January 30, 2021 Deserted In The Desert

Somewhere on BLM EC633 Winterhaven, California

One last morning walk in the neighborhood around the campground.  The sky was crystal clear.  There was a bunch of activity coming from the Air Station.  I captured this C130 as it passed overhead with a deafening roar.

I did almost 4.5 miles today because today is a travel day and I wasn’t sure I would get a chance later. 

We have stayed in Yuma for more than 2 weeks…that is a really long time for us to stay in one place.  It is noisy here with trains and jets and sirens.  But it has also been relatively warm and Yuma is a great springboard for adventures.  We really liked going to the remote date farm for lunch.  We also had several terrific bike rides on the canal roads and along the Colorado River.  We had wonderful drives in the foothills and a couple of nice sunsets there as well.  Our favorite adventure was the long gravel road to Picacho.  It is though, time to move on.  We get restless and curious and eager to see new places and so we must go.

We had talked about going into southern California.  The stay-at-home orders had been lifted and the campground in Blythe is open.  There is also lots of BLM land where dispersed camping is allowed.  We took 8W to S34, a rough but paved road, into the desert.  After about 15 miles, Tim started to look for a BLM road that we could take to create our own campsite.  This is what he came up with…

Oh, the places he takes me!  Enjoy his video!

Someone before us left behind a pile of firewood.  We got set up and built a fire ring.

We walked around, exploring, soaking in the solitude and the silence.  Tim found an area about ten feet wide with 6 large holes with large openings…

I went in search of these holes, to see for myself but never found them.  I did find several creosote bushes with burrows beneath with 8-inch holes.  We wonder what will come out tonight!!

We spent the afternoon quietly.  Tim started a fire in early evening and we sat and watched the desert and drank wine.

I fixed grilled tuna steaks with teriyaki glaze, a salad of spring mix with blackberries and goat cheese and walnuts and basalmic dressing, grilled baby potatoes with garlic and cheddar cheese, and fresh papaya for dessert.  Doesn’t that sound like a good dinner?

We watched the sunset and then stayed to see the stars come out.  I saw another shooting star.  We could see the haze of the Milky Way.  A pack of coyotes howled not too far away.