Category Archives: Hiking

hiking

Salem, Oregon May 9, 2018

After leaving Grants Pass our initial plan was to spend four nights in Eugene and three nights in Salem. The day before our departure we decided to skip Eugene and go straight to Salem, the state capital. It made for a longer than usual travel day but the idea of spending nine nights in one spot without having to move really appealed to us. One of the great things about not having reservations is the ability to change plans at the last minute which we have done several times already this year.

We pulled into the Salem Elks Lodge and were directed into a long full hookup site. Really nice. Along with sightseeing, the long stay gave us a chance to get labwork done, order several things we needed through Amazon, make some dental appointments and do some planning, cleaning and maintenance on the RV. Somehow we managed to get a chip in the RV windshield so one day we had Safelite come out and repair the chip.

On Friday we drove three miles to the Oregon state capitol building to continue our goal of visiting all the state capitol buildings in the country. We were given a tour by an excellent tour guide. The building was constructed from 1936-1938 and is the third capitol building after the first two were both destroyed by fire. It is an example of Modernistic architecture and looks very different from most state capitol which are usually modeled after the U. S. capitol. Only four other states have Art Deco state capitols – – Alaska, Louisiana, Nebraska and North Dakota. The base is granite and on top is the 23 foot bronze statue gilded in gold leaf of a pioneer.

The pioneer faces north and looks west.

Inside the capitol building is a dome with 33 stars painted on the ceiling to recognize that Oregon was the 33rd state admitted to the Union in 1859 after first becoming a territory in 1848.

The paintings and sculptures in the capitol focused on Euro-European settlement.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with Party at Celilo Falls on their way to the Pacific, 1805

We visited the Senate and House Galleries where around the top of both rooms are the names of 158 people significant to the history of Oregon including Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Sacajawea, Washington Irving, John Quincy Adams, and James Polk.

In 1843 the people of Oregon territory drew a line in the dirt and the frontiersmen stepped on one side or the other. One side was to remain British and the other to become part of the United States. We know which side won and the concept of a government with open democratic voting began in Oregon.

The Oregon state seal has 33 stars, an eagle with an olive branch and arrows symbolizing peace through strength. Two ships, one American arriving and one British ship leaving symbolize Oregon becoming part of the United States. Oregon’s economy is symbolized with timber, grain, pickax and plow. The covered wagon symbolizes pioneers on the Oregon Trail and the mountains and elk represent Oregon’s natural environment. The state seal is somewhat in the shape of a heart because it became a state on February 14, 1859. One of the trees growing on the capitol grounds came from a seedling which went to the moon and back!

We found time to do some geocaching, including finding some very unusual ones!

The trees, bushes and flowers in Oregon are just beautiful this time of year.

We passed several fields of red clover as well as Christmas tree farms.

Toward the end of our stay in Salem we drove thirty miles east to Silver Falls State Park, the largest state park in Oregon. It became a state park in 1935 and we enjoyed the trails thanks to the work of 200 CCC workers and skilled workers of the Works Projects Administration. We spent the day hiking to several beautiful waterfalls, enjoying the lush environment which included moss covered trees. Two trails even took us behind the waterfalls for a unique view. We hope to return someday for more hiking.

We visited the South Falls first at 177 feet tall.

The Upper North falls is 65 feet.

We had time for only one more of the ten waterfalls – North Falls at 136 feet.

Next up we head west to spend some time along the Oregon coast.

Below is a link to a waterfall video we made, enjoy the sound of the falling water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5VRzbF8iA4

Grants Pass, Oregon May 4, 2018

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After saying farewell to beautiful Mount Shasta, we headed north towards Oregon.

We passed over Siskiyou Summit which at 4,310 feet is the highest point on Interstate 5 in the United States. Immediately everything was greener and just gorgeous.
We arrived in Grants Pass, Oregon, population 34,500. Located along the Rogue River, the town was named after General Ulysses S. Grant.

The town’s motto is “It’s The Climate”, a reference to this region’s Goldilocks climate: not too hot, not too cold but just right.

I loved the huge lilac bushes around town as well as the gorgeous white and pink dogwood trees which reminded me of my home state of Virginia. The dogwood is Virginia’s state tree and state flower so Grants Pass reminded me so much of home.
While in Grants Pass for three nights we did a lot of geocaching around the town, including one found at the site of the town mascot, a caveman.
One day we drove to Valley of the Rogue State Park for some hiking and geocaching.

This Mural was found in the city of Rogue River

This bridge crosses the Rogue River where a ferry once ran.
Next stop: Salem, Oregon

Paradise & Weed, CA APR 26, 2018

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We left Nicolaus and made the drive north to Paradise, CA. We were excited to visit Paradise because we were going to visit Sara, a former coworker of mine from my teaching days in Charlottesville, VA. Sara and I last saw each other twelve years ago.

The Elks Lodge was almost full and was a nice place to stay with full hookup sites. After settling in we met Sara and her family to attend Sara’s daughter’s violin recital. Lucy played ten pieces she had memorized. She is so talented and it was amazing for someone her age to memorize so many pieces.

The next day we went on a hike on Table Mountain in nearby Oroville. It was a great day that included waterfalls, beautiful wildflowers and even some kite flying!

We finished the day at Sara’s house where her husband Ross showed us his excellent barbecuing skills! One of the many wonderful thing about this lifestyle is being able to catch up with dear friends around the country. Thank you so much Sara, Ross, John, Lucy, Oliver and Franki! We can’t wait to see you again down the road!

Our next stop as we continued north was Weed, CA. After almost three months in California, this was our last stop before crossing over into Oregon. As we traveled north we were excited to see Mount Shasta in the distance.

We were last in Weed in the fall of 2014. A week after we left, a catastrophic wildfire burned hundreds of acres and destroyed more than 150 structures including 140 homes, two churches, the library and community center. But most important, no lives were lost. It has been a long recovery for the town and we were told many people took the insurance money and left instead of rebuilding.

We settled into our campsite with an amazing view of Mount Shasta, elevation 14,179 feet.

Last time we were here was in September and most of the snow on Mount Shasta had melted. This time was very different. Mount Shasta has seven named glaciers.

One day we drove up Mount Shasta but discovered the upper road was still blocked by snow. We still managed to go up almost 7,000 feet. Last time we were here we were able to drive all the way up to the Alpine Lodge.

We stopped throughout the day to find many geocaches. One geocache took us to the headwaters of the Sacramento River. A really neat and unexpected place which reminded us of the headwaters of the Mississippi River we visited last summer at Itasca State Park in Minnesota.

At one point on a beautiful pedestrian bridge a man stopped to ask Bill if he needed any help since Bill appeared to be searching for something lost. Bill decided to take the opportunity to introduce him to geocaching. He thought it was pretty cool.

Next stop: Grants Pass, Oregon

Lodi & Sacramento, CA APR 12, 2018

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Leaving the Hollister area we drove to the town of Lodi for a stay at the Elks Lodge. Lodi is a major wine producing region with more than 80 wineries located in the area. The town has nicknamed itself the “Zinfandel Capital of the World”. We enjoyed doing some geocaching and found the people to be very friendly.

Beside the road was this exchange library where we found a geocache hide

Next up was the town of Nicolaus about thirty miles from Sacramento, the capital of California. Even though we drove on major highways, the roads were really rough in some places. California really needs to spend some money repairing their roads!

On Saturday we drove into Sacramento to visit the state capitol building. It is our quest to visit every capitol building in the country. I will start with the bad comments first. You may have heard on the news that California has an alarming number of homeless people living on the streets. That fact was very evident in Sacramento. I am not usually frightened by this, but in Sacramento wherever we were there seemed to be several people arguing loudly, cursing, and in one instance approached me for money. It is common to see people wandering the streets with suitcases or carts with all their belongings or sleeping along the roads and in parks. In and around the city, bathrooms in restaurants and stores are locked and you must ask to use the facilities. Their situation is very sad, very disturbing and a little frightening.

California has a lovely state capitol building and we took their tour with an exceptional tour guide.

He clearly loves his job. California became the 31st state in 1850 and construction on the capitol building began in 1860 and concluded in 1874. Sacramento was chosen as the capital during the gold rush era because it was located near the highly populated gold rush areas. The capitol is modeled after the U. S. capitol building and has a beautiful 120 foot high rotunda.

A page boy, Queen Isabella and Christopher Columbus

We loved the statue of Ronald Reagan and seeing the legislative chambers.

George Washington portrait overlooking the State Senators

We heard an interesting story about the portrait of former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He had the portrait commissioned by an artist in Austria, his birth country. The artist chose not to give it an ornate frame or nameplate like the portraits of other past governors and it was hung that way. Not having a nameplate may not be a problem now, but 100 years from now will people recognize the governor without a nameplate?

We went into the gift shop and this bumper sticker caught my eye.

The capitol building is located on a 40 acre park. We always look for the Liberty Bell located at all state capitals.

Next we visited nearby Old Sacramento, a four block area that was the city’s commercial district during the gold rush era and pony express.

The area has cobblestone streets and wooden walkways which give it a feeling of yesteryear. It is very much a tourist area today with restaurants, souvenir shops, carriage rides, paddle boat tours and train rides. We visited the Wells Fargo History Museum.

The Sacramento River is crossed by this yellow bridge

Watch their train here:

We finished the day at Sutter Fort State Historic Park, site of the first European outpost in California.

It was established by Swiss immigrant John Sutter with a land grant from the Mexican government and was known as New Switzerland.

After the discovery of gold the land were taken from Sutter by prospectors. We were surprised to find that the original structures were made by men from Hawaii.

On Monday we made the long drive from Nicolaus to visit Donner Memorial State Park. In order to get there we had to drive over Donner Pass using I-80 and the Lincoln Highway, elevation 7,227.

The snow was beautiful on this bright sunny day.

The state park had a very nice visitors center with displays and a movie about the Donner party, a group of pioneers who set out from Missouri for California in May 1846 in a wagon train.

The trip usually took four to six months, but due to mishaps and bad decisions they found themselves snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Mountains during the winter of 1846-1947, a record breaking snowy winter.

Of the original 87 pioneers, only 48 survived. It is one of the most famous and tragic tales of pioneer journeys, which included cannibalism to survive.

On the state park grounds is a monument to the Donner party.

Next stop: Paradise, CA to see a former co-worker from my teaching days

Yosemite National Park, APR 11, 2018

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We left the Hollister area and traveled toward Yosemite National Park. Along the way we passed through more of the California Central Valley agricultural area with fields of crops, pistachio trees, strawberries, many vineyards, sheep and dairy farms with large cattle pens. After stopping for fuel and supplies and dealing with rough roads and steep, curvy mountain passes we pulled into the Mariposa County Fairgrounds. A long day!

When we last visited Yosemite National Park in September, 2014 we stayed in a campground west of the park which required taking the RV up a very steep curvy road. We chose not to do that again and instead stayed in Mariposa about an hour from Yosemite. Also since the park is at a higher elevation, it is colder in Yosemite with the forecast of snow one night and temperatures in the twenties and thirties.

Our main reason for visiting now was to see the many waterfalls in the park. When we were there the last time, all the waterfalls had dried up from the summer heat and California drought. We were determined to see the waterfalls this time. Ideally it would have been better to wait until May since some of the roads and trails were still closed from the winter snows. But April was the best time for our 2018 travel plans. Another benefit of visiting in April is a lack of tourist traffic and crowds.

It was a little over an hour drive to the park but two road construction delays made the drive longer. It took us all day to drive around the park, stopping often to gaze in awe at the waterfalls and of course take pictures. The recent rains and spring thaws were obvious as we saw high water levels white rapids and gushing waterfalls. Beautiful!

Our favorite waterfall is Yosemite Falls, which has a drop of 2,425 feet and is the tallest waterfall in the United States. The following pictures are taken of the upper and lower Yosemite Falls.

No visit is complete without pictures of El Capitan and Half Dome, both famous Yosemite rock climbing landmarks.

We also watched again the movie about the park at the Visitors Center and took a hike to the amazing grand view of Yosemite Falls. We were able to catch the park shuttle bus back to the car.

Here are several other waterfalls for your enjoyment.

Yosemite is an amazingly beautiful place and I am sure we will return again someday.

After leaving Mariposa we will continue to make our way through northern California on our way to Seattle.

Ridgecrest, Buena Vista REC Area, Hollister, CA MAR 30, 2018

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After leaving Death Valley National Park we traveled back to Ridgecrest for three nights. Bill visited the China Lake Museum whose mission is to preserve the history of the Navy’s spectrum of weapons research, development and testing. Formerly located at the China Lake Naval Weapons Center, the museum is being relocated off base to make it more accessible to the public. China Lake was started to develop missiles and also was involved in the Manhattan Project.

After three days in Ridgecrest we headed north to Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area near the tiny town of Taft, California. Along the way we passed field after field of solar panels and occasionally wind turbines.

The terrain changed from a dry rocky landscape to the agricultural California Central Valley. We passed field after field of crops, citrus trees and grapes.

We could see aqueducts helping irrigate the fields as well as political signs from farmers asking for more dams instead of the proposed funding for the high speed rail between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

We had a campsite with a view of the lake and enjoyed a peaceful weekend even though it was Easter weekend and the park was full of families. We enjoyed just relaxing and some walks around the park with beautiful sunsets.

We left Taft and headed to a campground near Hollister, California for a nine night stay. Hollister is one of three towns in California claiming to be the “Earthquake Capital of the World” because it was built directly on the very geologically active Calaveras Fault, a strand of the greater San Andreas Fault. One evening we felt the earth gently shake and later learned it was a 3.0 earthquake. No big deal.

Our main reason for visiting this area was to visit Pinnacles National Park. Formerly a national monument established in 1908, it became a national park in 2013, the 59th national park and our newest national park.

The pinnacles are eroded leftovers of the western half of an extinct volcano that was once part of the San Andreas Fault. The park is divided by the rock formations into an east division and a west division with no road connecting the east and west sections of the park.

The park has numerous unusual talus caves that are home to more than thirteen species of bats. Talus caves are not like the typical limestone underground caves. In fact they are not really caves at all. They are formed when steep, narrow canyons are filled with a jumbled mass of boulders from the cliffs above which happened during the ice age. There is no known evidence of the existence of any Native Americans ever living in the talus caves.

One day we drove to the eastern section of the park which was more easily accessible from our campground. We stopped by the Visitors Center for trail information.

We discovered there are not a lot of hiking trails in the park, and the trails they have are either rated moderate or strenuous. After talking with a ranger we chose the Bear Gulch Cave and Moses Spring Trails after her assurance it was not a difficult trail. The hike started with a fairly uphill walk until we reached the cave.

Upon entering the cave we had to rock hop over a series of rocks to keep our feet from getting really wet. Hmm, don’t remember the ranger mentioning this. As we continued on the cave was so dark we had to use a flashlight and light from our cell phone as we began to climb a series of steep steps cut into the cave walls.

Hmm, don’t remember the ranger mentioning this. To our left we could hear, but not see running water. Illuminating the area the best we could with the flashlight, we could see a series of waterfall.

Our path continued either over rocky terrain or steep steps with occasional very narrow passageways we had to squeeze through. At the end of the cave the exit was so low we had to get down on our knees and crawl out. Hmm, the ranger didn’t mention this!

Once out of the cave we continued on the trail to the reservoir. Once again we climbed steep rocky stairs and at the top emerged into an oasis of water and a few trees.

After resting a while and enjoying the view we went back down the steep stairs.

Luckily the trail back to the parking lot didn’t not take us back through the cave, though we noticed some people choosing that option. Once was definitely enough. On the way back we passed along some high rocky walks where Bill heard growling from above. This made us nervous since the area is known as home to bobcats.

We arrived back at the car hungry for our picnic lunch and a rest.

Another day we visited the west side of the park which required a much longer drive from our campground to access the west entrance.

This side of the park was much quieter and appeared to be less visited. We enjoyed chatting with the friendly park ranger who suggested a brand new trail. This easy one mile loop gave us great views of the pinnacles.

Next up we head to Yosemite National Park to see the many spring waterfalls.

Death Valley National Park, CA MAR 23, 2018

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Death Valley National Park has been on our bucket list for a long time. After three days of wind and rain, we woke up to sunny skies as we left Ridgecrest and traveled to Death Valley. It was not far, but not an easy drive as we passed over two mountain passes, with the second pass at an elevation of almost 5,000 feet. It was then quite a drop down to sea level, a real workout on the brakes!

Death Valley National Park is made up of 3,336,000 acres, making it the largest national park in the lower 48 states and one of the biggest expanses of protected warm desert in the world. There are four National Parks in Alaska which are larger.

Death Valley is the lowest point in North America and the hottest, driest weather in the country. It is officially the hottest place on Earth and holds the world record for the hottest air temperature of 134°F. The valley’s steep mountain walls trap the rising hot air and recirculates it down to the basin for further heating. It has the lowest average rainfall of any place in the country with less than two inches per year, with some years no rain at all. Once again the mountains are to blame. The mountains capture moisture from passing storms before it can reach the valley.

Several people have asked us what the weather was like while we were there. This was a great time of year to visit with daily temperatures in the low 70’s with a nice breeze. At night we slept with the windows open.

One day we stopped by the Visitors Center and saw a twenty minute movie about the park. We then drove through the south end of the park, stopping at Zabriskie Point with beautiful views. There are many times in our travels over the past five years where places have surprised us with their beauty and exceeded our expectations. Death Valley was definitely one of those places.

We took a drive down the Twenty Mule Team Canyon Road which was named for the twenty mule teams which pulled wagon loads of borax across the desert. The mule teams pulled loads weighing up to 36 tons. The rear wagon wheels were seven feet high and the entire mule team was more than 100 feet long.

We also drove the Artists Palette Drive with magnificent colors that are impossible to catch with a camera.

We visited the Borax Museum where in 1881 borax was found nearby. The Pacific Coast Borax Company mining was done in the area from the 1880’s until the 1920’s when mining slowed down and the area started to become a popular tourist area. Death Valley became a national monument in 1933 and a national park in 1994.

We hiked a nice trail to Natural Bridge. It seems like almost every park we go to has a natural bridge!

A highlight of the day was visiting Badwater Basin, which at 282 feet below sea level is the lowest elevation in North America. Up on the mountainside was a sign showing sea level.

As we drove around the park we would see signs showing sea level and various places below sea level.

Badwater Basin is made up of salt flats. Sodium chloride, or table salt, makes up the majority of the salt at Saltwater Basin.

Another day we continued exploring by visiting the Harmony Borax Works, the site of one of Death Valley’s first borax operations from 1883-1888. While searches for gold yielded little success, borax became known as the “White Gold of the Desert “ and was the valley’s most profitable mineral. Borates, or salt minerals, were deposited in the ancient lake beds where water dissolved the borates and carried them to the floor of Death Valley. Here they recrystallized as borax which was used by blacksmith, potters, dairy farmers, housewives, meat packers and morticians. Many Chinese laborers were recruited from San Francisco to scrape the borax off the salt flats and carry it to wagons to be sent to the refinery. They were paid $1.30 a day minus the cost of lodging and food. They lived in crude shelters and tents.

Next we walked the beautiful Gold Canyon Trail and enjoyed every second of the hike.

Because we hiked at least two trails in the park we each earned a Death Valley decal.

After lunch we stopped by Salt Creek Interpretive Trail where we walked on the boardwalk through the marshes. Imagine our surprise to find a stream with numerous pupfish. The water originates from brackish springs and marshes more than a mile upstream. The water becomes increasingly salty due to evaporation as it flows downstream. The stream flows alongside the boardwalk in winter and spring and is more salty than seawater. Soon the stream will be dry up until next winter.

The water is too salty for human consumption but manages to sustain life for many plants and animals, including the pupfish. The pupfish have a lifespan of one year or less so they use this time to quickly feed and breed. They are one of the toughest of all fish and are able to survive in salinity several times that of seawater as well as extreme temperatures.

On our last day we drove in the northern section of the park to the amazing Ubehebe Crater which is only about 2,000 years old. The Crater is a half mile across and about 500 feet deep. If it hadn’t been late in the day we would have walked the trail around the rim.

We had a wonderful time in Death Valley and can now mark it off the bucket list. We are currently back at the Elks Lodge in Ridgecrest. Thursday we travel to a recreation area in Taft, CA.

Yuma, Palm Desert, Hemet, Acton & Ridgecrest, CA 2018

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After our fun time in Quartzsite we headed back to Yuma, AZ for two weeks so Bill could attend the Yuma Hamfest in mid February. He had a great time and we enjoyed a sort of reunion picnic get together with a large group from the Quartzsite Hamfest as well as a banquet the last night of the Hamfest.
Leaving Yuma we spent a couple days at a casino on the Arizona, California, Mexico border with free RV parking. We were amazed at the large number of RVs camped out there. We went inside and signed up for a free players card with $5 loaded on it. Because it was my birthday I was given an additional $5. It didn’t take us long to lose that $10 at the slot machines. I was very content to walk away at that point. I am glad neither of us have a gambling desire! We actually enjoyed parking at the casino. It was quiet and very secure with lots of roaming 24 hour security.
On February 20 we continued on to Palm Desert, CA. Along the way we passed by the Salton Sea which we could see in the distance. We visited the Salton Sea in 2014. It is a shallow lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault. Its surface is 236 feet below sea level. The lake’s salinity is greater than the water in the Pacific Ocean. We also saw agricultural areas with citrus trees and plants. I loved the tall palm trees in the distance.

As we drove we noticed the elevation levels on our GPS fluctuating from below sea level to just above sea level. We are in the desert now!

We arrived at the Palm Springs Thousand Trails RV Resort where we stayed in 2014. It is a beautiful area, part of the greater Palm Springs area with streets named Frank Sinatra, Gerald Ford and Dinah Shore. You can see billboards advertising such services as the ability to freeze your fat and then re-sculpt your body.

It is a beautiful area with blue skies and tall palm trees. On the downside, the traffic is frustrating and since we are now in California, gas is well over $3.00 a gallon. When shopping you need to remember to take in your own bags so you don’t have to pay for plastic bags; aluminum cans and plastic bottles all have deposits which adds up quickly.

While in Palm Springs we visited a college friend of Bill’s he hadn’t seen in over 40 years. We had a nice visit and dinner with Leo and his wife Kathy.

Also while in Palm Springs we drove over to Hemet to Hemet Dermatology to have a skin cancer spot removed from my leg. On the way we went through a mountain pass where they had snow during the night. It was beautiful. After the surgery I had to take it easy and wear a tight ace bandage on my leg for 10 days. Unfortunately the rest of our time in Palm Springs was spent with my leg elevated and wrapped.

Next up was Hemet for a week at an RV resort we stayed at twice before in 2014. We really like Hemet and the Golden Village Palms RV Resort. I continued to recover there and one day we drove over to Menifee to meet Bill’s friend Bob for dinner. Bob and Bill worked together in 1980.

We visited the Hemet Public Library to use their free internet. I was very impressed with their library, including a way to check out books after hours using an outside library access. You just reserve the books ahead of time and the carousel lets you retrieve your book without going inside. Really impressive!

Across from the library at the fire station was a pretty mural.

Our time in Hemet went by quickly and we headed to our next stop at a Thousand Trails Resort in Acton, CA.

While there, we left the RV and flew to Florida for the wedding of Bill’s youngest son Sean in Vero Beach on St Patrick’s Day. We took the red eye flight from Los Angeles to Orlando. We arrived early in the morning pretty tired. We picked up the rental car and met our friends Peter and Beth for lunch in Bushnell. We last saw them at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in October. It is always great to see them. Sure wish we could have spent more time with them but this was a short visit to Florida.

We enjoyed our stay in Vero Beach with Bill’s sweet Aunt Charlotte. We took her to dinner one night to celebrate her 88th birthday. She is truly amazing.

It is always great to see the Atlantic Ocean and the beautiful Florida beaches!

Saturday, St Patricks Day, we attended the wedding of Sean and Cathy. A beautiful wedding and joyous day. We wish them many many years of happiness.

The next day it was back to Orlando and the long flight back to L. A. One reason we chose Acton was because it was only an hour from the L. A. airport and we could safely leave the RV.

The next day we drove into Hollywood to Sunset Boulevard to tour the CNN building.

Bill’s cousin Jeff works there and graciously offered to give us a private tour of the building. Picture taking is not allowed in much of the building for security reasons so we have only a few pictures to share.

Jeff did take us to the roof of the building for a great view of Los Angeles and the Hollywood sign.

We had planned on staying in Acton and visiting Bill’s cousin George in nearby Castaic, but we saw alarming weather forecasts for torrential rains, flooding and mudslides from all the recent fires. So we quickly packed up and moved early to our next destination of Ridgecrest, CA. We passed by some really cool rock formations on the way. We plan to be back in the Acton area in the fall and will have to check out this area some more.

We are currently at the Ridgecrest Elks Lodge, a great place to stay with full hookups for $20 a night. We have had some rain and the winds are gusting up to 40 MPH. All should be much better tomorrow (Friday) when we head to Death Valley National Park about 100 miles from Ridgecrest for five days. We are both really looking forward to it since neither of us has ever been there before.

Quartzsite, AZ January 20, 2018

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After a fun and busy seven weeks in Yuma, Arizona we headed north to Quartzsite. Each January and February more than a million RVers converge on this desert community to socialize and enjoy the warm climate. We were last there in 2015 and had such a wonderful time we have been looking forward to returning ever since.

For much of the year Quartzsite is a very small community of less than 4,000 people in the hot Arizona desert, but for a couple months during the winter the area swells with visitors in RVs. There is more than enough desert for all the RVers to have plenty of room to spread out. Quartzsite is nicknamed the RV Boondocking Capital of the World and the Rock Capital of the World. During January and February there is a Gem Show, RV show and vendors with anything and everything an RVer could possibly want or need.

Quartzsite was the site of an experiment in the late 1850’s and 1860’s by the U.S. Army who purchased camels and transported them to Arizona to be used as transport animals in the American desert. The experiment failed mainly because horses and mules feared the camels and panicked when around the large animals. The camels were eventually auctioned off. The camel trainer and scout is buried in Quartzsite.

Our first day in Quartzsite we attended a large Escapees RV Club Happy Hour event with food and music.

The next day we moved to a different area where we would spend more than a week at Quartzsfest, a large amateur radio event. Bill was in his glory with all the amateur radio people, including some friends he had made in Yuma. A total of 850 amateur radio enthusiasts attended the event with approximately 400 RVs during the week. They had over 118 seminars for Bill to attend as well as daily Happy Hours with door prizes, pot luck dinners and a Hobo Stew. It was a fun filled time and the days passed very quickly.

After Quartzfest ended we joined the Escapees Geocaching Club for a four day rally. Once again our time was filled with daily seminars and Happy Hours, socials, and pot luck dinners. Each afternoon we did some geocaching in the desert, including this one where we searched for “Shorty”, a poor guy whose life ended on the desert while geocaching.

Unfortunately during my last couple days in Quartzsite I came down with the flu. By the time we arrived back in Yuma, Bill had caught it from me and had to visit our Yuma doctor. We have spent the last few days resting and recuperating. We will be here until February 21st when our time in Arizona comes to an end and we head to Palm Springs, California.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ NOV 28, 2017

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We left Casa Grande and headed south to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument which is seven miles from the Mexican border. Along the way we passed fields of cotton.

We settled in for a three night stay at the National Monument campground called Twin Peaks (no utilities at their campsites). Normally we get enough power from our solar panels but it was overcast the entire three days so we had to run our generator twice a day for about 45 minutes to charge the batteries completely.

After getting settled we drove over to the Visitors Center where we watched a movie about the park. The National Monument is a 516 square mile “biosphere reserve” of rare cacti located in the Sonoran Desert.

One afternoon we drove along part of the southern boundary of the National Monument on the Puerto Blanco Drive which borders Mexico for 31 miles. We could see some of the wall separating the United States and Mexico in the distance, but were shocked to see this “border” along the boundary of the National Monument!

We looked and then asked each other if that could really be the only thing separating the two countries?? About that time a Border Patrol vehicle with two border agents came by and stopped to ask us if we were okay. We asked if that was really the border fence. They said yes and we commented on what a hard job they have and thanked them for their service.

We drove for about an hour and many many border patrol vehicles passed us as well as helicopters flying overhead. What a tough and dangerous job they have. A park brochure said the smuggling of drugs and humans goes on in the park. In 2013 there were over 4,000 arrests and approximately 100,000 pounds of marijuana seized just in the National Monument alone! At the Visitirs Center is a monument to a young park ranger named Kris Eggle who was killed in 2002 while attempting to apprehend illegal aliens. The National Monument Visitors Center is named the Kris Eggle Visitors Center in his memory.

It was not unusual to see signs like this in the park. Our first day in the National Monument we talked with a Park Ranger driving through the park and asked him about safety concerns. He told us most smugglers and migrants want to avoid detection and therefore avoid contact with people. But we did take extra precautions at the campsite and while hiking.

Speaking of hiking, we learned if we walked at least five miles in the park we would earn a park pin. We kept track of our hikes and on the last day we stopped by the Visitors Center and picked up our pins. We were pretty proud of them.

During our stay we took several nice hikes which were relatively easy except we had to walk on very rocky trails. A little hard on the feet but at least I didn’t have to do any rock scrambling which I detest.

We learned about the various types of cacti, including the organ pipe cactus for whom the park is named. It is easy to see why they are called organ pipe.

This area is the furthest they grow north of Mexico and the only place they grow in large stands in the United States.

These Organ Pipe Cacti Grow On the South Side of the Ridge

On one hike we came across the remnants of an old homestead and corral.

Our second day in the National Monument we drove a scenic road called the Ajo Mountain Drive that wound along the foothills of the Ajo Mountain Range for 21 miles. It was a dirt and gravel road and our car was really dusty by the time we finished! The Ranger at the Visitors Center gave us a driving guide that explained various stops along the way.

While we were very happy not to see any snakes, we were disappointed we did not see any wildlife other than birds. We were especially disappointed we did not hear any coyotes at night. We always heard them while in Tucson and felt certain we would hear them in this very remote park.

Here is the view of the border crossing.

When we left the National Monument we drove through the tiny village of Why. Next to a gas station we saw a coyote and stopped to take his picture. Normally they are shy and hard to take their picture.

Next stop: Yuma, AZ where we will be for seven weeks through the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Cactus facts:

A Saguaro cactus’ first arm appears at between 95-100 years of age. It reaches its full height with two or more arms at 200 years of age!
Average height of the organ pipe cactus at maturity is fifteen feet.
They were named organ pipe by the early settlers who thought they looked like church organ pipes.
The organ pipe cactus produces its first flowers at around 35 years of age.
Organ pipe cactus, unlike saguaros, live around 150 years.

Through the Eyes of the Selphs

Bill and Diane's travel notes and pictures

Category Archives: Hiking

Salem, Oregon May 9, 2018

Grants Pass, Oregon May 4, 2018

Paradise & Weed, CA APR 26, 2018

Lodi & Sacramento, CA APR 12, 2018

Yosemite National Park, APR 11, 2018

Ridgecrest, Buena Vista REC Area, Hollister, CA MAR 30, 2018

Death Valley National Park, CA MAR 23, 2018

Yuma, Palm Desert, Hemet, Acton & Ridgecrest, CA 2018

Quartzsite, AZ January 20, 2018

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ NOV 28, 2017