Definitely getting addicted to the warm weather down here in the desert. It's still a bit chilly when we get up at 6:15 AM (Punky Alarm Time) but the heat is only on for an hour. Then it's off for the rest of the day.After breakfast and clean up I went over and shot pool with the guys, managing to be on the winning team nearly every game. Around 11:30 AM Tina and I had a light lunch then headed out. We had a plan to do some driving, sightseeing and a little hiking today. We ended up accomplishing all three goals, just not the way we planned.
Our first stop was the Desert View Tower at the top of the pass through the In-Ko-Pah Mountains, half way between El Centro and San Diego. Located at an elevation of just over 3,000 feet, the Desert Tower was built in the early 1900's. The men who built it were paid a Dollar a day plus a jug of wine. They used from planks from the original plank road that crossed the desert dunes.
The tower looks out over the mountains and across the Imperial Valley and is in the middle of a boulder field. The boulders are faulted intrusive granitic bedrock which has weathered into giant piles of jumbled boulders. The jumbled piles provide lots of little caves, nooks and crannies to crawl through. During the depression, numerous animal sculptures were carved from the rocks and placed within the boulder piles making a great playground for kids of all ages, heheheh!After I purchased tickets allowing us to go up in the tower, I went outside to get Tina only to find her hobbling back down the steps to the car. She had twisted her ankle while taking pictures and could barely make it back to the car. So I had to make the climb to the top of the tower alone.
The building is four stories high, built around a central core with a spiral staircase running upward along the inside of the outer wall. Each floor is a museum with display cases and artifacts, from ancient pottery to old rifles. I made the climb to the top floor which has no windows but is open to a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside.
From the forth floor there is a last spiral leading up to a small widows walk, barely large enough to turn around in. After taking in the views I made my way back down and outside to see how Tina was doing. The pain from her injury was easing off and she was able to join me in a kids crawl through the boulders. After our exploration we returned to the car and headed back to I-8 for the trip back down to the desert.
Then it happened, "FIRST CONTACT"!! As we pulled out of the parking lot, we spied an old alien scoutship which appeared to be trying to lift a small desert runner up with it to the mother ship. Before it moved, Tina saw a couple of aliens in the motor home. WOW!! Maybe it was an alien abduction in progress. Arriving back at Ocatillo we exited to Hwy 98 which runs down the Davis Valley to Calexico. Our first stop was to find the access road that would take us to the Yuha Geoglyph. Constructed by native americans several thousand years ago, a geoglyph is a pattern etched into the desert floor by clearing lines of small dark stone, known as desert pavement, to expose the lighter colored bedrock below. The Yuha geoglyph is a huge spiral covering a couple of acres but can only be seen properly from above.
We pulled off the highway at a staging area and consulted the BLM map for the route in to the geoglyph. According to the legend we could follow route 272 for a couple of miles, then cut over to 274 for a half mile to the site. With directions in hand we started off cross country only to pull off to the side and walk due to the poor road condition. After hiking a couple hundred yards, I thought we should be able to drive so I went back and got the car.Crossing several rutted gullies and dry washes, I picked up Tina and continued our drive into the heart of the Yuha Desert. The flats weren't too bad, but there were several gullies where we bottomed out on our engine pan or nosed into the sand before heading up the other side. It would have been really fun in a four wheel drive high clearance vehicle. As it was I was a little nervous, not wanting to get stuck somewhere and having to call for help.
Eventually we made it to where the map showed we should find the fenced in area. We parked and got out to look. Nothing. Hiking up a hillside to reach a high point to survey the area and still nothing. I figure I misread the map. Rather than continuing our search on really iffy desert roads, we hiked back to the car and started back to Hwy 98. It was a little easier going back as we could take our time and do a better job navigating the deeper gullies and washes. We managed to make it back to pavement with only a few bumps and clangs. Wiping the sweat from our brows and thanking our lucky stars we pulled onto Hwy 98 and continued down Davis Valley in search of our third stop, the Crucifixion Thorn Natural Area.
Known for its bounty of desert plants and wildflowers, the area is covered with Ironwood, Crucifixion Thorn, Palo Verde, Mesquite and Creosote. We only had general directions and apparently missed our turn off. At this point we decided we had seen as much of the Yuha Desert area as we wanted, much of it up close and personal, so we continued down Hwy 98 until we reached the Seeley cutoff. From there it was only a few miles until we were back at camp much to the joy of the kids.The rest of the afternoon we spent working on the photos and blog. Taking a break to go for several walks with the kids and enjoying the sun.
To see all our photos, click on:
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