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tommy750 wrote:

I stumbled on that cabin in 2005 heading out to Myers Valley. Stopped by last December and it looked about the same. If you have a copy of Chris Wray's "The Historic Backcountry," it has a blurb on this cabin and mentions another a little way down I-8, one I've never seen. It's listed as being at 32 40.39, -116 04.40. On Google Earth, looks like it's on a little rise near where a dirt road peels off the eastbound lanes.

Thanks for that info...maybe I missed something but those coordinates put a marker right at the shack we have posted pics of. I will look and see if I can find his book.

Thanks for the tip Tommy750,
You also inspired another one of my trips up the East Fork of Carrizo Gorge a few years back.

Welcome to the forum
Bob

Thanks! You guys have already got me out to see the petroglyphs at Indian Hill and Carrizo Canyon. Tried finding the Summer Solstice Cave from McCain Valley but whiffed on that one.

surfponto wrote:

Here you go Daren
Seller is actually the author Chris Wray

http://tierrablancabooks.com/retailers.htm

Looks like he has his own website, I may just email him and see if I can pick it up locally, or stop at the Desert Tower..haha...thanks Bob!

tommy750 wrote:

I hear there's a pile of cars that went off I-8 over by the ranch. Actually saw a PU fly off a few years ago. Didn't end well.

Check the pictures on this website, scroll down about 3/4 of the way: http://nexthill.com/Photo's/Devils%20Canyon/index.htm

OK, you almost had me going on the ten commandments photo...until I zoomed in on the original..nice try..8-)
How are you doing the lighting on the water tower, are you "painting" it with a flashlight?

Definitely a Rosy Boa and a lot bigger than the Rosy Boa in Indian Valley we found

Awesome find.

Yeah, was really neat seeing the snake up close. It barely moved for a few minutes and was quite cooperative with photos. Wasn't sure what kind it was but picked it out of a line up on californiaherps.com. It's a great website for identifying any reptile out there and also includes range maps.
Bob
edited by surfponto on 4/19/2012
edited by surfponto on 4/19/2012

tommy750 wrote:

How do you do "D Stretch?" Is it available as a photoshop plugin?

You can get DStretch from the website, you have to email the author of the software. http://www.dstretch.com/

Thanks for the link. The slideshows on the website are pretty cool. Emailed the author for the plugin. Tom

Looks like there were a lot of footprints in Devils Canyon.

Love the "stuck" Bronco picture.
Where was that taken?

reminds me of a recent Baja trip where I zigged when I should have zagged

if the 4x4 was working, I am not sure you could have gotton out of that anyway :0

at least your rear window rolls down so you could escape!

I am not seeing any status updates for this, has he been found or what? Anybody know?

danielle179 wrote:

Thank you for posting this!
facebook.com/FindGuillermoPinoJr

Nice pics. I especially like the last one. Great light on the badlands!
David

Great post, I camped out there with my son last October, it was a quiet, peaceful place to camp. I just pick up the ballons and pack them out, big horn and other wildlife eat them and die. I picked up (4) last week in Indian Valley.

http://cawsf.org/Floating_Menace.pdf

Wow. Just thought they were yet another piece of trash left by the careless. Will check out the link. Tom

tommy750 wrote:

How do you do "D Stretch?" Is it available as a photoshop plugin?

You can get DStretch from the website, you have to email the author of the software. http://www.dstretch.com/

Well, I got DStretch and it proved to be last week's delightful yet colossal time-waster! Am wondering what you think of this pic from Carrizo Canyon. Is that really a grafitto? I'm seeing something like 1865. Don't have any close ups of this area because I thought it was a blank spot in the panel. Did you take any hi res pics of this part of the cave when you were there?


1865? by tomteske, on Flickr

Ditto on the Badlands photo, very cool...is that is Diablo BM of in the distance?? That whole area always looks very cool at sundown.

What is your best mylar ballon take for a trip?


Canebrake Wash (as Tommy750 found, one of these had a note..an "I love you so much" type note)

My average number of baloons picked up per hike was zero---till I joined this forum. Now I scoop up every one I see thanks to you. Tom

Nice...very nice!

DStretch brings a whole new dimension to rock art doesn't it??

I have seen a video of the solstice sun shining on the eyes of the diablito.

I will be looking a bit more closely at all of the photos you posted, I have always wanted to get down there.

I have found so many pictos just taking pictures of (blank to me looking at them) rock surfaces and then running them thru DStretch later that it is amazing.

You should definitely go down there. You're right, DStretch is incredible. Thanks for the link. I need to paypal DStretch a donation!

Great post Tom, thanks for sharing that!

Daren

Awesome trip Tom.

Really like the El Diablito pictograph.
We went by there a few years back to camp at the hot springs in Guadalupe Canyon.
Wish I had know about thsoe pictos then


I guess there is also a famous picto cave down near Catavina that is suppose to be pretty cool.

Thanks for posting the pics of your adventure

Bob

Awesome pictos, thanks for sharing. The contrast between the normal and D-stretched versions is amazing. I'll definitely pay more attention to 'smudges' on rocks in the future. I was near Escalante Utah this spring and saw a few pictos high on cliff walls that I wouldn't have seen otherwise if I hadn't been looking through my binoculars for birds.

Was out on some volunteer efforts last week and took a few photos while out in the field. No spectacular mountain summits or multi day backpack trips, just some photos.

That's it, hope you like the photos.

Nice post, glad you AND the GF got out to the desert.

The IVDM is actually one reason I was out there last week, I was helping catalog and inventory some of their collections. Yes, Jennica and the others are very excited to get the museum open. I encourage everyone to stop by and check it out, they have some neat stuff there. They have a Facebook page also for more info http://www.facebook.com/IVDMuseum

You obviously also saw the destruction of Ocotillo beginning, the wind generators will be up in no time if we are not able to stop them. More info here http://www.basinandrangewatch.org/OcotilloWind.html

I got stung once by africanized (I believe) bees in Indian Valley once, wasn't a good start to the day, Bob can tell you about that one. Good call, stay away from the bees out there, they are mean and will chase you.

From your Flickr set it looks like you got out to Blythe and saw the intaglios and quite a few petroglyphs, I liked those photos, I want to get out there one of these days.

No balloons this trip??

The BLM website mentions (6) glyphs total at (3) different sites, do they all still exist and did you visit them? You only show photos of (2) glyphs.

Those intaglios and panels are amazing. Anyone know the estimated ages on them?

Those are great.
Amazing that they are so close to the highway.
Have never been up that way but would like to check it out, thanks to your pics and trip report,

Bob

Nice report and virtual tour of the museum. I learn so much on this forum. I've been up Sombrero Peak several times (from the west) and never knew about the solstice cave. Were the ollas a recent find by someone? I remember reading Marshal South's chronicles of life on Ghost Mountain and his mention of finding ollas back in the 1940s. I reckon that pot hunters have probably removed most of the things out there. If I'm ever lucky enough to find something like that, I will photograph it in place and leave it for the next person to find.

What is your best mylar ballon take for a trip?

Apparently these mylar balloons are bad for the environment both in the city and wilderness!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47781743/ns/local_news-san_diego_ca/#.T9emOxdYvgE

Driving back from ABDSP I took a few photos of the Old Fire. It looked really, really bad. I hope they are able to contain it.

Looks like it had spread closer to I-8 when you drove by. San Diego UT says it should be controlled by tomorrow. Hopefully.

Thanks for posting SOMETHING Tom! Great photos and story. Thanks for the mini-history on Table Mtn too. The misspelling of 'civil' on the no trespassing sign could have been done on purpose... there is a passage in 'Rancho Costa Nada', by Phil Garlington, where he describes purposefully misspelling a word on his version of a No Trespassing sign, to foster an image "of an unlettered and possibly demented" individual guarding the place. Rancho Costa Nada has become something of a cult classic I guess, I see that copies on Amazon and EBay are selling for over $100, but there is a cheaper Kindle edition. If you want to read about some truly odd desert characters out near Blythe and how they get by, read this. One review says "Finally, the wacko homesteading book for me!"

I stopped by Desert Tower back in late May and the guy who runs the place is a great, an old-school hippie with at least 3 dogs. He was reading the latest issue of The New Yorker when I got there and we discussed alternative fuel vehicles, among other things. He used to live in Normal Heights, things perhaps did not go so well living with a woman there, and now he apparently lives 'upstairs' at the tower. Loves his commute. Desert Tower has quite the selection of natural history and local history books. I picked up a copy of Chris Wray's The Historic Backcountry and a Historic Highway 80 t-shirt there.

links: http://www.ranchocostanada.itgo.com/

Did you go see the Hidden Spring at the top of the hill near the tower?

Apparently the owner didn't appreciate alien paparazzo and marched out yelling at me

That's coyotejeff, he took me on a grand tour in the space craft last time I stopped by, we went by the worm hole and everything. Weird you got barked at.

Didn't get around to climbing up to the spring. Have climbed up to the top of the ridge and headed north to a nice Valley overlook but was a little cooler then.

Must have been my winsome personality that put off Coyote Jeff. Saw some big guy with a dog heading toward me yelling something and after a quick wave, I was outta there! Tom

Hey thanks for posting the trip to Desert Tower
We have talked about stopping there but for some reason or another have never done it. It looks really cool. Loving the alien stuff.

Maybe I can talk to the owner and do a BLOG post about the history of the tower.

That would be interesting. Lots of layers to that place. Thanks. Tom

Thanks for posting SOMETHING Tom! Great photos and story. Thanks for the mini-history on Table Mtn too. The misspelling of 'civil' on the no trespassing sign could have been done on purpose... there is a passage in 'Rancho Costa Nada', by Phil Garlington, where he describes purposefully misspelling a word on his version of a No Trespassing sign, to foster an image "of an unlettered and possibly demented" individual guarding the place. Rancho Costa Nada has become something of a cult classic I guess, I see that copies on Amazon and EBay are selling for over $100, but there is a cheaper Kindle edition. If you want to read about some truly odd desert characters out near Blythe and how they get by, read this. One review says "Finally, the wacko homesteading book for me!"

links: http://www.ranchocostanada.itgo.com/

If you continue down the dirt road past the Table Mtn area you can see a couple of microwave/radio towers and then further on several mines and an "ornate stone cabin" or something similar Lindsay describes it as. The area is rich with Indian history and you can find morteros and pottery in the area. There are as many as 5-6 wildlife guzzlers out there also, I can't remember exactly how many I have seen..maybe even seven or so. Really, really neat area.
edited by dsefcik on 6/18/2012

Thanks for posting SOMETHING Tom! Great photos and story. Thanks for the mini-history on Table Mtn too. The misspelling of 'civil' on the no trespassing sign could have been done on purpose... there is a passage in 'Rancho Costa Nada', by Phil Garlington, where he describes purposefully misspelling a word on his version of a No Trespassing sign, to foster an image "of an unlettered and possibly demented" individual guarding the place. Rancho Costa Nada has become something of a cult classic I guess, I see that copies on Amazon and EBay are selling for over $100, but there is a cheaper Kindle edition. If you want to read about some truly odd desert characters out near Blythe and how they get by, read this. One review says "Finally, the wacko homesteading book for me!"


links: http://www.ranchocostanada.itgo.com/

Just emailed Phil Garlington and told him about your "civel" post and requested his other piece, "Tenting Today." He fired back a copy right away. It comes in an old wps format so it needed converting but should be a fun read. Thanks again for the link! Tom

No big tortuous hike or backpacking trip, not even a crazy whiskey induced campfire story....just some side trip photos from driving out to the annual BHS count orientation meeting. Drove out last Friday after work and pulled off the highway to try and find the "second" old shack near Myer Valley.

My friend Amy with the "OJ" Bronco and I drove out to Table Mountain this afternoon for a redux of last Friday's brief trip and were going to pull in to look for the cabin on the way back. Was a little too late and dark so we skipped it. No ruins at all of the shack?

tommy750 wrote:

No ruins at all of the shack?

I didn't get far enough to really look, there are No Vehicles Allowed BLM Wilderness signs almost immediately after you get going. Of course that doesn't stop the Border Patrol. I asked the BP agents about it and they said they have seen the one down by the culvert but not anything going up into Myer Valley. I am going to hike in when I get a chance.

You could always go with the BFG Mud Terrains KM2

Those look like they definitely would do! Tom

tommy750
Just checked out your link and nearly peed my pants. That was insane! Requested a copy of Tenting Today from Mr. Garlington. Thanks. Tom[/quote wrote:

The Tenting Today was hilarious...I did not order it so you will have to let us know if the rest of the book is as funny as the webpage excerpt.

Finished reading the story last night. About 80 pages. Really an enjoyable tale about life sans excessive materialism. Also a lot of random strangers dropping by the camp fire retelling their colorful past. Would definitely download it. Again, it's in some old file type that needs converting. Tom

Awesome post...I love those night photos, I want to learn how to do those. The powerline photo I am guessing you painted with a flashlight or something? I can only guess the guzzlers work, BLM has those things everywhere. Like I said before, I have found 7 or so just in the Table Mtn area, there is actually one right at the bottom of Tule Mtn next to Sacatone Overlook also. ABDSP has them also but they are of a different design. Last time I went to Squaw Tit there were no BP there, that mobile vehicle is recent, last couple of years or so.

That battery was maybe used to blow up stuff in the quarry? Did you find all of the white post markers? Doesn't look like you crossed down into the quarry so I am guessing not.

You should continue to explore that area, there are a lot of really neat things to see the deeper you go north/west.

Saw a few of the white markers in between Squaw and the summit. Do you know if they marked some boundary? Yeah, want to go back and visit the entire NW portion. That's a really neat pictograph photo. Need to find that! The power lines were converted to BW with a high contrast red filter just to give it a more omninous look

not that I like the power lines but that picture is awesome! Thanks for the trip report.

surfponto wrote:

Coyote shot is creepy. Looks like a gremlin or a chubacabra


thanks for posting that and keeping the forum alive during the hot summer months.

Anyone ever seen a chupacabra in ABDSP? Makes sense that their northern range would poke into our southern deserts...

Great TR and photos, I felt like I was on the trip with you. Hey, without a sense of scale, it is difficult to tell how large the coyote is. When I first saw the photo, my brain immediately said "kit fox". But that isn't based on anything solid. You took such a good photo of the teeth, that it inspired me to research any potential differences between coyote and kit fox 'dentition'. I haven't found anything yet...

Daren's teaser photo of the pictographs shows a double-helix design that I also saw in Utah along the Escalante River, except the double-helix was about 25 ft. in length. I wish I knew more about the native designs and how they are interpreted. Again, great post. - Jim

surfponto wrote:

Wild you got the shooting star in there.

Gonna go with "aero-plane" on that one...

tommy750 wrote:

That's an awesome pic of the power line! How'd you do it?

I always shoot in RAW format and photoshop anything that seems worth sharing. Here's a pic of the same tower at a different angle.


Sunrise Power3 by tomteske, on Flickr

For this one, I converted it to B/W in photoshop. They offer you several filter options and when there's a nice blue sky, I like to use the red high contrast filter since it makes the sky dark. Looks nice if the object of interest is light and bright.


Sunrise Power2 by tomteske, on Flickr

Here's one more with the same technique in the East Fork of Carrizo Canyon:


Megans Carrizo Ridge by tomteske, on Flickr

Oh, and my avatar is done the same way, a marble statue in the Vatican Library Garden in the rain.
<em>edited by tommy750 on 6/26/2012</em>

tommy750 wrote:

Saw a few of the white markers in between Squaw and the summit. Do you know if they marked some boundary?

I don't know what they marked but they seemed to mark corner'ish boundaries, probably for the quarry? I found at least four but if I remember it was more like 5 or 6...hummm, I see another trip forming...amazing how red the rock and soil is there.

Me and "Bones" my dog heading down into the quarry

tommy750 wrote:

Nice. How do you keep the cactus off Bone's paws? Last time I was out with my friend and her dog, we spent half the time pulling cholla barbs out of its paws. I see one of the jeep trails heads way NW and ends up overlooking Carrizo Gorge. Is that open? Looks like it would have a great view and maybe a nice jump off spot for gorge hiking.

Yeah, I don't take Bones much to the desert, he gets cholla in his paws all the time, usually only take him when I know it will be cool and we will be on roads and not off trail. The road does go where you see it but once you hit ABDSP boundaries you must hike, no motor vehicles allowed beyond that. I describe a hike I did there on my website

The Lindsay book is a great resource for that area. http://www.amazon.com/Anza-Borrego-Desert-Region-Adjacent-Colorado/dp/0899974007/ref=as_li_wdgt_ex?&linkCode=wey&tag=daresefc-20

tommy750 wrote:

I'm interested in your Escalante comment since I'm heading to southern Utah for a week or two late next month. Was going to do the Grand Tour through Zion, Bryce, Canyonland and Arches. Are there some rock art sites I shouldn't miss? Was going to try and see the Horseshoe Canyon site for sure. Thanks for any advice. Tom

Tom, I don't know much about that area, other than there is an impressive cliff dwelling with pictographs along the Escalante River, just east of Escalante Natural Bridge. If I hadn't been looking for birds at the time, I would have probably walked right by the ruins, which are up quite high. Once you see one set of ruins, it kind of turns on your brain to the types of ledges that you should be looking for. Suddenly, you are finding stuff everywhere... Stop by Escalante Outfitters in town when you pass through Escalante (eat their pizza too). They have a very good selection of books in there, in addition to local knowledge of where to look for pictographs, ruins, etc. The folks who work there are hikers themselves when they are not running the store...so they are a wealth of knowledge. If you want a great 2-3 day backpack, do the Boulder Mail Trail into Death Hollow. The best desert walking I've done yet. - Jim

Nice one Daren! (and correct on the ID). Congrats on contributing the first data point. You recall the month?

tommy750 wrote:

When can I start getting college level credits for reading these posts?? You guys are amazing! Haven't really paid attention to either insect, till now! You mentioned bees. Have stumbled onto two hives in the last month if that's of interest. Tom

Tom, the more the merrier. Maybe an honorary doctorate degree is in your future. I just ordered a copy of 'Dragonflies and Damselflies of The West', and am excited to get species IDs on whatever we can. Active bee hives are probably even better indicators of cryptic water sources than far-ranging dragonflies. Where did you see your hives and when? - Jim
edited by ziphius on 7/3/2012

Not Anza Borrego related but we were amazed by the similarities to the Blue Sun Cave pictographs at Indian Hill.
The cave at Catavina is amazing and despite the 108' Baja desert heat the cave was quite comfortable. It sits atop a ridge overlooking the large Cardon filled desert.

Those are really neat pics! The pictographs hardly looked faded. Is is well protected? Tom

I was lucky enough this year to be assigned to the 1st palm grove in Palm Canyon. Beautiful spot with lots of sheep used to humans and we also had plenty of hikers to watch!


Great post! Kinda have a handle on the defining characteristics relevant to the last pic, but would you mind commenting on determining the age, sex, etc of the bighorn sheep in your other photos? Thanks. Tom

tommy750 wrote:

Do they still do helicopter surveys for PBS? Does it correlate with what you guys find each year?

Great question, they briefly talked about that this year. They used to do them with some regularity but not any more, some reasons why were financial and others political. That is why the volunteer program is even more important now. In the days past golf resorts were able to buy up land that took away from the sheep but golf resorts are now passe and instead green energy projects have moved in and are taking their place. When you look at the "peninsular" range they once used it has now become fragmented by development and roadways, their "range" has shrunk considerably.

What is your best mylar ballon take for a trip?

Was out in McCain Valley late this afternoon taking a short hike. Found two latex ballons and a mylar. Was dismayed to find a bunch of large plastic bags used by Sunrise scattered over the chaparral. Picked five out of the brush. Not sure I got all of them since it was getting dark.


Baggy Count by tomteske, on Flickr


Hydro-Blanket BFM by tomteske, on Flickr


Trash Truck by tomteske, on Flickr

Great thread..I love maps.

Check out www.raremaps.com. It's run by a real nice guy named Barry Ruderman and is located near Pearl and Girard in La Jolla. They have a bunch of interesting maps of Baja and California not to mention the rest of the world. Their website is amazing and the store is well worth the visit.

I was thinking of driving out the Fish Creek Wash road to Sandstone canyon in the next week or so. I have never been there and wondered if anybody could tell me what the road is like and if my big crewab 4wd diesel would make it. I have driven it out to the end of Carrizo Gorge several times and Rockhouse canyon, it does well on hard rocky surfaces but deep sand may be problematic.

TIA,
Daren

Great, thanks! I was afraid it would be deep sand. Wasn't the rock fall from the Easter earthquake a couple of years ago?

All very cool.....

I like hidden sheep on the chest picto. DStretch is pretty cool, glad you are using it.

Are any of those photos stitched panoramas or are they just wide angle distance shots? I like how they look.

Looks like she has some thick ring grooves to her horns, nice....

That's amazing stuff. Especially the hidden sheep that dstretch brings out. I bet the area isn't too crowded, given the distance from the nearest paved road.

tommy750 wrote:

Some friends and I will be out in Fish Creek Saturday afternoon and somewhere out in the desert to watch the meteor shower later that night. Will stop by if we see your truck in Blair Valley. Tom

Will you not be at the Ocotillo Wind Energy protest? If I make it out to BV I will most likely be near the road where you turn right towards the Marshal South parking area, that is my usual spot.

Would love to go out to Fish Creek also but committed myself to the protest, what time are you going out?

Thanks for making it out there
I heard Pattern shut down operations for the day
How was the turnout?

Probably 30-40 people showed up. Someone said Pattern gave everyone the day off because of the protest. Here's the IV Press link:

http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/ivp-dozens-head-out-to-protest-wind-farm-project-in-ocotillo-20120812,0,2891105.story

Tom

Great pics, too bad for that truck and owner!
You said the bighorn had "nubs" (or I think asked that..), it looks like maybe an older ewe and not a lamb.
It was great meeting you and your companions even though I doubt I would be able to recognize any of you in the daylight

I will post up some pics later of the meteor shower and my tour of the OWEF as soon as I can. I managed to get a few good shots and some with meteors in them.

Great meteor shower for sure and I was in total disbelief of how many people were camping out there.

Daren

tommy750 wrote:

Very nice. What exposure lengths were you using? Tom

7mm Fisheye Lens, f/3.5, 1600 ISO, 30 second exposure

That's getting out towards the Yuma to San Diego wooden road. Yes?

Thanks for the tour! I remember reading "The Anza Trail and The Settling of California" years ago. Real explorers back then, without any emergency buttons to push!