated and the ashes were returned to their families after the war ended.

The same thing happened in Canada, except that men were separated from their families and sent to work camps, and most prisoners weren't released until 1949 (four years AFTER the end of the war).  The Canadian government had sold the Japanese-Canadians' property and belongings in order to pay for their food and housing, so these people truly lost everything.  What a horrible mark in mankind's history; one we can never erase but must remind ourselves of constantly to help prevent following the same ugly path.

Since a very cold spell is expected, we head 300 miles south to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  We drive through gorgeous, although cold and very windy, sunshine all the way down state Highway 395 to Interstate 15 where the clouds are dark and signs announce icy conditions on the highway west through the San Bernardino Mountains.  This worries me - we have never pulled the trailer in snow or ice, but if big trucks can do it, then so can we; and it'll be good practice for our drive home to Ontario.  We head down the mountain pass into fog and rain - we are lucky that we are on the very edge of the front passing through and the sun is just starting to peak out.  The ice has melted.  As we continue south and head back east a bit from the interstate towards the state park, we run into ice pellets blowing into us and across the road.  We are, once again, back in the mountains, with elevations just over 3,000 feet.  Fortunately, the roads are still dry and not slippery.  As we near the park Visitor Center and campground, it is dark and we have to descend over 2,000 feet along a very twisting, steep mountain road for about 10 miles.  But we arrive safely and have a late dinner.  Later that night, I realize how tense I must have been in the passenger seat as my neck, back and upper arm muscles are throbbing.  Grady is just happy to be out of the truck after such a long drive that started at 9am and ended at 6pm.

Ridgecrest, California

Along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we camp at the Dirt Digger's Camp on BLM land.  This is an ATVer's paradise.  Hundreds of ATV (OHV) trails crisscross the desert.  People in these western states love their ATVs and outdoor experiences.  There are two groups of ATVers camping at this huge area.  Now, don't be thinking about tents and sleeping bags, think trailers (actually, "toy haulers" which are big trailers with a garage in the back for your big-boy toys) and motorhomes.  Our view is fantastic, surrounded by mountains.  Grady loves it here too; he loves to roll in the gravelly desert sand, and there are small birds here, the size of sparrows, which make little peeping sounds.  One actually flies up to within inches of our back window where Grady lounges on his kitty tower; the bird hovers for a few seconds checking out Grady, then drops to the ground.  This drives Grady nuts and he spends the next 20 minutes watching the bird pick seeds out of the sand below the windows.

Marilyn amidst the Trona Pinnacles

Half an hour east, we visit the Trona Pinnacles, strange spires rising out of the flat desert floor.  These pinnacles were formed underwater tens of thousands of years ago when calcium-rich groundwater bubbled up through fissures in the ancient lakebed and mixed with the lake's briny waters to form calcium carbonate.  Over the years, the tubes from the underground hot springs deposit more minerals and mix with algae to create the 140-foot high tufa formations.  We drive through some of the pinnacles, and hike amongst others, viewing the dry salt deposits left from the briny lake in the valley.  This strange landscape has been the set of many films including Star Trak V and Planet of the Apes.  Only about 20 miles to the east of us is the western edge of Death Valley National Park.

Marilyn waiting to get a haircut in Randsburg, California

Randsburg is another "ghost town" that we visit, expecting something similar to Calico, but this is a living ghost town meaning that people still live here amidst the abandoned, decaying miners' shacks.  Gold was mined here starting in 1895 and, at $20/ounce, produced over $60 million!  That's a lotta gold!  Today, the town is home to art galleries an antique shops.

Marilyn taking a nap in Short Canyon

Short Canyon is, as its name implies, is a short canyon into the Sierra Nevada foothills with views of the Ridgecrest valley and snow-capped mountains.  The desert here is home to numerous joshua trees which seem to grow in small groves.  The L.A. aquaduct also runs through these mountains and we can see the concrete housing snake through the hills.

Brad in Fossil Falls, lava shaped by an ancient river

North of us is Fossil Falls, a BLM recreation area in the Owens Valley, and since we will be heading north to our next destination, we pull the trailer with us and camp overnight in the BLM campground at this site.  Here, an ancient dry waterfall of smoothed lava rock dominates.  The Coso Mountains east of us were once volcanoes which spewed lava into this valley.  Lava rocks are typically very sharp, like glass, and light.  The river that once flowed here has shaped the rock into smooth, strange shapes resembling metal sculptures.  Black lava boulders can be found around the entire area, including in the campground.  It is certainly a different landscape from the flat, sandy desert.

Back in the Desert: Barstow, California

After Christmas, we head northeast from L.A. to Barstow, California (on Boxing Day, which is not celebrated in the U.S.).  Traffic is horrific on Interstate 15, apparently caused by all the crazy people travelling from southern California's big coastal cities to Sin City.  We stay in a BLM campground, Owl Canyon where there are only 2 or 3 others camped each night.  The week between Christmas and New Years is a very popular time for Californians to get out with their families and their ATVs (called OHVs here - Off-Highway Vehicles), so we camp here because ATVs are prohibited and therefore quiet.  This is the "high desert" and it's cold at night, around freezing.  But we're used to it now, and at least there's no snow like at home.

Near the campground is the Rainbow Basin Natural Area (link to great photos, which we didn't get), a one-way loop drive through grey, brown, black, gold and green clay/sand hills.  The dirt road has a few sharp, tight turns and is suitable for a single vehicle only, no trailers or motorhomes.  The views are pretty; the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in the distance, the golden valley below and a sprinkling of Joshua trees.  Typical of the young, western mountains, even these small hills show signs of geological forces, having been thrust up at severe angles, sometimes in opposite directions on either side of a canyon forming the shape of the letter U.  The area is also home to many fossils of animals no longer found in California such as camels.  The low, winter sun provides interesting lighting on the multi-coloured folds, accentuating peaks and angles.

Marilyn in Owl Canyon, a joshua tree standing guard

From the campground is the Owl Canyon hiking trail which takes us through these sandy hills.  I have to admit, however, after hiking in Utah's red, orange and yellow canyons we are spoiled.  These canyon walls are, well, boring in comparison.  It's like the difference between a diamond necklace and plastic beads.  I'm sorry California.  A BLM sign from the dirt access road points to two other hiking trails - Coon Canyon and Fossil Canyon.  We drive down the rough road hoping for subsequent signage, but find only numbered BLM dirt roads with no indication of where they go.  We stop another vehicle that happens to come by, hoping they have information on where to go, and they direct us to Fossil Canyon, which is a "road" through a wide, sandy wash.  The road narrows significantly as the canyon walls rise on either side of us.  The sky is blackening, promising possible rain, and believe me, the last place you want to be in the desert during a rain storm is in a wash.  Many have lost their vehicles or lives being swept away by flood waters; so we retrace our steps and return to camp without attempting to visit Coon Canyon.

Schoolhouse overlooking Calico Ghost Town

We spend a day as typical tourists at the Calico Ghost Town, which is quite commercialized.  Calico, the centre of silver mining operations in the late 1880s, produced over $20 million in 12 years from 500 mines.  When the price of silver dropped, everyone packed up and left.  The owner of Knott's Berry Farms purchased the town in the 1950s and restored most of the buildings.  He later donated the town to the County of San Bernardino, which runs it as a park today.  Visitors can take a mine tour, eat at one of the restaurants and explore the town site.

Marilyn in the wash in Afton Canyon

Forty miles northeast of Barstow on Interstate 15 is Afton Canyon.  This is a very different place.  It's an off-roader's paradise as is most of this California desert interior with hundreds of ATV (OHV) trails.  The BLM road follows the train tracks and crosses the Mojave (Mo-ha'-vee) River.  We drive a couple of miles into a wide, sandy wash, finding numerous side canyons heading into the colourful hills.  We have a tailgate lunch with "mountain" views surrounding us, and then select a side canyon to hike up.  The hills here are a mix of hardened clay and sand with rocks and boulders cemented into it.  These rocks erode out with rains and fill the wash down into the canyon.  There are rocks of every colour - green, red, orange, white, gold, purple.  Brad loves rocks.  The canyon becomes a narrow slot and we are finally, after about one mile, unable to continue as it climbs up a narrow crack to the top.  We look forward to coming back to this area in future years to explore the other side canyons, although we suspect we found the most colourful.