Low Desert

Joshua trees, mesquite bushes, lizards, rattlesnakes, 100 degree heat… just the way we like it.

What a contrast from camping at 8,000 feet in the Spring Mountains to BLM lands in the Virgin River Gorge (around 2,500 ft.) in the northwest corner of Arizona. As as is the case with much of the West, the river was very low and lukewarm when we dipped our toes in it. (It still felt good.)

Too hot to sleep at night so we sat up late checking out the stars.

Leaving Las Vegas

Dad and I have a reputation for roughing it when we travel. But sometimes a Jamba Juice treat in town hits the spot on a warm day. We also stopped by the REI in Las Vegas to buy a few items we left at home.

Atomic Madness

When you travel into the Spring Mountains of Southern Nevada, there’s a lookout point where you can see across a vast expanse of desert mountains that includes the Nevada National Security Site (formerly known as the Nevada Test Site). Between 1951 and 1963 the U.S. military ran tests and exploded hundreds of nuclear weapons in an effort to counter the Soviet threat during the early years of the Cold War. (At the same time, the Soviet Union was doing the same thing in response to the American threat.)

Back in the day, nuclear “tourists” used to come up to these mountains to witness the fireballs and mushroom clouds from a distance of about sixty miles. The military had a policy of not announcing these tests in advance, but somehow word got out.

People love to see things go boom, but think of the downsides… I wonder what the Southern Paiute people thought about what was happening to their homeland.

Impossible Germany

So what do the capital city of Germany and dinosaurs have in common? Not much, except here in the middle of Nevada. We are spending the first night of our road trip at Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. It’s the site of a ghost mining town named Berlin and… it has one of the largest intact ichthyosaur fossils in the world. Incredibly, the Great Basin used to be underwater a very, very long time ago. It had all sorts of aquatic creatures that are now preserved under layers of limestone.

The big guy in the picture who wants to give me a kiss grew to 60 feet long and would probably have considered me a light snack. Luckily, he (or she?) lived 250 million years ago during the Triassic Period so I don’t have to worry.

SLO Walking

Taking a stroll through downtown San Luis Obispo, California was a nice break from our drive. It has that great college town vibe that I’m very familiar with, being a Davis resident. This town is the birthplace of Jamba Juice, so of course we indulged.

Iwihinmu (Mt. Pinos)

It was a good day for a hike to the top of a mountain. Dad and I summited Mt. Pinos (8,847 ft.) in the Transverse Ranges of Southern California. It’s the high point of Ventura County and I intend to chalk it up to my list of “bagged” peaks. It was very windy, which I imagine is probably common given its location between the cool coast and the hot interior valleys. There are two ways to get there. We chose the shortest one.

This mountain is sacred to the Chumash people, so treat it with respect.

Valley View

For Memorial Day weekend, Dad and I stayed in the Los Padres National Forest southwest of Bakersfield. Our campground was well named: Valle Vista for those who understand Spanish. The golden hills in the late afternoon sun with the San Joaquin Valley as a backdrop was a beautiful sight.

Believe it or not, it was rather chilly at night.