Starry Nights in Indian Valley - ABDSP

I picked up an old used Minolta kit lens hoping to try and get better photos of the stars. It is a faster lens at f/1.7 but not very wide (50mm) but it definitly lets in more light and allows me to take shorter exposures and get more stars in the picture. My son also gave me an astronomy book he picked up at the thrift store, it is pretty good and I am still learning more about the stars.

Here is a shot of Orion and a close up of the nebula. I am amazed at what the camera can pick up. 50mm, ISO 1600, f/1.7, 5 seconds


Here are some star trails above a peak just north of False Sombrero, this lens really lets a lot of light in! 50mm, ISO 100, f/1.7, 34 minutes


Here is Mars above the Imperial Valley. 50mm, ISO 800, f/1.7, 10 seconds


Orions Belt. 280mm, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 3.2 seconds


Saturn (middle), Spica (up to right). 300mm, ISO 12800, f/5.6, 1/2 second


I don't have a telescope, this is my star gazing kit

Ghost Mountain Thanksgiving

My son and I spent the Thanksgiving day exploring Little Blair valley and Ghost Mountain. We revisited the jet airplane wreckage and some Native American features he had not seen before. We also took a trip up to the Marshal South home site and hiked over to the top of Ghost Mountain. I was surprised how few people were camping in Little Blair for the holidays.

The Marshal South home site. The old cement pond and what is left of the house.




This is the "dump". I found many of the large mouth glass jars common to that era here and also many of the same down in Carrizo at the railroad camps.


This is the kiln the South's used to make their pottery. It looks much smaller than the drawings Marshall South submitted to the Desert Magazine articles.


My son reading the Ghost Mountain register. I had come up here back in June and the next register entry we saw was from November, no visitors for 4 months. You can see Granite mountain in the far off distance. It was a gorgeous day.


I saw this nice "Y" shaped cactus at the base of the mountain

Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is a very interesting place rich in history geologically. Today it is home to many different types of wildlife, recreational visitors and year round residents who call it home. It is worth a visit if you have a chance.

Old Trees on the semi dry sea bed


Coyote prints leading off to Red Hill


The beginning of a mud pot


A more mature mud pot


A video of the mud pots


The beach at Obsidian Butte


Three large birds nests


An Osprey


Large boulder of obsidian

Starfish Cove Night Sky Stars

A quick backpack trip to Starfish Cove with my son showed us a star filled night sky.

ISO 3200, Exposure 30 seconds, Aperture f4, Focal Length 10mm


ISO 12800, Exposure 15 seconds, Aperture f4, Focal Length 10mm


Same shot as above but 30 seconds exposure and only 800 ISO
ISO 800, Exposure 30 seconds, Aperture f4, Focal Length 10mm


Alma Wash is known for it's Elephant Trees


The Trailhead, check out the difference in what a zoom lens vs a wide angle lens will do with the distant landscape in this picture and the next one below.


My son ready to go


Number #9 on the trail, "the" Elephant Tree. There are many more Elephant trees in the canyon up on the ridges.


The entrance to Starfish Cove


My son found a dead lamb



Lots of Elephant trees up on the ridges


Multiple scat droppings in a single footprint


Mandatory scat with bones photograph

Canebrake Wash / Indian Valley - ABDSP

A trip out to explore the ridge lines of Indian Valley was detoured by the rains and instead turned into a trip out into Canebrake Wash. When I drove into Indian Valley the weather was great. I drove out to the end of the north fork and was going to camp there but the bees were numerous and after about 30 minutes I found myself doing nothing but swatting bees away from me and the inside of my truck so I decided to go back down the road a bit to a nice little sandy area that was bee free. During the night the clouds started rolling in and so did the wind. My truck was rocking like crazy from the wind, it can get really, really windy in Indian Valley. The morning showed me nothing but dark rain clouds hovering above False Sombrero so I decided to go out into Canebrake Wash and explore there instead. Canebrake and Inner Pasture is really just amazing place, it is vast and empty, I am becoming fond of hiking there.

A possible yoni rock carving in Indian Valley


Mr. Taratula in Canebrake


Agave plant scat..yumm


Large sand berm in Canebrake (click to enlarge)


The Crawford Ranch


Looking west-north from the sand berm, wow...it is just amazingly vast here..that is Red Top in the distance. You can see the rain clouds moving in.


Looking North into Inner Pasture towards Moonlight Canyon...it is far away.


Morteros near some rock shelters indicate Native American habitation


Why do they always crap in the morteros???


Close up showing the hair and bones in the scat


One of the larger rock shelters I found (click to enlarge)


View north-west from the shelter (click to enlarge)


Another smaller rock shelter, little remained


More possible Yoni rock carvings back in Indian Valley


Leaving Indian Gorge a nice rainbow stretched across the road. It was short lived though as the rain was following me and would soon start raining hard.


Total Mylar balloon count for a 7 mile hike - 6