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tommy750 Posts: 1040
5/29/2012
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Since the temperature dropped so much this past weekend, figured I give finding the Solstice Cave and climbing Sombrero one more shot till it cools in the fall. Convinced the girlfriend to go and we were off.
After exiting in Ocotillo, remembered we'd never been to the Imperial Valley Desert Museum, so I whipped a U in front of the Lazy Lizard and headed south. The building is very nice but very empty. Spoke with their archeologist, Jennica, who's new to the Valley, but excited about commencing work on their large yet disorganized Indian artifact collection. Here's one of a cache of three ollas reported found "somewhere up S-2."
Olla by tomteske, on Flickr
Some type of shovel and pick. You can see the museum is in its early stages. Bought a pamphlet on geoglyphs located near Needles, joined the museum for $25 each and we headed north.
Shovel and Pick by tomteske, on Flickr
Saw some strange looking RVs as we drove toward Indian Gorge.
Memorial Day Campers by tomteske, on Flickr
We saw this yoni-maybe while headed up the initial draw toward the ridge.
Sombrero Yoni by tomteske, on Flickr
The view from the ridge toward the South Fork.
South Fork Indian Gorge by tomteske, on Flickr
Not too far away, heard a lot of buzzing and found this opening to a wild hive. There's 100 bees swarming into this crack, but can't see any in the pic and wasn't that motivated for a closeup.
Wild Bee Hive by tomteske, on Flickr
The GPS said 3.0 miles to the top and 1.8 down so it's not like we didn't look for that cave. By this point, we both had had enough and just wanted to get to the top. So, most likely we walked right past it.
Sombrero Peak by tomteske, on Flickr
Saw two morteros on the way down.
Sombrero Morteros by tomteske, on Flickr
Never tire of looking at the beautiful yucca flower.
Yucca Flower2 by tomteske, on Flickr
A nice dinner prepared on the tailgate as the sun set finished off the hike.
Indian Valley View by tomteske, on Flickr
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2609
5/29/2012
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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??
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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tommy750 Posts: 1040
5/29/2012
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dsefcik wrote:
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??
That's interesting you were at the museum. Should be a really neat place. The only balloon was actually ribbon remnants stuck deep in a cholla. Tried fishing them out with the hiking pole but no luck. The only other desert hive I've seen was also at Indian Hill on the north side of the valley near the tracks.
<em>edited by tommy750 on 5/30/2012</em>
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ziphius Posts: 911
5/30/2012
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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.
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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tommy750 Posts: 1040
5/30/2012
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ziphius wrote:
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.
This was my first time up the "regular way." Have been up Sombrero multiple times, but like you, from McCain Valley. Once, went all the way up South Fork and looped around to ascend on the West side but lots of vegetation in the way. Heard about the Solstice Cave on this forum but haven't been lucky enough to find it. Couldn't tell you more about the ollas. Maybe Daren could since he's doing some curation work at the museum. Tom
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2609
5/31/2012
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tommy750 wrote:
Couldn't tell you more about the ollas. Maybe Daren could since he's doing some curation work at the museum. Tom
Afraid I don't, I worked mostly with lithics the day I volunteered. While many of the museums locally have great examples of ollas, I would guess there are still a few hidden ones out there still buried away.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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