desert – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

01-15-2017 Wonders of the Coachella Valley

Current Location: Orange Grove RV Park, Bakersfield, California 46 F with a foggy overcast

We are parked this evening at Orange Grove, once again picking oranges to brighten winter days at home. I am watching the big rigs roll in, up to 4 and 6 at a time, and once again the park is completely full tonight. It is such an easy stop, after the long drive down the slopes of Tehachapi Pass. Level pull-through sites, full hookups, nice people to check you in, quick and easy, and yes, the oranges. It is always about the oranges.

Leaving the Coachella Valley today was bittersweet. It was perhaps the most blue sky day since we arrived, with temperatures predicted to be in the mid 60’s. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky when I slipped into the pool at 6am to swim through the sunrise lighting up a few small, low clouds in the east and turning the snows on Mt San Jacinto to the west a brilliant pink.

That sea of green are the tops of all the domestic palms planted in the landscape of Palm Springs

With a short goodbye to new friend Claudia, we were on the road a little after 9am, enjoying the gorgeous light. We decided again to take the slightly longer and a little bit slower route through Yucca Valley, north on Highway 247 to Barstow, before intersecting I-40 West. As we drove through the wide open desert, through what Mo called “A whole lotta nothing”, I basked in that whole lotta nothing. It is why we love the desert, and this last nostalgic drive north on 247 is a fitting leave-taking of Southern California.

We are timing the trip north to slip between storms, with good forecasts for the next two days as we travel home to Grants Pass. We also decided to try something different this time, and we will take the old route 99 toward Lodi instead of the wide and incredibly bumpy Interstate 5. I’ll let you know how that goes.

The title of this blog post is also the title of a great little book that I found at the Indian Canyons visitor center a few days ago when we hiked Palm Canyon. Wonders of the Coachella Valley, by James W. Cornett, is a lovely small guide to ten of the best natural places to visit in the area. After 7 annual visits to this area, we are still finding new places to explore. Finally, after our hike yesterday, we have been to all ten written about in this great book about some of the local natural history.

Taquitz Canyon is one more treasure, another beautiful canyon at the edge of Palm Springs. It is owned by the Aqua Caliente Band of the Cahuilla Indians, as are the Indian Canyons we visited previously. This canyon, however, has a separate visitor center and a separate entrance. The cost to hike the 2 mile trail is $12.50 per person and worth every penny. There are no senior discounts, but it is free to folks with a military ID, either active or retired.

The history of the canyon goes back at least 2,000 years, with evidence of humans occupying the area at that time, traveling to the Ancient Lake Cahuilla for fish, and building materials for their homes, and returning to the lands near the canyon for other plant and animal food sources. Included with the entrance fee is the opportunity to view the short film about the legend of Taquitz, and the reason that no Native Americans have chosen to live within the canyon itself.

More recent history of the canyon is interesting, with hippies living in caves during the 60’s, and vagrants and trespassers ignoring the no trespassing signs. Even though it belonged to the tribe, they didn’t have the resources to maintain the trails and keep out the vagrants. We read several newspaper articles displayed from the last few decades that document the problems in the canyon, and the eventual successful restoration of this magical place. The tribal people have cleaned it up, kept it clean and free of scary squatters, and allow us to walk the beautifully maintained trails to one of the loveliest waterfalls I have seen in this part of the world.

There are lots of stone steps leading up the canyon, and the small stone bridges crossing the active creek are works of art. I love a loop trail, and this one follows both sides of the creek to the falls, so there are options to go in either direction. I think we picked the best, staying toward the right as we left the visitor center. I don’t mind climbing up all the steps, with a knee that likes ups much more than downs, and I think there were fewer steps on the other side of the creek on our route downhill.

Even on a sunny Saturday around 11 there weren’t so many people on the trail that it was uncomfortable. It is a hike that can be completed by just about anyone willing to climb the steps and we saw families with kids, runners in bright shoes, and old people with walking sticks enjoying the trail.

The falls is enclosed in shadow, and judging from the high walls surrounding the cascade, I would imagine that the sun never shines in that alcove. The sound was beautiful, but even with only a few people on the trail, it felt as though it would be hogging the scene to hang around too long. Everyone wanted their photo right in front of the falls, and it was only fair to take turns.

With the dark shadows and dim light it was difficult to capture the beauty of the white bark of the huge old sycamores that thrive in the moist soils of the canyon floor and at the base of the falls. With the brilliant yellow brittlebush that covers the hillsides not yet blooming, our only spot of color was Justica californica, Chuparosa, with a salvia type flower that was brilliant red. Chuparosa is a colloquial Spanish word for hummingbird bush, and I did see a hummingbird hanging around in the lower part of the canyon.

Our hike was a perfect finale to the 11 days we spent in the Coachella Valley, finally visiting a beautiful place that no one should miss when traveling to this area. We now have seen all ten places listed in the book, and yet there are many more trails to explore within each of those sites.

I know we will come back. Whether for a day or a few, this valley is on our way to whatever desert we chose to explore. No matter the shifts and changes at Catalina Spa, I am reasonably certain we will park there again as well. Who knows what we will find the next time we come. I still miss the “lower” pool, and the bigger one in the upper park is a substitute. But it worked, I still was able to swim in the middle of the night or at sunrise, and had the pool to myself. That is still the best part of Catalina Spa for me.

For Mattie, I think the dog park is fun, but the best part for her is the open desert to the north of the park, filled with debris from park cleanups, but also filled with rabbit smells and open space where she can run off leash a bit. Mo and I like walking out there as well, watching whatever lightshow appears for us on the distant mountains.

I do feel incredibly lucky to have the chance to escape to the deserts, no matter how long or how short the trip may be. There was a time, as my daughter reminded me on the phone today, when February would put me in a dark place. I don’t take for granted the shifts in my life that allow me the freedom to roam, to wander, to swim at dawn or hike on a weekday, or sit in a fabulous movie theater on a rainy afternoon. Retirement really is incredible.

01-12-2017 Rain in the desert, and another canyon hike

Current Location: Catalina Spa and RV Resort, Desert Hot Springs, California

Raining. Yes, at the moment it has been raining for several hours. I’m not complaining, the desert and the state of California needs rain in general. I am not complaining, because even with the rain, we have escaped the deep snows and epic cold that have gripped both our home town of Klamath Falls and our new home town to be, Grants Pass.

I am not complaining, because in the midst of the rain storms and chilly weather, we have had a few nice sun breaks, and temperatures in the high 60’s. The photos from the last post when we hiked the Indian Canyons proved it. Yet, somehow, when the rain is coming down, it is easy to forget all that lovely sunshine that lasted for a day here and there.

A day or so after we arrived, Mo put out the patio rug and the chairs, and on one lovely day actually sat in the chairs and read while I worked on photos and the blog. Nice day. The winds started up after that, and the rains once again so the rug got staked down and the chairs folded up and put under the rig to stay dry and not blow away. Winter in the desert. Not always, but often enough that if you plan to escape your cold winter climate, you need to be prepared for times like this, when the wind blows, the rains come, and the skies are gray. It happens.

Yesterday the predictions were for 20 percent chance of rain, holding off till late afternoon. Taking advantage of that prediction, we headed east on Dillon Road all the way to Indio, and then toward Mecca and east to Box Canyon Road. Al, of the Bayfield Bunch, has talked of Box Canyon Road many times on his blog, being their route of choice when they travel I-10 west from Quartzite heading for Anza Borrego. In fact, I am sure that several of the bloggers that I follow have talked about Painted Canyon, with some of you actually squeezing between the slot canyon walls of Ladder Canyon.

Maybe later I can look up your stories, but in the mean time, if you are reading, and you have hiked Ladder Canyon, pop a comment in here and let me know where to find your post about it?

The skies were gray as we turned onto the graded dirt/gravel road that leads to the entrance of the lovely canyons that are within the wilderness area boundaries. We knew we could take Mattie on the main canyon, but also knew that she wouldn’t be able to climb the ladders on the side canyon, appropriately called “Ladder Canyon”. We will save that one for another time, and maybe a time when I am a bit more narrow, so when I turn sideways I can still fit between the walls?

The main trail through Painted Canyon is wide and nearly level. I found the narrow and steep trail that leads into Ladder Canyon, and was glad that Mattie was along to give me an excuse to not try it on this day. Lots of rock climbing and scrambling involved in that one, and I needed to be in a different mood with a happier knee to do it. Next time.

The trail to Ladder Canyon isn’t easily visible unless you are looking for it.

We walked the length of the main canyon, meeting a large hiking group and sharing the space with some young guys who somehow missed the Ladder Canyon trail. We saw four young lovely girls taking off that direction and when we told the guys how to get there and told them about the cute girls, they burst into a trot to get back to the “right” trail.

At the end of the main canyon, there is a large rock pour-over, graced by a couple of metal ladders leading up to the next level. Mattie, the rock climber, attempted to leap up those rocks, but couldn’t quite make it to the top. Instead, I stayed behind with her while Mo explored the ladders, hollering down from the top to me, “It gets level again up here!”. Well, neither of us was about to carry Mattie up those ladders, so again, we will save that one for another time as well. It is always nice to have something new to try for the next time, minus the dog, who thank goodness is willing to wait at home when we need her to do so.

The colors of Painted Canyon were somewhat muted and subtle, partially because of the muted daylight and cloudy skies, and partly because they are a bit muted and subtle anyway. This canyon is not like the canyons in southern Utah, without the brilliant red orange sandstones of Navajo and Wingate. The drama comes in the contact zones, where the break between layered sediments and highly cooked metamorphic rock is incredible. In this photo, that light zone at the top of the cliff is not a light difference, it is the contact between dark metamorphic and light sedimentary rocks.

Here, in the Mecca Hills, the graded dirt road crosses the San Andreas Fault, and the vertical uplift of sediments that were once old lake and sea beds is dramatic, as are the contact zones between all the different kinds of rock, jumbled, cooked, and twisted by the forces of faulting and uplift. It is a geologist’s dream place to visit.

Leaving the canyons, we drove back out to Box Canyon Road and turned north toward where it intersects with I-10 at the southern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. We boondocked near the entrance a few years ago, read about Box Canyon Road, and it has been on my list of places to explore for some time now.

The canyon is interesting, winding and full of eroded sediments and soft rock that make for complexity and lots of sandy washes. There are boondocking sites all along the canyon, and interesting side 4 wheel drive trails to explore. However the canyon walls enclose the views, and when in the desert, we prefer those long vistas that are such a part of boondocking in the desert. We might not choose to camp here, although we did see several folks settled in to nice spots.

01-15-2015 Joshua Tree Heaven

Current Location: Rocky Point Oregon Current temperature: 45 degrees F and clear

Can you see all the magical people in this pile of rocks? Look close.

When Judy (bird lady of blogland) and I were visiting, we talked about our blogging habits and one of the thoughts that came up was how important it is to write when everything is fresh. Some folks are diligent about this, writing everything on the same day in first person present tense. Others are the opposite extreme, waiting sometimes months to get back to a special trip with tons of information and magnificent photos.

I fall somewhere in between. If we are traveling, I try hard to keep up, but on almost every extended outing, I’ll get behind. Such is the case today. I am once again at home, sitting at the office window looking out through the forest, trying to slip back into how it felt to be camping in the dry sunny almost warmth of Joshua Tree National Park.

Mo and I love to visit Joshua Tree. In 2008, when we first brought the MoHo home to Oregon from Texas, we stopped for a a bit of exploring around the Joshua Tree campgrounds, and almost got ourselves into a tight situation on one of the Jumbo Rocks campground loops.

In 2013, even though we were camped at Desert Hot Springs, we spent some time exploring the National Park and loved every minute of it. I made a mental note that we should try to camp in Jumbo Rocks campground on our trip south in 2014. My planning wasn’t too great, however, since we arrived on New Years Day, and the campground, which has no reservations, was jam packed for the holiday.

We solved that problem with a terrific time boondocking outside the park just south of the southern entrance, within view of I-10. What a great way to see in the new year.

This year, we saved our Joshua Tree time for last. It was hard leaving Arizona after such a short time, but miscellaneous home issues required that we get back on the road north in short order. Finally, after all these years, we managed a night of beautiful dry camping in the Jumbo Rocks Campground at Joshua Tree National Park.

I somehow expected that in mid January, after all the holidays were over, the park would be quiet. While it was much quieter than last year, there were still many people exploring, and we were lucky to find a spot long enough for the MoHo when we arrived around 3 in the afternoon. With a short stop in Quartzite, I was still drooling over some of the new Class A rigs that we toured at La Mesa RV. In spite of all that glass, and all that space, I still love tucking my little 26 footer into tight spaces in national parks, state parks, and forest service campgrounds.

The campground is long, with winding roads and a few side loops, but the majority of sites are sized for tent camping. Sites that are large enough for bigger rigs are built parallel to the road, and require some forethought and jockeying to settle in properly.

We figured out that in order to get our slide out on the private side away from the road, we would have to park facing the opposite direction and accept the slight inconvenience of the doorway opening directly into the road.

It worked out just fine, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be any longer. There were a few big rigs in some of the areas at the far end of the park, but I would imagine that they had to wait around to get a site big enough to accommodate their size.

Both of us have always wanted to camp among the beautiful boulders, and with our windows opening up to a giant jumbled pile of wonderfulness, we watched the evening light shifting colors on the granite, and the next morning enjoyed the changing light of sunrise.

The night was cold, with frost on the car when morning broke. There were people in tents nearby and I was reminded of days camping in cold tents and warm sleeping bags, trying to keep warm making coffee over the fire. Such luxury. I snuggled back into the down comforter, enjoying the morning with no hurry to beat the sunrise. I planned to hike, but I didn’t need to do it while the frost was still hanging around.

The other interesting tidbit about Jumbo Rocks is the generator rules. Generators can be run from 7 to 9 am, from 12 to 2 pm, and from 6 to 8 pm. Different. We still had a good charge, even with our furnace running, but it was nice to top it off with an hour of generator time around 9 am before we took off hiking.

The hike to Skull Rock from the campground is well marked, however it was easy to wind between the rocks from our campsite until we intercepted the trail meandering east toward the attraction. At only 1.3 miles, when we found Skull Rock, we weren’t ready to quit, so Mo and I wandered around the boulders for a time, enjoying all the shapes and shadows of the crazy beautiful landscape.

What a wonderful place! In all our years passing by this trailhead, we had never actually seen Skull Rock. I had no clue until we almost ran into it that the famous face is very close to the parking area right on the main park road.

This section of Joshua Tree is filled with fantasmagoric boulders that people young and old love to climb and explore. It is almost like a giant jungle gym for grownups, or maybe not so grownups. We saw some teenagers doing scary things on high boulders that made me wonder if this park has a high incidence of injuries and rescues. We everything from old folks meandering around the rocks to the aforementioned teenagers, to professional free climbers with some equipment, and other climbers with a ton of equipment. Joshua Tree Morning (33 of 54)

Once again, we passed many sights on our way out that reminded us to put at least a week of dry camping here on the agenda the next time we travel south in the winter. Joshua Tree Morning (14 of 54)

As I was walking along behind Mo in the morning sunlight, I felt myself slip into a state of wonder that is a bit hard to fathom or explain. I was just so incredibly happy, so very much in that moment, so high on the light and the rocks and the sandy trail in front of me. I hope I can remember that moment at times when I am feeling low or bored with the everydayness of life in general. Moments like that are rare and wonderful. Most of the time I am in good spirits, but this was somehow different. Call it Bliss, I suppose, I was there!

We had a wonderful breakfast, a wonderful hike, and a wonderful morning to slip under the belt before we had to leave the clear beautiful desert behind us and head west into the foggy dreariness of the Central Valley of California. Only thing that made the drive tolerable was the anticipation of spending time with friends on our way home.

Next: Visiting Jimmie and Nickie in Nevada City!

01-11-2015 Other Doings in the Coachella Valley

Current Location: Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, near Yuma, Arizona

While swimming, soaking, and hiking in the warm winter temperatures of the Coachella Valley are high on our list of favorite pastimes here, we do manage to do a few other things as well. For complex reasons, we decided to travel north and east through Yucca Valley to 29 Palms to check out the Marine base.

It was a billboard advertisement that called our attention to the murals in the small desert town. Murals are always fun to find, but in this case many of them were on north facing walls, making photography a bit challenging. I suppose this might be to reduce fading on the paintings. A few of the murals were done fairly recently, and one especially was interesting because the signatures indicated that it was completed in just a weekend in May in 2013. Quite the project.

The mural on the Little Church in the Desert had colors that rivaled any I have seen. It was quite dramatic.

This was my favorite, however, what a great sense of humor!

As we headed back west through town, this amazing fence caught our eye. It was in a parking lot of a now closed Farmers Insurance building, and the building was just as creative, with walls and windows of rusted mine metal and old brick, even though the building was fairly new.

Although I don’t care to travel the distances that Paulette travels hunting for quilt shops in Southern California, there are two pretty nice shops in the valley. On Saturday, with gloomy skies and needing a day of down time, we drove south toward Palm Desert and found both shops in the vicinity of I-10.

As is usually the case with quilt shops, these two have entirely different styles and offerings. In previous years I have found great patterns and fabric and made quilts when I got home from the goodies found here.

This time was no exception, as I added considerably to my stash, and bought enough fabulous batiks to make a quilt similar to a sample I saw in the shop that melted my heart. Can hardly wait to get home to get started on it. The colors are so gorgeous.

Sunday after our swim and leisurely breakfast, I drove the short distance to The Sands for a visit with Rick and Paulette. So nice of them to invite me for coffee and “dippers”, a Trader Joe delight that Rylie thought she should share as well. Rylie was adorable, as usual, full of energy and such a sweet face. Rick and I have talked often about computer stuff, and I follow Paulette’s quilting blog, so we do have some things in common beside simply traveling in an RV.

Our days usually included a walk through the park, checking out the rigs and the people. It was especially interesting to notice how many sites were empty this year. Surprising considering the cost of fuel seems to have many more people on the road. Even though we stay here most every year, we have never gone to any of the sales pitches, or actually figured out the ownership style of the park. Who knows. We aren’t buying anyway.

Some people seem to have bought more than one lot, and just down the road from us in the lower park, an owner was installing landscaping, and gravel on one lot next door to his motorhome space. It looked quite nice. I was curious how long these owners are allowed to stay in the park, or if they have to leave as some of the other kinds of park memberships require. However, I didn’t care to find out enough to sit through a sales pitch!

On another note, I learned again to make the trip to the upper park laundry rather than using the one in the lower campground near our site. Once again, as in years past, I lost money in the machines with no way of getting a refund. The office was closed on Sunday, the machines are owned by someone offsite (according to the lone person around in the guard shack). The only way to get back my 1.25 in quarters was to fill out some extensive paperwork and after the problem was resolved, they would mail the money to me. Right…I never did ask if I had to pay for the stamp for that service which would have cut my return in half.

The other minor thing to keep in mind at Catalina is the soft sand and uneven sites. We put pads under the front levelers, but had nothing under the back ones. When we lifted the levelers, the back one had sunk at least four inches into the sand. Be sure to have supports for your levelers and plan on complicated leveling. We have semi-automatic levelers, so can only manage two at a time, and it gets a bit crazy sometimes in these uneven sites.

Don’t want to end thoughts of our stay at Catalina Spa with negative stuff, however. I still give this park a 9 out of 10 for one of our favorite parks to spend time in the winter. The pools are the best part, and I will continue to come south for my allotted seven days as long as this park honors our Passport America. I would NOT pay the regular price of $65 per night no matter how good the pools were!

We left yesterday morning, traveling east on Dillon Road toward Quartzite and then south toward Yuma.

Next: Visiting Judy and the birds at Imperial National Wildlife Refuge

01-09-2015 Thousand Palms Hike

Current Location: Catalina Spa and RV Resort, Desert Hot Springs

Midnight: I have been lying around listening to the clock hands turn. Not very entertaining to say the least. The silence was broken by the pit pat of raindrops on the roof of the rig, so I jumped up to bring in the towels and swim suits draped around the chairs and tables on our patio. I think the 3 percent chance of rain might not do much damage to our drying swimwear before morning, but why take the chance.

We began our day as usual, with swimming and soaking, breakfast with the news, fresh orange juice. Although the weather predictions were for cooler temperatures and cloudy skies, by the time we got in the car around mid day to go hunting for our hike, it was sunny and again quite comfortable in the high 60’s.

Our plan was to drive south into Palm Springs and explore the Palm Canyons that are behind a toll gate on lands owned by the Cahuilla people. It was worth paying the price, I though, to see these beautiful canyons and to try out a few of the hikes that are well reviewed by folks who have visited.

As we emerged from the driveway, toward the north and east the skies were blue and clear, but toward the south, murky smog was obscuring the San Jacinto’s. It only took us a moment to make the decision to drive north and east rather than into the brownish bands of gooky air that seemed to be coming filling the entire western part of the Coachella Valley, slipping in like a dirty fog through the canyons into Palm Springs. I guess that is the price we pay for calm air and no winds. Smog.

A short distance east on Dillon Road, the major east west road bisecting the lower end of Desert Hot Springs, is the huge Caliente Springs Resort. I know folks who love to stay here so we thought we would once again check out the digs and see what we thought. It certainly is big, and the large three sectioned pool is quite lovely, and under a shady structure to keep it from the glaring heat.

There is lovely landscaping and several ponds, a golf course, a huge recreation room with posted entertainment venues and several pages of craft classes and activities. It is beautifully landscaped and seemed quite upscale, at least on the surface.

Quite the spot. Most of the sites are very nice versions of park model homes, both for sale and for rent, with a very few RV sections mixed in. Problem for us, however, is that the RV sections are a long way from the pool, a long way from anything. I guess that is why most everyone seemed to have a golf cart. It is a very nice place, but not our kind of place.

I checked out the four hot tubs and the hottest one smelled strongly of chlorine, and the rest of them were about the temperature of our swimming pool. Chemicals and chilly. Not my kind of hot mineral pools. The biggest drawback, even more than the distance, was the posted hours of open pools from 8am to 10 pm. Nope, no way. It really made us appreciate our little park with trees and shrubs between our sites, and our beautiful very warm pools that smell of nothing but pure clean hot spring water.

Whipping back out on Dillon Road, we continued east toward Thousand Palms Highway…actually spelled 1000 Palms on the street sign to keep it short enough to fit I guess. The Thousand Palms Oasis is in the middle of the Coachella Valley Preserve, operated by the Center for Natural Lands Management in Thousand Palms.

I knew of the hiking trails in the preserve, having hiked the Pushawalla Loop on the eastern side of the preserve a few years ago with Laurie and Odel. Once again, at the time, our hiking was limited because of Abby, and Mo stayed home while Laurie, and Odel, and I spent a lovely sunny Christmas Eve hiking the trails.

Today’s hike. The blue line is our route, and the red line is the San Andreas fault.

Today the parking lot was almost full when we arrived, it is amazing how many people are out hiking on a weekday. With the sun shining so brightly, it was magical to slip into the thick darkness of the ancient palms. Some are as much as 150 years old. This palm is the only native palm in California.

We stopped in at the small visitor center to enjoy the displays, including some very detailed information about the San Andreas Fault which runs right through the preserve, and bisects the area in front of the center. The water that is visible at the surface here, comes from the aquifer beneath that emerges due to cracking and fissuring in the fault. Thousand Palms Oasis is one of the largest groves of desert fan palms (Washingtonia filifera) in California.

The trail we chose was a short 2 mile round trip toward McCallum Pond, also formed by a natural earthquake seep. The trail meanders through the riparian forest, up to the desert wash, where plants that can survive with less water than the fan palms but which need more water than is available in the open desert thrive.

Once we reached McCallum Pond, we decided to take the Moon Country Loop for the return trip, adding another mile or so to our walk. I was glad I had the GPS with me, however, because we managed to get on a longer section of Moon Country than we planned. The afternoon was progressing and we were still walking north on a very lunar landscape. I finally tried to double check our location to discover that we had a long way to go before the turnaround. Enuf!

We decided to backtrack, and then cross the wash off trail to reach the other returning leg of the Moon Country Trail, a great decision. The hike was only a bit longer than yesterday, but because of the deep sandy washes where the trail goes, we were much more tired when we finished. Much of it was like walking on a beach. Best part of the Moon Country section of the trail, however, was the lack of people. Most folks seem content to stay on the lower trails near the oases, and we only saw a single man hiking out in the direction we had traveled into Moon Country.

By the time we ended our hike, the murky smog was thinning and was replaced by dark clouds to the west. We hadn’t bothered with lunch, and had a couple of diet pepsi’s and some fritos in the car. Perfect food after not eating all day! I know better than to drink pepsi any time after 2pm, which is why I am still sitting here wide awake writing a blog! Next time I’ll be sure to have a snack bar and an orange and more water in the car.