7/12/2015 Topic: Culp Valley Roryborealis	I did a couple of trips to Culp Valley a while ago and thought I would post some fun pictures. It's an amazing area and is culturally preserved for the obvious reason. The fire cleared a lot of brush making it easier access some areas. Unfortunately fires sometime attract wrong doing treasure hunters who take advantage of the cleared brush. And than theirs the good doing treasure hunter who just want to help preserve history and take some simple photos. A view from the campground. It's all about simplicity. A nice little hike to Pena Spring to get my water. I see and hear these birds everywhere in Anza. Really?? Not sure? Now that's a split rock. Pegmatite dike He scared the crap out of me! Random. Nice group cave This was in a really weird spot. Probably some hippies lol. I call it "The Cave". Okay does anybody know anything about this cave?? edited by Roryborealis on 7/12/2015
7/12/2015 Topic: Culp Valley Roryborealis	Hi guys thanks for the welcome. The eggs were on the ground. I've been wondering what that bird was for a long time. I've only read of treasure hunters taking advantage of cleared brush for artifacts. Culp Valley wasn't the best post to bring that up . I hope to never see anybody with a metal detector out there. The graffiti was off the trail going to the overlook of Borrego Springs.
7/26/2015 Topic: Blair Valley Roryborealis	Iv'e made countless trips to Blair Valley sence I was a kid. It's a neat place to explore and is a perfect place to learn about the Kumeyaay. My dad is seen here in some of the photos. I feel like this is the icon of Blair Valley This is why areas in Anza Borrego are culturally preserved. Big NO NO Not the best photo. You can barley see a hiking stick sliding through the grinding stone. In pre-contact history iv'e heard in some cases if a well respected person was to die that their grinding stone would be destroyed. In this case I wonder if it's natural, or even done purposely to collect water or something. Pretty deep. Didn't take a measurement. Not sure what this is. It reminded me of old crumpled leather. Natural Yoni anyone? Indian pint rock house This is in a cave. I'm not sure if it could be a picto or not? can anybody do a DStretch on it for me please. I'm having trouble with my cpu. I randomly took this photo not realizing somebody's print on the wall until I reviewed my photos at home. So I relocated the cave and got a better shot. Anybody know a Dennis Arnold? Rock tank in cave. Crazy you can see these things all the way from Blair Valley. A good video to check out is "Greed Energy". My favorite On the way home through Ramona from one of the trips. It's funny when you zoom in and see the reactions from other people. edited by Roryborealis on 7/26/2015
6/29/2016 Topic: A trip to the past Roryborealis	I made a trip to Fossil canyon / Hidden Valley years ago. I can't remember the exact date. Probably around 2011. It was off of Shell Canyon Rd. I'm sure a lot of you can figure the area out yourself. I made my climb up a very dangerous weak slope to capture some photos. In the long run it was lazy, irresponsible but thrilling. I don't know who did this.. Maybe the Goonies did it?? Getting back down was a bit tricky. Hope ya enjoyed, thanks!
6/29/2016 Topic: A trip to the past Roryborealis	My photos are so small!
7/8/2016 Topic: Table Mountain Explorations Roryborealis	Very cool area. So much Indian graffiti all around there. Do you have a reference where I can read about the spirit/prayer sticks?
7/8/2016 Topic: Canebrake Valley 3 Day BP Roryborealis	This was found in Pedras Grandes on a leaf of a plant about 2 feet above ground. Literally lifted it as it grew. I wish I had a shot of that! I believe it's a dart, but not for sure.
8/1/2016 Topic: Aqua Roryborealis	I'll start off by saying how important it is to be prepared for any situation anytime. You should always have the tools you need to get your vehicle out a rut if your going off road. Also have a emergency back up such as plenty of water and shelter if you can't get out. Saturday 7/30/2016 was a good day for the desert. The weather was very nice considering the heat and high humidity. Little did we know how much we would appreciate it later on. My dad and I decided to check on the aqua drums and add water to them. We started out on the Island between I8. We just did it for fun and thought it would be cool to look at the things people threw out their cars in the past. Oddly enough as i'm driving I hear, "RORY, RORY STOP!". I stop my truck and see someone running towards me from behind. I reverse my truck and as I get close I realize it's my cousin! What was she doing out here? Turns out she was there with some friends checking the area out as well. Small world. Abstract art on the road Our first stop was west of Ocotillio on a dirt road off of Evan Hewes Hwy heading towards Dos Cabezas. I remember going through this area as a kid and seeing the abandoned buildings. It was creepy. I stopped my truck on the road and hiked to the drum because I didn't want to chance my truck getting stuck in the heavy sand for I don't have 4x4. Of course my truck some how got stuck anyways. So we had to build up some rocks to get grip. Why would we have to do that you might ask? Because I didn't bring out any tools like I mention on top of the post to get myself out. Fortunately we were able to get out but decided to take our losses and head to the drums off of S2. As I did a U turn to head back I got my truck stuck once again. Now it's really not going anywhere. After about 20 mins I call my insurance (MAPFRE) to help assist. I have to say they were extremely helpful. After learning I was stranded in the desert they literally called me every 20 mins to check on me and the progress of the tow. Well the tow company was a joke. The guy who called me from the company was nice and all, but could not take simple directions. The road I was on was even on my gps. It was frustrating. On top of that he wasn't even the driver. Instead he would relay my directions to his driver for he could't speak a word of english. No big deal right? Finally after a hour or more we see the driver in the distance. He stops at the dirt road and my dad and I grab our day packs and start heading towards him. As we get closer to him he than goes in reverse and makes a U turn. We figured he would wait for us and at least take us to town. Instead he proceeds to take off leaving us in the dust. The guy calls me back and tells me his driver isn't comfortable going down the dirt road. I said to him that was fine and all but can you at least have your driver stop and take us to Ocotillio. Than we see the driver racing at us as if he now realized we were stranded in the desert. So after he pick us up he takes us to the Chevron where we see another tow service. We figured being in Ocotillio that they were probably desert experienced. I go into the gas station where two sweet girls were able to give me a card for the tow. I call Reagan Shallal who was very helpful. He gave me a price and told me if his guy couldn't get me out I would have a total refund. I took him up on his deal and he had me walk back into the gas station where a man named Jim was casually standing. He's a really nice guy and I enjoyed talking to him. We got in his Mercedes 4x4 and off to save my truck. He asked us what we were up to and he gave us some of his own story's about the illegals and the border patrol. He told us a story of a large group of illegals in Corrizo Gorge dressed as boy scouts. I thought that was funny and kind of sad too. As we pulled up to my truck I looked in Jim's eye's and could see pulling my truck out would be a piece of cake. After all, I just needed to be pulled not towed. Sure enough he gets us out in about 20 mins. He made it looks so easy. Yet he had all the right tools and a 4x4 to get out of any situation. Lesson learned. After the ordeal we decided to hit the Lazy Lizard up for a beer or 4. Great place to take a load off and talk to locals. We had the privilege to talk to Donna who also had some story's for us. She's been the bar owner for the last 10 years or so. Her and her husband own a atv rental for Ocotillio Wells. After talking to her I realized the border patrol issue was much more than I realized. When I say issue, I mean all the cameras in our desert that anybody can be filmed on at any time. I had no idea of that. I asked her how the town was doing with the wind turbines. Shes said half the town was very unwelcoming to the workers. She said she didn't mind them because they gave business and they couldn't help the politics. I agreed with her while flipping the bird at the turbines haha. After a while of kicking back we headed to Ramona stopping at each drum to give water. I also gave Donna a bunch of water as well. She was very appreciative as we were too for our beer. The last stop of the day was Doug aka Butterfield. We've become very good friends over the years ever sense he took over. He's a great guy and I love giving him company. Say hi to him if you ever get a chance. He also has a decent book selection in the store. Really good deals on his beer for being in the desert. We end our day successfully as we helped fill the aqua drums and got to know some locals. All the drums had exactly 6 waters and didn't look like anyone had been around. We added two water for each one. Remember that water can save anybody's life not just illegals. Always be smart and prepared. Thanks for reading, Rory edited by Roryborealis on 8/1/2016 edited by Roryborealis on 8/6/2016
9/12/2016 Topic: The Santa Rosas Sawmill Trail (Sort Of) Roryborealis	Awesome trip! Id love to check that area some day.
9/21/2016 Topic: In Ko Pah Explorations and Monitoring Roryborealis	That was an awesome trip Larry! I couldn't of made it out there with my truck. I'm very thankful to be a part of this. I just had to post one more photo of our trip. It's a piece of quarts sitting on some twigs in a cave above where the point was found. I don't know what the significance of it is, but it's random and cool!
9/21/2016 Topic: In Ko Pah Explorations and Monitoring Roryborealis	Or is that 'quarts' a different type of rock?
9/29/2016 Topic: Pottery Sherds Galore Roryborealis	I don't really have much to say about this site except for it's a very peaceful area and unfortunately lays right over a well used dirt road. It's amazing when pottery sherds appear and disappear as weather takes place. Iv'e been given many opinions to this spot to which could be a burial, a trash midden or just a heavily used area. I would love to know what anybody thinks or has to say about it. This boulder with one slick and some streaks lays near the site.
10/3/2016 Topic: Mount Whitney Roryborealis	Such an awesome way to spend with your wife! Beautiful photos, I especially like your photo of the sunlight peaking.
10/3/2016 Topic: Pottery Sherds Galore Roryborealis	Probably make a lot of olla's lol. These photos do no justice of just how extensive the area was with sherds.
11/14/2016 Topic: Election Backpack Roryborealis	I love this post! I almost took Wed off for the same reason. I thought it would be great to get away for the time being. I personally tired of media. Nothing like stopping at the Lazy Lizard for a beer to the future haha
11/14/2016 Topic: Cougar Canyon and Boulder Alley Roryborealis	Great trip. Damn lucky kids!
11/18/2016 Topic: Parking in McCain Valley for Hiking Roryborealis	I stayed a couple of nights at Cottonwood campground a few months ago and it seemed totally abandoned to me. Some camp spots were so grown over with brush you couldn't even see them. The water was in no use but maybe that changes periodically. I stayed on the western part of the campground and the box you pay to was completely useless because the lock wasn't even on the back. It was actually a spooky couple of nights but man I love it there. Id like to go there more in the next few months before the big project.

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