926 March 16-17, 2023 More Rocks

I started the day with another walk along the river. 

Red brome is an invasive grass here in California.

Cottonwood seeds are floating everywhere!

The storms last night were mainly to the north.  California 95 was closed today because of washouts.

We packed the Jeep and went for a desert overnight.  We took Midland Road and then followed the powerline road into the Big Maria Mountain Wilderness. 

We hardly ever research an area before we set out, preferring to be surprised by what we find.  Rarely, this might be a disadvantage; we might miss something.  Usually, we find cool stuff which just adds to our adventure.  We took a road that looked like it lead up into the mountains.  We stopped short when the road became impassable. 

We backtracked a short distance to find a level site.  We found a place with a fire ring.  It also looked like there had been some sort of structures here.  We later found some tin cans; tuna cans, sardine cans and bean cans.  We also found really thick clear glass and pieces of dishes in the wash below.  We think that this might have been some sort of mining camp.

Tim’s videos.

The scenery was amazing and we both took walks and we both took lots of pictures.  This portion of the desert is very stark and barren with very little vegetation but there is ample beauty here.

Tim took pictures from the top of a ridge.  I couldn’t see it from our campsite but he was actually standing on the edge of a 50-foot drop-off into a wash.  Can you see the Jeep in his picture.

The white bands in the mountains are white quartz. 

I wish I knew more about geology.  There were all kinds of rocks here.  I thought this was particularly interesting.  I downloaded a rock identifier app when we got back and learned that this was a piece of petrified wood.

Little barrel cactus.

We did the usual stuff…dinner and campfire and stargazing; all of it brings us joy every single time.  We realized that we were out Jeeping in this area 2 years ago looking at all the cool places there were to camp.  It was then that we decided to look into getting a rooftop tent…and a week later we had it installed.  That was a decision that we have never regretted. 

The sunset; gorgeous.

It was really windy most of the night but we were plenty warm enough.  We woke to bright sunshine.

We decided to take the long way home.  The road was really rocky and rough for miles. 

Breakfast break after the pass.

Ahead we could see what looked like sandy roads. 

Then we were in an area of sand dunes.  The sand had drifted across the road and luckily there were tracks to follow.

Then we were back in scrubby desert and in a few of the washes there were flowers; desert lilies, sand verbena, desert primroses and desert dandelions.  This was such a diverse and pretty ride.  It took us more than 2 ½ hours to get back.

We were tired the rest of the day!

Tim took a short bike ride but I didn’t even have the energy for that!

We grilled dinner and then took a nice walk in the campground.  Until tomorrow…