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That's all I see now when I drive towards Jacumba...

Up on the Sawtooths last weekend when I camped out for the night I could see the red blinking lights from them and both the Ocotillo an Campo turbines, blinking red lights from all over, can't imagine what it looks like from a plane. Doubt they care about La Rumorosa.

Tommy, you can turn it off in Tools menu, Options, Navigation tab, Do not automatically tilt while zooming. There you go!

Tom makes a good point regarding Inmarsat phones. We carry one for our field studies at the Channel Islands (because we are required to). They aren't all that heavy and considering what folks spend on outdoor gear, etc., boy, it seems like a good idea.

I hadn't realized most of 'em were serviced by satellites at equatorial latitudes, good point. And you're right that you're not going to make an SOS call from the deep canyons of Utah with these units. But they are still a good idea.

tommy750 wrote:

I'm a single guy with no kids. You solo hikers with wives and kids and mortgages don't get heat to get one of these?? Just wondering.

Honey, I'm going out to the desert (again).......

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Tom,
Thanks for the heads up on the Satelite phone. With all the off trail and out of cell phone range solo hiking I do I need to look into that, although I still push all my thoughts of the modern age away when solo hiking and only focus on each step taken in the sake of self preservation.
I still think the hiker went low in search of water. It hadn't rained all month when he went on the hike. Search to continue this week. I might head out, if the wife lets me.

Wish I could have gone with you Tom, always wanted to go down Pepperwood. At least I got to see some of the wildflower blooms on my way home. Nice INS investigative report... I believe the traffic we saw out in Fish Creek was the TDS Desert Safari event traffic and also from the otherwise beautiful weather we had.


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The reduction station pic looks like a giant pyramid photo taken from space.

Given the drought, I'm still amazed that *any* of our springs have water. But maybe it's 10,000 year old 'fossil water' trickling to the surface, who knows. That's an impressive amount of obsidian for one spot, like the flaked stone too. Wish I were out there right now.... sigh.

Tommy,
Pretty sure the obsidian came from the obsidian butte or red island area. When ancient Lake Cahuilla was full, the obsidian source was covered so they must have stored the "black glass" elsewhere. It was traded all the way to the coast.

Found this among obsidian flakes about 4 miles from the coast recently even though there is no local source

edited by rockhopper on 3/18/2015

tommy750 wrote:

I think we took a pic of the exact same plant! Mine was on 3/14/15 and is a lot smaller without the color

156-B?

Tom,

Yes those pictos are on the calf creek trail/slight detour across the canyon. Did you get a chance to check them out?

Tom, you put in some mileage on that trip, sorry I didn't join you..I guess we should call you snake man now....

You are right.
That trip was from February 2010

dsefcik wrote:

Here it is 08/25/2011 so Bob, either your picture is older than that or it has been rebuilt.

Nice pics Tommy, love the graffiti. Alex and I saw a red racer (=coachwhip) near Gray Mtn. last weekend...so fast. BTW, this site is pretty darn good for herp identification:

http://www.californiaherps.com/identification/snakesid/common.html - Jim
edited by ziphius on 4/29/2015

tommy750 wrote:

surfponto wrote:

You are right.
That trip was from February 2010

dsefcik wrote:

Here it is 08/25/2011 so Bob, either your picture is older than that or it has been rebuilt.

Three or four cans go missing every year! Next year it will all be over

Wow, bummed I have yet to be there. Thanks for the report! Your reports are always top notch 😃

Great pics / carcass Tom. Seeing those makes me homesick.

You guys took some great pictures....

tommy750 wrote:

Amazing circular bokeh is Daren's photographic signature

More like Daren's cheap mirror (Catadioptric) lenses....cuz he doesn't have $11,000.00 for a real lens...http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/09/11/understanding-bokeh-the-art-and-science-behind-the-beauty-of-blur-part-1

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tommy750 wrote:

My favorite is the crow. Amazing circular bokeh is Daren's photographic signature

Raven, gotta be a raven, bill is too big. I like how the clouds managed to just clear out above the mountains in your shot Tom, great vertical symmetry going on in that photo. Bokeh. Thanks for the new vocabulary word.

tommy750 wrote:

Nice trip, Daren. Wish I could have joined you especially since when I went back home, ended up eating bad takeout and was sick all week Looks less cloudy than I thought. Pics look really nice when you click on them and get a larger size. So the necropsy showed "disease"?? Any more specific?

Gonna take some of the negs to the enlarger tonight...we'll see how they print...as for the ewe, official report shows "nonpredation – chronic sinusitis"....most likely a barrel cactus spine (or two) got stuck in one of the horns and caused a long history of infection, apparently common in sheep.

tommy750 wrote:

Looks like a nice time out, Nolan. There's a bunch of markers on the west side of E085 related to the bombing range. I think that tall sign is one of them. Here's a couple other ones presumably guiding planes to specific targets:

Tom....you moved those didn't you..??

Ah yes, 'Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom!". Probably one of the shows responsible for my career path as a biologist.

We wrote a trip report here http://www.anzaborrego.net/anzaborrego/forum/topic317-perseid-meteor-shower-.aspx

tommy750 wrote:

I still remember that night. We almost missed meeting Daren for the first time since he apparently passed out after a long hike with his buddies Jose and Jack

Little did I know Tom and I would end up becoming friends and hiking/backpacking all the time now...

Love that area / camp spot, have Daren and Craig to thank for showing it to me. Alex and I did ~ 8 miles from ????? to the spring in December and stayed 3 nights. I've always thought about heading out there in the summer, figuring you could 'bank' on there being water. Next time I visit the area, I'll camp a couple of hundred yards away from the spring though, as we had unwanted (and illegal) 4x4 visitation during our stay. This is one of those spots that should be kept secret for sure, once it gets 'discovered', it's 'game over'. Nice frogs.
edited by ziphius on 7/27/2015

yeah froggies...!! we had to leave some reeds for them...looks like my pipe prop was still holding up also...thanks for the photos Tom and my pack is still sitting in the garage ready to go minus the food I ate from it last week.

Love that B/W pano, really nice..!!

trail cam?? any photos of that? never seen a cam out there.

Nice pics and report, thanks for heading out in the warmer months and taking me with you.

What the heck were all the frogs doing on your tent?

Nolan
edited by anutami on 7/30/2015

Did you find kermit the frog?

surfponto

I second what Nolan said about you heading out in the warmer months..... [/quote

Daren and I had some more fourth season fun this past weekend out in McCain Valley. The weather service said it was going to be only 84/69 degrees but ended up about ten degrees hotter. And no luxurious spring nearby to tap for an extra liter or three!

So I wanted to check this site out Sunday and after a bit of research it was clear that it is NOT open to the public at all. The CDFW website for the Ecological Reserve in Jamul is very clear and it states Hours: The reserve is only open for special events.

I drove out and took a look around, there is no easy place to park and no welcoming visitor trail head signs, instead you will find fence line in all directions and No Trespassing signs posted everywhere alongside the Ecological Reserve signs. I can't vouch for when BW visited the site but I can say for certain now it is definitely off limits to the public.

Nice TR Tom..!!
I never knew it was named Fingertail, you make that up or what..?? I have some photos I still need to develop but I haven't finished the roll yet so I will post some of my own soon...

I brought my 4x5 field camera and do have one shot from that of the cattle trough(s). My shot shows both the older cement water tank and also the newer steel one. Carrizo and the Coyotes of in the distance





A sheet of 4x5 film scanned at 3200dpi is about 181MP and a 2.1GB file...fun...

Which book, Historic Backcountry? maybe it's time I buy it....

That was fun. Thanks for your midsummer service to the forum. Christopher Wray's book, yes.

so I guess the only way to get to split mountain now is from ocotillo wells route? or?
edited by sddarkman619 on 8/8/2015

Nice pics. I gotta check out more of that area out some day. Great vista points of the "great" Salton sink / San Andreas zone. I know you can see Mexico and Arid-zona on a bone clear day.

We should have a forum contest. Except Daren and Tommy can't enter.
edited by ziphius on 8/19/2015

tommy750 wrote:

Was nice to get out and will definitely agree the weather at night was great. Was 88 when we got back, however. Pepperwood Spring was dry but hopefully the rains expected today will help to get it going again.

Ah, it looks like your tent is framed by Red Top on the right and her taller, unnamed sister to the left. Time to start thinking about a 2nd ascent trip, I'll send invites.... Any nighttime foot traffic during your stay?

tommy750 wrote:

What's up with these doctor pot hunters??

Daren, have you checked Tommy's living room?

tommy750 wrote:

Jim (ziphius) wrote:

tommy750 wrote:

What's up with these doctor pot hunters??

Daren, have you checked Tommy's living room?

Looks like just the stuff in the basement, must be quite a display in the living area.
edited by ziphius on 10/9/2015

I'd love to go to Pinto canyon and see that ship picto.
count me in.