Drive, Bike, and Hike

After a day of kicking back and relaxing in camp, it was time for a bit of a move.  So Hailey hopped into the truck and off we went, bouncing up the washboard of Rockhouse Canyon road, up into the hills, past Clark dry lake bed. 

We made it about 13km or so before the rocks got a bit large and the width of the road not really suitable for a vehicle with paint on the sides.  A couple jeeps went on a bit further, but they soon turned back as well.  I didn’t see a single Ford, though I did find the remains of one on the road today – just an oil filler cap.  A state park ranger had been up the road even further in his jeep, so we had a nice chat when he came out.  He had not seen the other jeeps as they had turned around before getting as far as he’d gone.

After discovering that some other Canadian bloggers were camped not far away – from their comment on my last post – I rode my bike over their way this morning and introduced myself to Jean & Skip, who hail from Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island, and are also bloggers at http://travelwithjeanskip.blogspot.com/

We had a coffee, discussed boondocking locations, other bloggers and blogs, dogs, cats, and the price of fuel among other things.  We left a few world problems unsolved, but made a good start at it.  We’ll have to solve a few more over a happy hour soon I’m thinking!

They told me they had hiked across the dry lake bed to the far side, and I thought it sounded like a good idea – except for the hiking part.

The dry lake bed looked pretty interesting, but in this area distances are very deceiving, and everything is further than it looks.  Vehicles are not permitted, so I drove down to the ‘lakeshore’, then rode my bike across the lake bed to the far side, then hiked around a bit.  There are some groves of big trees there, partially covered with sand that has blown in among them.  I found evidence of an old chimney from a house that must have been there at one time, and quite a few owls inhabiting the trees.

Out on the lake bed were two of these concrete structures, about a half mile apart, more or less identical.  Like Jean & Skip, I have no idea of their origin or purpose.

There may have been some type of mining in the area at one time, and there are a large variety of stakes and other stuff scattered across the expanse of the lake bed.

This row of low stakes seemed like they had at one time had wires strung between them.  I don’t know if it was some type of surface level power line, or …?

I may have to make a visit to the park office on the far side of Borrego Springs one of these days and see if the folks there can tell me.  I also want to see if the self-serve roadside grapefruit stand is in operation at a junction not too far from here.  Last year they were sure good, and cheap as well.

The weather here has continued to be gorgeous.  Warm sunny days, and virtually no wind.  It cools quickly when the sun goes down, but warms up fast again in the morning.  I think I can take this a while longer!

Hailey has been out on her own and very well behaved and staying close, but when the coyotes started to howl late this afternoon, she thought it would be wise to watch for them from the windows instead.  Driving back from the lake, I saw one not too far from the accumulated RVs.

Speaking of which, the population here seems to have almost doubled today.  A lot more rigs showed up last night and today, many of them appear to be groups, or friends camping together.  Maybe they have all completed their festive family commitments and are back on the road?

Till next time …