Buying Pot in California!

First, a couple of photos from the Alabama Hills that I found on the cutting room floor ...

I know that this one should be saved for Valentines day, however …
And, a couple more or Mt Whitney.
As detailed in the last post, we moved on down from the Lone Pine area on 395 to Sawtooth Canyon BLM campsite south of Barstow.  I’ve taken lots of photos there before, but apparently, hardly any new ones.

But while camped here, it provides a good opportunity to visit Deep Creek hot springs, in the San Bernardino National Forest.  It’s still quite a drive and a hike of some 900’ vertical, but well worth the effort.  Coincidentally, about 20 miles across the canyons as the buzzard flies, things were not going so well in the city of San Bernardino that day .

After that it was a few days of driveway boondocking at a friends house in Desert Hot Springs.  We did the garage sale circuit and I picked up some good bargains.  I got a PVR for $3. two radio scanners for about the same price, and two cheap walkie talkies that work for $1.
From there we continued on south to check out what was going on with all the rumours about Borrego Springs and changes to the old boondocking areas.  But first it was a dump and fill at the Arco station at the junction of 86 and S22 out by Salton City.  Last time I was here the dump station was posted at $8., but this time there were no such signs!  But when we got down to the entrance to one of the boondocking areas near Clark dry lake, there were signs.  Lots of them.

At the entrance I have preferred for the last few years, east of Rockhouse rd, there was the sign above, and signs banning vehicles just about 100 yds in.  There were a couple rigs camped there along the highway.  So I continued along the highway and turned up Rockhouse.  For the first 4/5 of a mile, there appeared to be no change from the past.  Rigs all over on both sides of the road in the usual haphazard fashion.  Dogs were loose, and happy hour was under way.  After about the 4/5 mile mark however, there were signs on both sides of the road saying that only ‘Foot Access’ was permitted – meaning no vehicles and no camping.  These signs continued for the next half mile or so, but then it appears to me that the road leaves the new state park controlled area, and is once again the same as it has always been.  I pulled off down a side road and found a huge, flat, spacious spot all to myself, with only one other camper in view about a mile away.  Perfect.  Traffic on Rockhouse has been almost nil, the weather is perfect, and the coyotes provide vocal entertainment each evening!  Of course it appears that the majority of campers are constrained near the road by the available cell coverage, but not so with me on satellite!

Out came my big magnet and I soon had collected about 5 lbs of rusty nails, screws, and other metal from years of burning pallets in the past, as well as some broken glass and some shell casings.

A drive into town found the Christmas circle and it’s green grass was just waiting for a visit from Al and the Bayfield Bunch!
Out in the desert by my camp, one of my furry neighbours came visiting …

Now it was time for a big Pot purchase!  For the first part of my trip, I was on the road a lot, thus a lot of fast food places, and other things to throw in the oven.  But after a while it became clear to me that I must have moved my cooking pots (what were you thinking!) into the truck camper for my tour of Vancouver Island back in the fall.  Finally, I had to venture into a Fred Meyers and buy a deluxe new cooking pot.  Shortly after, I was looking for a convenient spot to store it, as there was not really room in the kitchen cupboards.  How about under the sink?  Of course, when I went to put it in there, I discovered all the pots I thought I had left behind!!

The Desert is Thankful

The desert is thankful  - thankful that the long weekend is over and all the Atv’s quads, motorbikes, side-by-sides have gone home.  Dust everywhere, and the desert creatures hiding out wherever they could. 

But while still in the Alabama Hills, I discovered the road up to Whitney Portal, which is the trailhead for Mt Whitney, and sits at about 8000 feet, well above the valley below.  The campground at the end of the road is closed for the season as are all other facilities, but the trailhead is still accessible for those hardy climbers and hikers willing to endure winter conditions.

There are a number of summer cottages clinging to the mountainside at the end of the road.

And some great views out over the valley, looking back down towards Lone Pine.

We also did a bit of 4x4ing up some of the old roads leading to countless old mine works in the area.

I was not really watching the calendar and did not realize that US Thanksgiving was upon us when I pulled out of the Alabama Hills at Lone Pine, Ca.  That is, not until I started to see the large circles of rigs out in the desert, with atvs roaring around in all directions.Once out of the Lone Pine area on highway 395, I began to wonder if finding a spot not over-run by weekenders and atv’ers would be possible.  We had a bit of a late start as well, so our possible intended destination at Sawtooth Canyon was not looking good, and I was not sure if it would be full as well.  But no worries, the memory was still working and reminded me of a small BLM wildlife viewing area at Harper Lake, off of hwy 58 not too far west of Barstow where I had spent the occasional night.  I don’t think the lake has had water in it for years now, but the spot was quiet and basically consists of a small gravel parking lot and an outhouse and a short hiking trail.  It’s 8 miles off the highway and they have turned the road into a very nice washboard.  When last I was there, I noticed a solar farm off in the distance, but that has changed.  A lot.  By now it was dark, but what should have been dark desert and scrubby farmland with only a few scattered houses was now pretty much an industrial complex with thousands and thousands of acres of solar arrays and large glittering generating stations.  At one point I ended up at a security guard shack before being directed to ignore the detour signs (!), and I eventually found my spot.  The rough road had shaken loose one of the rigs wheel covers as well as the fireplace now needed to be re-fastened!  At least it was quiet, but I will scratch that place off my list of possible overnight spots.

Next morning early back on the road into Barstow we were glad to find that the cheapest fuel around was at a nice Arco station on the west end of main street, and better yet the low price was not just the cash price, and the pump took my credit card without asking for a zip code!  Then off we went south to Sawtooth Canyon, a very nice little secret BLM campground, that does not allow off road vehicles!  There is absolutely no signs on the highway, and it is completely hidden from sight.  I even asked at the big BLM office on the edge of town a few years back and they didn’t seem to know where it was either!  Don’t tell anyone, but the turnoff is to the west at the MP 63.  It is a free campground, is pack-in, pack-out with several outhouses, no water, power or dump. There is a spot for a host, but it was empty this time.  Better yet, there was only one other small rig there and a couple of tents.  It popular with rock climbers, so there were quite a few scaling the cliffs.  But climbers tend to be clean and quiet, and they don’t make dust or rip up the desert, so we get along just fine. They have vans, small tents, and no generators – Wandering Willy!

Hailey really seems to have taken a liking to rock climbing in this area and is getting pretty proficient at scaling the heights. Here, she scouts a new route.  Looks like about a 5.12c to me …

Taking a break with a relaxing roll and rest at the summit!

The biggest problem is to convince her to come down again.  I can climb up most of the areas where she is climbing, but if she does not want to be caught, she is a bit faster than I, and can squeeze through many of the little crevices where I won’t fit.

It’s a fun game that at least one of us enjoys!

To round out the weekend I managed to meet up with a retired wildlife officer from back home who I used to work with on a few investigations. He’s from British Columbia, but was disguising himself and his wife in a red jeep with New Mexico plates – driving from California to Nevada! We sampled some of the finest breakfast fare that Barstow has to offer.

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, Ca

The weather forecast for the Mammoth area of the  east Sierras was for much colder temperatures, high winds, and considerable snow.  The red skies in the morning provided another warning!
 
For that reason, we vacated our excellent spot amongst the scattered hot springs, and headed for lower elevations.  We were also getting a bit low on propane fending off the very cool night time temps.  So we trundled down the big hill and ended up in Bishop where the Shell station took care of most of the requirements.  Took on fuel there and enquired where I could get my propane, and it turned out they had a propane facility just behind their large truck style wash bays.  Almost needed a mortgage for the propane that must have been over $4/gallon!  Then took advantage of the car wash to slosh some of the accumulated dust off the truck and rig.  After a quick stop at Von’s to refresh the grocery supply, we headed off south down 395 at a leisurely pace with no destination in mind.
The sun was starting to get a bit low as we were passing through Lone Pine, so what the heck, it was as good a place as any for an overnighter.  I’ve stopped here in the past and know that many RV bloggers have written about it’s virtues and scenery.  By the time we actually looked for a camp spot it was getting a bit dark, so we ended up in a rough, boulder strewn spot just off the edge of Movie road.  I’ve been experimenting with night time-exposure photos, so took this one at 30 seconds.  Believe it or not, it was dark outside notwithstanding the almost full moon.  You can see the stars if you look closely.

In the morning, the ‘plan’ was to go into Lone Pine and perhaps see if there was a convenient laundromat, and then carry on southbound.  Hailey was glad to get out and explore some of the rocks first though.

It took some convincing, but I finally got her into the truck.  It seemed a shame to leave without looking around a bit more in the light of day, so instead of heading back down for town, we turned further up Movie road, where the pavement soon turned to gravel, with the usual washboard and a bit of dust.  After a mile or so, the plans changed again when an excellent spot came into view.  That’s Mt. Whitney in the background – highest peak south of Alaska at 14,505’.  Before breakfast things were set up, blocked and levelled, slides out, solar and dish set up.  Well, that was a long day on the road .

That left some time for exploring the new location.  A short stroll across the road turned into a bit longer of a hike.

During the afternoon, some ‘movie’ folks showed up, scouting locations for a beer commercial.  They told me that my exact spot was in a key scene in Iron Man.
The sun dipped down behind Whitney rather early, at about 3:40PM, and before long it was dark and the full moon was up.  So I tried a few more night time exposures, that turned out rather well.  These were all taken in the DARK.  You can hardly tell, except that stars are visible, as are lights shining on the ground from the lights that are on in the rig.

That’s Mt Whitney in the background again.In this one, you can even see my ‘moon shadow’!

We’ll be here till we decide to leave!