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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2609
4/23/2012
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A quick 24 hour trip to the desert in unusually high triple digit temperatures...pictures are worth a thousands words...good thing I have a camera....
Fishhook Cactus in Inner Pasture
Snakes are out
Up close
The Turbines are coming...fight the Ocotillo Wind Project!
Myer Valley Artifacts
Snakes are still out, this is a great reason why you should not put your hands in the rocks where you cannot first see what's there
Up close
Some blank rocks and DStretch
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The meteor showers were not as vivid as the press made it out to be, I only saw a few meteors and photographed this picture of the Milky Way
Ants are a curious thing, these guys were hard at work at sunrise. Amazing to see thounsands of them toiling away making their home. Too bad projects like the Ocotillo Wind Project will kill them off
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Total Mylar Balloons this trip - 4
http://www.sefcik.com/2012/04/inner-pasture-myer-valley.html
edited by dsefcik on 4/23/2012
<em>edited by dsefcik on 4/23/2012</em>
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http://www.sefcik.com
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http://www.carrizogorge.com
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tommy750 Posts: 1040
4/24/2012
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Snakes are out
Up close
Nice trip. Red Diamond Rattlesnake, perhaps? How do you do "D Stretch?" Is it available as a photoshop plugin?
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2609
4/24/2012
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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/
I saw many snakes but only two proved photogenic. Several rattlesnakes and a black Coachwhip I believe, he was fast! The lizards were everywhere and it was so hot out in Moonlight Cyn and Inner Pasture even the rabbits were hiding in the shade.
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http://www.sefcik.com
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1362
4/24/2012
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Great pictures as always. How close were you to that rattler?
The Fishhook Cactus looked interesting. I have never seen the buds like that.
Bob
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2609
4/24/2012
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surfponto wrote:
Great pictures as always. How close were you to that rattler?
For both of those snakes I was within striking distance, maybe 4-5 feet. I used a 300mm lens. The one that was coiled up in a rock I actually had to use the flash and a tripod. He was pretty sleepy and stuck his tongue out at me a few times. It was like 99 degrees out and I was questioning why I was spending so much time trying to photograph this guy. The other one was slowly slithering along. I had originally planned to camp out in Inner Pasture but the heat and the fact that I saw rattlesnakes in 2 places I was scouting out to lay down my sleeping pad and bag sorta detoured me. I ended up hiking back to Agua Caliente from Inner Pasture at night. I think it was a good decision, the heat even at night was substantial, my truck outside temp gauge showed 89 degrees at 11pm.
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http://www.sefcik.com
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http://www.carrizogorge.com
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anutami Posts: 491
4/24/2012
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surfponto wrote:
Great pictures as always. How close were you to that rattler?
The Fishhook Cactus looked interesting. I have never seen the buds like that.
Daren, did you try to eat the fishhook cactus fruit? It is supposed to taste very good.
I have always wanted to try it
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1362
4/24/2012
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I have never seen the fishhook cactus with fruit on it.
Really cool.
anutami wrote:
surfponto wrote:
Great pictures as always. How close were you to that rattler?
The Fishhook Cactus looked interesting. I have never seen the buds like that.
Daren, did you try to eat the fishhook cactus fruit? It is supposed to taste very good.
I have always wanted to try it
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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tommy750 Posts: 1040
4/24/2012
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dsefcik wrote:
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
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2609
4/24/2012
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anutami wrote:
Daren, did you try to eat the fishhook cactus fruit? It is supposed to taste very good.
I have always wanted to try it
To be honest I did not know they were edible, I have had a couple others email me and also tell me that..now I know! Not sure I would have anyway, after seeing one big rattlesnake and almost stepping on another I sorta had my thoughts on just watching the ground until I got back to the truck.
<em>edited by dsefcik on 4/24/2012</em>
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ziphius Posts: 911
4/24/2012
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Great photos Daren! I'm impressed that you hiked the Inner Pasture / Moonlight Canyon to Agua Caliente at night. Especially during a new moon. A few spots with tricky footing along the way. 4 mylar balloons is a lot, what's your personal 'best'? - Jim
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2609
4/24/2012
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ziphius wrote:
Great photos Daren! I'm impressed that you hiked the Inner Pasture / Moonlight Canyon to Agua Caliente at night. Especially during a new moon. A few spots with tricky footing along the way. 4 mylar balloons is a lot, what's your personal 'best'? - Jim
Hah!..you are funny..I think maybe it was like 12 or something but that was because I found a "Love Bundle" of 9 balloons all tied together for a Valentine present.
The sun was setting in Inner Pasture and the snakes were coming out...I was way over around near the spring below Red Top. I had my huge backpack on and initially started the hike with 4 gallons of water, the lady at the Agua Caliente booth gave me a look when I said I was going out to IP.."OK, be sure take lots of water and watch out for rattlesnakes, they are out now" she said....."sodium/potassium tablets" I told myself. I drank 1 gallon of water just getting to the saddle before dropping down into IP. Anyway, starting back over the saddle in twilight and then descending into Moonlight Cyn in the dark with my lights I decided to take the east side loop back (ending up at the group camping area) instead of re-tracing my steps back on the west side. There was a very warm breeze all night but it was way better than the sun. As I got to the left/right choice around the low peak of the trail I went right....and then a short distance later I came to like a 50' or higher dry, steep fall. Crap....my headlamp made out a faint trail up the side and then down the other side. When I got to the bottom of the bypass I saw a sign that that said something like "DO NOT ENTER!!" I continued down the trail and just before the water and tall tree area I heard a loud buzz/humm..in the dark. I stopped and turned my ears towards the sound...a bee hive up in the rocks...nice..I kept moving. Soon the the lights of vehicles on the S2 were visible and I could hear the sounds of happy Agua Caliente campers. It was about 9:30pm now and someone was giving a star show lesson at the outdoor area near the booth....pretty much beat to crap I continued down the pavement with my pack on hoping the store would be open so I could buy some cold beer....but they were closed. That's OK, I needed the extra walk anyway. Now 10:30pm or so I loaded my crap into my truck and drove over to the Carrizo Badlands overlook. The warm breeze still blowing was great, the stars were out and Venus was as bright as the sun. I washed off, ate some food and listened to coyotes howling before I fell asleep. Around midnight I woke up and there was a car pulling up next to me...a woman just trying to find a place to pull over and sleep for the night.....never know what you will see in the desert.
The next day was Myer Valley...the pictures I posted show a small view of that day...I might elaborate more on that in another post..suffice to say the undocumented traffic is alive and well, the Border Patrol had some action that Sunday afternnon.
Thanks for reading my ramblings...
Daren
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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ziphius Posts: 911
4/25/2012
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Daren,
Great story about your night hike. I remember that dry fall myself and calling the trail 'faint' is an understatement in that area. I'm planning a return to Moonlight Canyon just to figure out the most efficient way through Moonlight to Inner Pasture, I wasn't satisfied with my route last time. I also encountered the DO NOT ENTER sign you mentioned on the way out to Inner Pasture. I remember getting back to that point on the loop trail upon my return from Red Top / Inner Pasture, do I go right or left? I ran into a large group of kids with parents at the end of that long day that had come from Agua Caliente and they looked at me like I was a wild animal. Wiped blood on my hat from a cactus encounter.... wild, hungry eyes, giant backpack. One thing I have invested in is a trekking umbrella, super-light GoLite brand, you can rig it to clip on your backpack. It's like walking in the shade and not bothersome at all.
Appreciate your detailed account on your water consumption. Your accounts remind me of a book called Dead In Their Tracks, which chronicles illegal crossers from Mexico into AZ/CA during the summer months. The guy who wrote the book I think used to be an ultra-runner and he hiked alongside the crossers to write the book. Many detailed entries on how much water they started out with, how much they consumed, how much they found along the way, daytime temperatures, hours hiked in daylight vs. dark. Check it out:
http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/Books/bid2060.htm
Jim
<em>edited by ziphius on 4/25/2012</em>
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2609
4/26/2012
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The sandy wash coming in from mile marker 41 is much, much easier. It is longer distance wise but so much easier than Moonlight Cyn. If you haven't gone that way yet you might want to check it out. Also the saddle from the North Fork into Canebrake is another way. Interesting note in one of Schads book is that the IV saddle at one point was being considered by the BLM as a planned hiking/equestrian route from Pepperwood down thru Canebrake...guess that never happened.
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1362
4/26/2012
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Thanks for that book link.
Will have to pick that one up.
Bob
ziphius wrote:
Daren,
Great story about your night hike. I remember that dry fall myself and calling the trail 'faint' is an understatement in that area. I'm planning a return to Moonlight Canyon just to figure out the most efficient way through Moonlight to Inner Pasture, I wasn't satisfied with my route last time. I also encountered the DO NOT ENTER sign you mentioned on the way out to Inner Pasture. I remember getting back to that point on the loop trail upon my return from Red Top / Inner Pasture, do I go right or left? I ran into a large group of kids with parents at the end of that long day that had come from Agua Caliente and they looked at me like I was a wild animal. Wiped blood on my hat from a cactus encounter.... wild, hungry eyes, giant backpack. One thing I have invested in is a trekking umbrella, super-light GoLite brand, you can rig it to clip on your backpack. It's like walking in the shade and not bothersome at all.
Appreciate your detailed account on your water consumption. Your accounts remind me of a book called Dead In Their Tracks, which chronicles illegal crossers from Mexico into AZ/CA during the summer months. The guy who wrote the book I think used to be an ultra-runner and he hiked alongside the crossers to write the book. Many detailed entries on how much water they started out with, how much they consumed, how much they found along the way, daytime temperatures, hours hiked in daylight vs. dark. Check it out:
http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/Books/bid2060.htm
Jim
edited by ziphius on 4/25/2012
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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tommy750 Posts: 1040
5/7/2012
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dsefcik wrote:
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
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2609
5/8/2012
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This is the best I have. Not sure I see 1865 but there is something there as well as above the larger figure on the right. These dstretched photos show clearly that they have been painted over, or "touched up" if you will.
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