I have a pretty long list of places I keep telling myself I will stop and check out "one of these days" and this week I knocked out a few of them. First stop was Carrizo Gorge, among other reasons for the visit I wanted to get some pictures of the pictographs with my good camera. ABDSP is really stepping up the efforts in Carrizo Gorge, they have recently added many new big, thick wooden posts and signs blocking access to the Rockhouse Canyon road, many self made side trails/roads and also at the end of the road itself. These are all for the better, people have been driving off the road in too many places damaging many parts of the gorge.
Tamarisk removal is also obvious, the road is almost void of brush scraping your vehicle.
According to
Stellarium, this photo shows the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Orion, Sirius, Pleiades star cluster (M45) and more. Sombrero Peak is in the far distance just to the right of the tree, False Sombrero can also be seen further to the right - Carrizo Gorge
Teddy Bear Cholla Wildflower - Carrizo Gorge
Pictographs in Carrizo Gorge
To learn more about pictographs in Anza Borrego Desert State Park pick up a copy of Manfred Knaak's book
The Forgotten Artist: Indians of Anza-Borrego and Their Rock Art
You can find more books about
Rock Art in California on Amazon
Three coyotes walked up to my campsite near dusk while I was reading, I broke one of my own rules by not having my camera with me so the next best thing is the prints they left (starting in the bottom right corner going to the top left). You can see how close they came up to me. They really had no fear or concern about me, we made eye contact and then they calmly continued on their way - Carrizo Gorge
Mason Valley is one of those places I drive by all the time and have wanted to go check out. I spent almost all day wandering around the valley and still did not see everything I wanted, I did not get over to check out the old mines for example. Technically Mason Valley (where I went) is private property owned by the
Butterfield Ranch and BLM land. When I was out on the trail I had the opportunity to meet the owner of the Buterfield Ranch and help her with horses and some riders with her. I really liked the area. All the photos from Mason Valley can be seen
here
Some great old vehicles and farm equipment at the Butterfield Ranch
Out in Mason Valley there is an old rockhouse built into the hills that I believe early ranchers used.
This is a dugout in the corner of the house that was probably used for storage or a dry shelter when raining
This is looking out the front door into the valley
This must be where the stove or fireplace must have been, you can see the steel exhaust vent pipe above and it channels out to the chimney outside
This is a small dam next to the rockhouse, it was used to block a small stream nearby
Indians definitely favored Mason Valley, there are some great morteros in some interesting rock
Somebody must know why animals love to leave their crap in holes in the rocks
I found several cupule boulders in the valley
There was pottery in the area also, including this very thick, large piece
Here is a very interesting rock wall that hugged the edges of a wash, it was much, much longer than what the photo shows
There were many wildflower blooms in the valley, you can see more wildflowers
here
Desert Apricot - Mason Valley
Beavertail Cactus - Mason Valley
Making my way back home I stopped to climb Red Hill. I swear I have told myself a million times I would stop and climb it real quick before going home..well that was today.
From the S2 highway looking at Red Hill in the distance
As I neared the summit the terrain turned to mostly volcanic boulders and required using my hands to get up
Here we go again, scat in a nice hole in the rocks near the summit
On the summit of Red Hill looking towards Ocotillo. If the Ocotillo Wind Energy Project succeeds this view will be of 150+ 450' tall Wind Generators
The last entry in the register was over a month old
Some beautiful blooms were on the sides of Red Hill
Ocotillo - Red Hill
Beavertail Cactus - Red Hill
Gorgeous Ocotillo blooms were everywhere - Red Hill
Happy Sweet Sixteen little darling...total mylar balloons this trip - 6
Sunrise Powerlink laydown area in Ocotillo. This is what is left now that they have finished and gone. It will take thousands of years for the "Restoration" to return back to the way it was before SDG&E raped the land...way to go SDG&E!
