POURING OVER MY ATLAS TODAY IN SEARCH OF NEW SOUTHWEST LOCATIONS AND ADVENTURES:))

CALIFORNIA’S BLAIR CANYON NEAR GHOST MOUNTAIN
Spent some more time with my Atlas's today looking for interesting places and travel ideas for this winter's wanderings after we leave south-western Colorado.   Warm weather and new areas will be our priority this year plus revisiting a few favourite spots. We'll probably spend a little time around Borrego Springs California again but will scout out some new boon docking areas this time. We have boon docked at the Clark Dry Lake Bed for the past 3 years but it has become too familiar for us now and we knew last winter that if we were to return to the Borrego Springs area we would be needing a change.

HIKING UP TO GHOST MOUNTAIN WITH CALIFORNIA’S LAGUNA MOUNTAINS TO THE WEST
There is a great area near Ghost Mountain in the Blair Valley that I think would be great for us but last time we were there we heard Verizon did not cover that region yet.   It is necessary for us to have an internet connection because Kelly will once again be handling all the Deer Park Lodge reservations for the following summer. We may further scout out the Vallectio Valley south of there this year as well.  The Valley is just on the east side of the Vallecito Mountains with San Diego being on the west side.   That Valley had a magic feel to it when we drove a fair ways down through it two years ago.  Not a lot of civilization in or near the Blair or Vallecito Valleys which of course makes them great nature areas and……….perfect for us.   Always love the challenge and great scenery of new and different areas.

LOTS OF ROOM IN BLAIR CANYON FOR BOON DOCKING….PHOTO TAKEN FROM ATOP GHOST MOUNTAIN LOOKING NORTH WITH THE SAN YSIDRO MOUNTAINS ON THE FAR HORIZON….BORREGO SPRINGS IS TO THE RIGHT AND AT THE FOOT OF THOSE MOUNTAINS



FROM ATOP GHOST MOUNTAIN THIS IS LOOKING SOUTHEAST OVER THE VALLECITO VALLEY WHERE WE MAY SPEND SOME TIME THIS WINTER…SAN DIEGO IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LAGUNA MOUNTAINS TO THE RIGHT…..TOP LEFT HORIZON IS MEXICO
In case anyone happens to be interested in my 4 treks up Ghost Mountain in the last 3 years to the Marshal South homestead, you can just type either ‘Ghost Mountain’ or ‘Marshal South’ into our search bar at the top of the right hand column of our blog.  The Marshal South site spoke to me like no other place I have ever been and it has continued to draw me back up Ghost Mountain every time we are in that area.  I fully expect to be up there again this trip, standing atop my favourite large boulder, wind blowing through my hair with the Vallecito Valley stretching out to the horizon below and beyond.  The above photo was taken from atop that rock. 

CLIMBING THE STEEP ROCKY PATH TO GHOST MOUNTAIN WITH BLAIR VALLEY IN THE BACKGROUND

GHOST MOUNTAIN IS DEAD AHEAD ON TOP OF THAT RIDGE
GROANER’S CORNER:((  My mind works like lightning,...........one brilliant 'Flash' and it is gone!!
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-Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
-Until one has loved an Animal, their soul remains un-awakened.

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

HELLOOOOOOO BORREGO SPRINGS CALIFORNIA:))

MOON MUSINGS WITH FACE OF THE SNAKE

Woke up this morning with a hankering for some semi civilization & a Jilberto's hamburger & the only place I could think of with that kind of action was.....Borrego Springs, California.  Question was which route to take. 

A VALENTINES DAY SHADOW HEART ON THE MOUNTAIN BESIDE US SUNDAY

Had packed most everything up Sunday night so we didn't have a lot to do in the morning.  Took the doggy guys for a short walk, had a last long look around at our little site tucked cozily between the Kofa & Castle Dome mountains & had the wheels rolling by 9:20.  As usual I had my last looks back with pleasant memories of our few days there.  The gathering in the desert was a rare & special day I'll always connect that day with that site.

                               

A LAST LOOK AROUND THE CAMPSITE BEFORE LEAVING THIS MORNING

Only a dirt road mile to the highway & as I rolled up to the stop sign I was still debating which way to go.  Yuma, El Centro,  & Brawley maybe or Quartzsite, Blyth, Glammis, & Brawley.  Had I remembered the southbound construction I would have chose the Quartzsite route but of course with my memory I swung left out onto the highway & proceeded to the rear of a long line of cars a couple miles down the road stopped on the highway waiting out a paving operation.   No U turns with 53 feet so we waited it out.  Stop & go, stop & go but after half an hour we were underway.  But, not before I clipped a flagman's 'stop/slow' sign with my passenger mirror.  Don't think he was paying attention as he let his hand held sign out too far as we were squeezing by a narrowed spot in the road.  No damage to the mirror but I think I broke the cigarette in half he had hanging out of his mouth.  When I quickly checked my mirror he was making some kind of cross sign in front of his chest.........:))

<<< CONSTRUCTION SLOW DOWN

Soon as I got into the Yuma morning traffic I was wishing I had gone the other way but we made out OK.  Spotted a Cracker Barrel sign about 11:15 a.m. & knew we had been to that location before so exited I-8.  What  we had forgot about was how small the parking lot was at Yuma's Cracker Barrel.  It is not big rig friendly as we soon found out, squeezing in the entrance & wiggling out the exit seconds later.  Back to I-8 & kept on going. 

West of Yuma we went by the area where the header photo for this blog was taken.  Pilot Knob.  A lot of rigs out in the desert there & I don't know why.  It's flat, treeless, & sandy.  We over nighted there one time last year & it's the only time we ever came close to getting stuck in sand.  In fact I thought I had bent the wheels on the car.   Anyway, they call it the dust bowl when the heavy west winds blow sand in off the Algodones Sand Dunes, & those winds can be horrendous.  Just a short distance away is Ogilbe Road where we camped out for a couple weeks last year & it is hard packed with shrubs & trees.  Lots of room for hundreds & hundreds of rigs with mountains close by & interesting mine sites.   Don't know why folks would camp in the dust bowl except they are a few miles closer to Yuma & the malls.

ALGODONES SAND DUNES WEST OF YUMA

We could have taken quiet & scenic Ogilbe Road to Brawley but I was curious to see what the country was like along I-8 to El Centro.  Aside from the Sahara looking Algodones Sand Dunes the landscape is totally boring with scrub desert most of the way.   For the last 3 years upon entering California we have noticed something else in this area as well & the only thing I can think it might be is......smog.  Hard to see the surrounding mountains in the haze.  I often wonder if it is the smog from the large California cities on the coast blowing inland. 

MR. SNOOZY FACE

Groceries & a tuna sub for AL at Brawley's new Wally World & then north towards Calipatria to dump the tanks & take on water at a rest area.  Back through Brawley heading west for Borrego.  Looks like they are building a bi-pass around Brawley on the north side.  That would be a good thing.

We pulled into the Clark Dry Lake bed BLM land around 4:30 California time.  Noticed the usual amount of rigs scattered about in the desert as we turned onto Rockhouse road looking for a spot.  Had hoped to park beside the same earthen oven we did last year but somebody was already in that spot.  Unhooked the car & drove around with the computer looking for an acceptable Verizon spot.  Best we could find was 2 green bars about a quarter  mile north of the oven site. 

ON FINAL APPROACH FOR THE CLARK DRY LAKE BED EAST OF BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

I'm afraid we have been spoiled with great  3 & 4 bar Verizon coverage so it's going to require a lot of patience now slowly working with 2 bar reception  here at Borrego but hey, 2 bars is better than no bars.  Just takes sooooooo long to open everything.  Didn't get any blogs read this morning & with this slower speed it's going to be a problem.   Saw a lot of comments in hotmail about last night's blog & Kelly managed to publish some but I haven't read them all so hope to read them in the morning.  This 2 bar connection is just so slow & I just don't have the patience to wait for sites to open right now.  We are both sooooooooo beat tonight.

 

WE'LL TAKE A SECOND LOOK WITH REFRESHED EYES IN THE MORNING & DECIDE IF WE'LL STAY IN THIS SPOT

Didn't take a lot of photos today so when Kelly noticed a thin crescent moon tonight I slipped outside with a 200mm lens & a slow shutter speed to create some crescent moon musings................

   

TONIGHT'S CRESCENT MOON WITH A SLOW SHUTTER SPEED & SOME CAMERA WIGGLES

Tonight was the first night warm enough on this whole trip to actually be outside after dark with a short sleeve shirt on.   Noticed the temps really went up west of Yuma today & I had the A/C on for a bit.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  One of the great things about being over 60 is kidnappers are not very interested in you.

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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.

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