GHOST MOUNTAIN HIKE & WE PASSED THE SITEMETER 100,000 MARK FOR BLOG VISITS TODAY:))

JAN & MIKE ON LEFT GIVING AN INFORMATIVE TALK ABOUT GHOST MOUNTAIN BEFORE THE HIKE

When I'm able to start the blog off without complaining about the wind you will know that we have probably left the Southwest.  We were both up in the middle of the night again retracting slides before the wind ripped the awnings off.   Needless to say I was awake a big part of the night & this morning I felt like I'd been run over by a road grader.

           

SOME YAQUITEPEC RUINS

Sometime in the night our Sitemeter recorded over 100,000 hits on our site since starting the blog.  "WoW, who would have ever thunk it!!  Thanks folks:))

Had to be over in Blair Valley by 9 a.m. to meet a group of people for an organized hike up Ghost Mountain to the Marshal South homestead site.  It's close to an hour's drive through the twisting & winding Yaqui Pass southwest of here so I was out the door & on my way by 7:30.

IN THE BLAIR VALLEY

Beautiful morning & I enjoyed the challenge of the drive as it took me back many years to those snappy sports car days of old.  When you can hear the tires squeal a bit in the curves you know your having a fun time:))

 

A PROPERTY NEAR SHELTER VALLEY

This was my 3rd trip to Ghost Mountain & I couldn't help but think back 2 years ago when Kelly & I first drove out to Blair Valley in search of a place where a family had eked out an existence back in the 30's & the 40's.   That day standing atop Ghost Mountain in the few sparse ruins of the Marshall South homestead made a lasting impression on me & I came down of the mountain that day with a fascination for the man, his family, & their story.  Bought the book, 'Marshall South & the Ghost Mountain Chronicles' & my interest deepened.  This is the BLOG I wrote that day & these are the PHOTOS

SMALL WORLD...Couple on right lived in London Ontario back in the early 60's & had a cottage in Grand Bend.  Grand Bend is a 20 minute drive south of Bayfield where we live. (Standing in the homestead ruins)

Last year while boondocking near Borrego Springs I blogged about plans to hike up Ghost Mountain again.  A few days later we received an email from director John McDonald who had done a documentary about Marshall South & the Ghost Mountain story.  John & his wife Lydia were camping in the area & said the 'Ghost Mountain' alert program on his computer kept showing him people were clicking on a site called, The Bayfield Bunch because of the blog I had written about our hike the year before.  To make a long story short Kelly & I drove out to Ghost Mountain a few days later & I hiked up to the top again.  Kelly was nursing a sore ankle at the time so waited at the bottom.  By the time I came down John & Lydia  had arrived at the foot of Ghost Mountain & we were able to meet them & pick up a copy of his documentary.  Here is my BLOG & PHOTOS of that day.

 

STRONG WINDS ARE BLOWING HEAVILY ON MIKE'S HAT (click pics to enlarge)

I knew our stay at Borrego Springs this year would not be complete if I didn't hike myself up to the Marshall South site again so I had been watching for an organized hike this time.  I knew hike leaders would be able to point out things I had missed before.....and so they did.

GHOST MOUNTAIN IS IN THE BACKGROUND AT THE TIP OF THE TALLEST BRANCH ON THIS OLD TREE

Turned off highway S2 for the 3 mile hard packed sandy drive along a bumping road to the meeting point at the bottom of Ghost Mountain.  Met hike leaders, Mike & Jan Bigelow.  Six other people arrived & after an informative talk by our hike leaders we were in single file making our way up the steep, narrow, & rocky switch back trail leading to Yaquitepec.  About a quarter of the way up two separate hikers cell phones rang & I thought, wonder what Marshall South would have thought of all this modern technology on the trail.

SEPARATE CELL PHONES RANG AT THE SAME TIME

Jan led the hike while husband Mike brought up the rear.  We had a couple of informative rest spots on the way up & then crested the last ridge & walked the short distance to the ruins.   Questions were asked & answered standing amidst the homestead remains & the group split up to explore around & take some photos.  Time there lasted about 25 minutes & the group reformed for the hike back down the nearly mile long rocky path.  Everybody but me of course.

TODAY'S GROUP AT YAQUITEPEC

From the first time I set foot in the ruins of  Yaquitipec 2 years ago I was aware of a very special feeling.  That feeling returned last year on my second hike when I spent about 40 minutes wandering around the site by myself.  And that feeling was present again today as I walked around looking at a few spots mentioned in the book.  Jan had pointed out to me the very spot Marshal South had sat among the rocks to write his many Desert Magazine articles.  She also pointed out the rock piled kiln they used.

 

ROCK PILE KILN & MARSHALL SOUTH'S SUNDIAL

It was quiet on the mountain after the group left except for the cool & heavy west winds blowing across the ridge.  it made a howling sound in some of the tall Agave stocks.  I had brought a thermos of coffee & a nature bar with me & what better place to drink my hot coffee than in the exact same spot Marshall South sat with his old typewriter on his lap.  He had mortered up a short wall of stones between two large boulders in the lee of a pinion Juniper.  It blocked him from the sometimes howling chilly winds & gave him a quiet secluded refuge not far from the house.  I could look out & see the exact same landscape this writer, spinner of tales, & talented craftsman could see some 70 years ago.   It was a special moment for me & a cup of coffee in a place I shall always remember.

 

THIS IS WHERE MARSHALL SOUTH CAME TO WRITE HIS ARTICLES FOR THE DESERT MAGAZINE AND THE VIEW HE HAD SITTING THERE

I ambled around the site taking a few photos, looked at the kiln, & then took Socky Geepers out of my bag & did a little photo shoot with him around the site.  It was after I had take the photo of Socky in the old 'wading pool' that I turned around & saw something orange underneath a Juniper tree.  Upon closer inspection I saw a dark garbage bag wrapped around something.  Moved some rocks & twigs away & felt that there was something hard & rectangular in the garbage bag.   Carefully lifted it out & looked inside the bag.  I had just accidentally discovered a Geocache.  First one I have ever seen.  It was a metal military ammunition box.  Opened the lid & discovered a treasure trove of articles that other folks had left inside.  A religious pamphlet, some lip balm, business cards, some coins, & maybe a half dozen other things.  A zip lock bag contained a list of people's names & the dates they had been there since the cache was left at this site back in 2008.  A small piece of paper had children's drawings on it.  I recognized a rocket ship.  Only thing I had to leave was a Bayfield Bunch card.  Carefully put everything back & re-wrapped it all up in it's garbage bag.  Placed it under the tree & put some rocks & twigs over it.  Later wished I would have thought to look for information on who put it there & what the co-ordinates were.  Next time I will know what important things to look for.

THE GEOCACHE AS I FOUND IT, SOCKY GEEPERS DISPLAYS THE CONTENTS, & THE GEOCACHE AS I LEFT IT (Socky Geepers is with me:))

The unrelenting winds finally worked their way through my clothes & I began to feel the cold creeping in.  It was time once again to leave Yaquitepec.  I had been there alone on the mountain for a whole precious hour.  As twice before, I said good-bye to the many mountain spirits present here.  The Indian people who inhabited the mountain & roasted Agave stocks & hearts nearby.  Goodbye to the spirits of Tanya & Marshall South.  Goodbye to Yaquitepec & goodbye to Ghost Mountain.  I hope to one day pass this way again.

GOODBYE YAQUITEPEC......I'LL TRY TO MAKE IT BACK AGAIN NEXT YEAR:))

MARSHALL SOUTH & GHOST MOUNTAIN - THE STORY

PHOTOS OF MARSHAL SOUTH'S FINAL RESTING PLACE - JULIAN CEMETERY

I was down the mountain & in the car headed back across Blair Valley in the direction of Borrego Springs by 12:45 p.m.  Great drive stopping for a few pics here & there.  All & all this day will remain one of my more memorable days on this trip so far this year.  Hope I can squeeze a few more in before heading home.  Back to the rig by 2 & the rest of the day was spent semi-dozing in my chair.  Winds have substantially picked up again just in time to keep me awake for another night..........Ooooohhh:((

A SNOOZY LITTLE MOTORMOUSE

And as we pass the 100,000 visitors mark today I noticed tonight we have two new followers.  Welcome aboard to Julie & RickNB.  Didn't look like you folks have blogsites or I would have linked them here.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Q: Who has the right of way when four cars approach a four-way stop at the same time?
A: The pick up truck with the gun rack and the bumper sticker saying "Guns don't kill people. I do."

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

MARSHAL SOUTH, GHOST MOUNTAIN, THE JULIAN CEMETERY, AND DIRECTOR JOHN McDONALD

Not sure why the MARSHAL SOUTH & Ghost Mountain story captivated me so much, but it did.  We were boondocked outside of Borrego Springs in the heart of California's ANZA-BORREGO DESERT STATE PARK back in January of 2008 when we drove to the Park's nature center in Borrego Springs to check on day trip adventures in the area.    A ranger behind the information desk told us of many sites to see & mentioned something about a family that had lived atop a mountain back in the 30's & 40's.  Said the site was over in Blair valley, there were a few ruins of the old cabin left, & it was a wee bit of hike to get up to the homestead.  That thought stuck with me & a week later we were on our way to Blair valley in search of Yaquitepec on GHOST MOUNTAIN.

THE LONG ROCK STREWN NARROW PATH LEADS UP THE SIDE OF GHOST MOUNTAIN FROM  BLAIR VALLEY BEHIND ME

 BLAIR valley is about a 40 minute scenic drive west of BORREGO SPRINGS through the Yaqui Pass. You can read about our first trip to Ghost Mountain HERE & see our photos HERE.  A few days after that visit Kelly picked up the book, MARSHAL SOUTH & THE CHRONICLES OF GHOST MOUNTAIN.  I immediately set about reading the book & finished it a few weeks later while we were boondocked over in Quartzite Arizona.  I knew at that time I wanted to not only return to Ghost Mountain again but also wanted to see if I could find where Marshal South was buried.  The book said his final resting place was in the little mountain town of JULIAN not far from Blair Valley.   We also found out a documentary had been made by director John McDonald & a second more detailed documentary DVD by the same director was due to be released shortly but not until after we had already headed back to Canada.  I definitely wanted to get a copy of that DVD somehow.   Little did I know that less than a year later director John McDonald himself would actually contact us, meet us at the foot of Ghost Mountain, & give us a signed copy of his DVD documentary, ‘The Ghost Mountain Experiment.’

OUR FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE MARSHAL SOUTH HOMESTEAD AS WE ROUNDED A CORNER ON THE TRAIL

In January of this year we once again found ourselves boondocked near the CLARK DRY LAKE BED close to Borrego Springs at the foot of the Santa Rosa & San Ysidro mountains.  I mentioned in a couple of my daily blogs that we were going to head over to  BLAIR VALLEY for a second trek up to the Marshal South site on Ghost Mountain.  And I also blogged about our day trip to the little mountain town of JULIAN in search of Marshal South's final resting place.  That day's blog is HERE & the photos of our visit to Julian & the cemetery are HERE.

MARSHAL SOUTH’S STONE IS THE FLAT ONE IN CENTER FOREGROUND BELOW, WITH THE TOWN OF JULIAN IN THE BACKGROUND

IT WAS A COLD RAINY DAY FOR MY SEARCH IN JULIAN’S CEMETERY

About this time we received a surprise email from the documentary's director JOHN McDONALD.  Said him & his wife Lydia were camping in the area & could meet us at Ghost Mountain if we liked.  He said our BAYFIELD BUNCH site kept coming up on his computer & he had known of my interest in the Marshal South story for quite awhile.  He has a program on his computer that alerts him whenever Marshal South or Ghost Mountain are entered into a search engine, so people clicking on our site kept bringing up the Bayfield Bunch on his computer.  He began to wonder who this Bayfield Bunch was & decided to email us.  Assuming that is how that search program works you may be reading this blog right now John, so a big 'Hello to you & Lydia from the Bayfield Bunch up here in Canada:))'

JOHN & LYDIA McDONALD WITH GHOST MOUNTAIN IN THE BACKGROUND.  YAQUITEPEC IS JUST ATOP THAT RIDGE ABOVE THEIR HEADS

The blog for our second visit to Ghost Mountain & meeting John & Lydia McDonald can be found HERE & the photos from that day are HERE.  We did pick up an autographed DOCUMENTARY DVD  from John that day as well.

 

JOHN AUTOGRAPHS THE DVD JACKET

We will probably be back in the Borrego Springs area sometime in January of 2010 & if we are you can be assured I will once again strap on my hiking boots, throw a camera over my shoulder, & head on up the mile high old rocky trail leading to Marshal South's Yaquitepec atop Ghost Mountain.  As I mentioned at the beginning of the blog, I don't know what it is that captivates me about this spot but it's as if I sense something special when I am there.  Being the totally logical person I am I certainly am at odds with my feelings about all that...........but, in a nice sort of way.

REST IN PEACE YAQUITEPEC

GROANER'S CORNER:((  If you don't have a sense of humor, you probably don't have any sense at all.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.