896 February 8-9, 2023 Camping On A Faultline

After a good 3 mile walk in town, Tim and I rode bikes from Christmas Circle for 6 miles in the surrounding neighborhoods.

We packed the Jeep for another overnight adventure.  We drove back to Butte’s Pass where we collected some dead wood.  I turned over a piece of wood and found this spider! It is a Walckenaer’s Huntsman Spider. Their bite is painful but not dangerous…even so, I was lucky that he retreated to his hole! He is actually really pretty!

We entered Blowsand Canyon.

We turned onto Goat Trail and found the perfect camping site.  We were intrigued by the rock formations here.  We are sitting in the San Jacinto Fault Zone.  This is a portion of the San Andreas Fault System.  Looking at the cleft in the earth you can imagine the violent tearing and heaving that occurred here.  The geology is very interesting.  Sections of rock rise up from the chasm as crazy angles. 

There are boulders here that don’t look like anything else around.  These are as large as the Jeep.  They contain these beautiful pink striations of dense rose quartz.

We hiked around climbing rocks and admiring the work of nature.

We sat all afternoon in warm sunshine.  The weather was perfect…low seventies and NO wind.

Soon after sunset, we heard an owl and then several minutes later at least one more and they sang to us, a lovely soothing song. 

We cooked our omelets and enjoyed a fire.  The moon had not yet risen and we sat high on a ridge.  The dry desert air makes for a clear sky and the Milky Way was gorgeous!

Overnight it was warmer and windless and we were comfortable.  I never sleep as well when we are tent camping and each time I woke up, I could hear the owls calling to one another. 

This morning it was pleasant.  We had a morning fire and coffee. 

We drove down into the wash below and had our breakfast.  From here, Tim hiked a while.  I waited 20 minutes and then went to get him.

When we got back, we organized and repacked gear and then we rested.

As much as I love these adventures, it is so nice to get home and have a hot and soapy shower.  I put on pretty clothes and we went out to dinner at Kesling’s Kitchen.  The food was amazing!  I had shrimp remoulade with a sweet and savory olive sauce.  Tim had a Moroccan chicken salad.  The menu there changes every day.  We are looking forward to going there again!