We had previously planned a camping trip with some of the ex-employees of Musicmatch. For a variety of reasons, mostly my inability to read a calendar (the date I had chosen was Mother's Day), there was a very light turn-out. But, we capitalized on the trip and used it as the starting point for our Color Country adventure, thus preventing a backtrack of a hundred miles or so. Plus, the weather was nice, so this provided a great start to the trip in addition to cutting a hundred miles out of the first day's journey.
The photos below are what we saw. These shots are reduced from the full size of the digital camera to 1000 pixels wide in deference to those readers that do not have "full size" screens. Nearly all of the shots came from my new, 21 megapixel Canon 1DsMark3 digital SLR. (NOTE: I have increased the size of the photos from 800x800 to 1000x1000. If you cannot see these photos without scrolling, please let me know and I will republish the site in the very near future. Contact me at bcaid at yahoo dot com).
It was getting pretty late in the season and most of the wild flowers had already bloomed and died. But, the yucca were in full bloom. The small spots in the upper left are bees working the flowers.
Olla Wash in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is full of interesting geology. Here, the upturned bedding of sandstone are clearly visible.
One of our camping partners, Dave, checks out the sights as he gets a fresh beer.
After we settled on a camp site, we switched from beer to red wine. Here Kathleen and Dave "assume the position" in the shade of the unimog.
Kathleen enjoys the nice, warm weather, comfortable seating and good wine.
Our other camping partner, Sharon, tells us a story. Note the trick photo on her necklace. She is a part-time artist and makes these charms.
We had a great night with good food, and plenty of wine. Oddly, there was a crew of street vehicles that went up the canyon about sundown and set up camp. They brought their drums and partied until nearly dawn disturbing the otherwise peaceful night. Here we break camp and prepare to head off to the area near the Colorado River. Dave and Sharon returned to San Diego.
Our path to the Colorado River took us through the sand dune in Glamis, CA. These dunes are big, although not as big as the Altar Desert of northern Sonora, MX.
Olla Wash is a nice camp site. The presence of others in the canyon was new. Usually, we are totally alone when we camp there. While I could have done without the incessant drumming throughout the night, it was odd enough to be mildly amusing. Once we left our desert camp, we headed to the Colorado River on our way north to St. George, UT. We spent the night in a motel in Needles, CA and then headed north the following morning.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2008, all rights
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