It's been a good20 years since i did the Anza Borrego loop starting from Ocotillo all the way around to Julian along the old coach way. Normally I would just head to the shell canyon area or the shooting range area and go back the way I came via the 8, but I need a road trip for a while now and even just a single day trip was going to feel pretty good cleansing my mind, soul and body.
I left at 5am and there was a faint glow of light to the east.
(https://i.imgur.com/1bouidx.jpg)
I forgot how cool it was driving out to the desert. It's been quite a few years since I really did any road trips down here.
(https://i.imgur.com/fk7iZ9W.jpg)
Sun Breaking the mountain horizon.
(https://i.imgur.com/PRTekbh.jpg)
I always loved the drop into the desert, but something was different this time....
(https://i.imgur.com/28UEeFv.jpg)
There were NO wind farms the last time I drove out there which means it was probably longer ago then I thought!
(https://i.imgur.com/hCu3ohG.jpg)
First stop was to check out the shooting range and then take a hike back into some of the canyons.
(https://i.imgur.com/0waNiAi.jpg)
Bike Dunes...
(https://i.imgur.com/esgzP5H.jpg)
I felt like a mountain lion was going to jump from on top of one of these formations and make me breakfast!
(https://i.imgur.com/qZLZrai.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Ys7RMGU.jpg)
Great geologic structures back from the late Miocene period!
(https://i.imgur.com/tqmY9TP.jpg)
I moved up and down a few washes and came to my old fossil site, one of the first I checked out since coming to California.
(https://i.imgur.com/EQECuUD.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/29mMOx4.jpg)
Gastropod
(https://i.imgur.com/mq3HOvD.jpg)
Oyster
(https://i.imgur.com/8McebiT.jpg)
Scallops
(https://i.imgur.com/57tlEo4.jpg)
Giant Boulder of Oyster!
(https://i.imgur.com/VVKkfdZ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/KOz49k3.jpg)
After a 4 mile hike, I was back at the truck and heading to a new hike spot. More and more wind turbines...
(https://i.imgur.com/hwgLdIs.jpg)
I passed about 40 Border Patrol cars, so there must have been something going on in the area and came to a complete road block of Border Patrol. Nothing more than a/an unusual check point. I made a few stops along the way checking out all of the cool stops along the way and finally got to a wash through the Carrizo Badlands. I packed enough to drink and eat for a 7 mile hike. well, a little more water and Gatorade than that just in case.
My walking "Staff" served as a back up weapon.
(https://i.imgur.com/sg72zgi.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/taYI8tp.jpg)
This was an awesome hike back into the bad lands. I made my way through some granite peaks.
(https://i.imgur.com/VvcqoyF.jpg)
It was granite, Dolomite Veins, Sand Stones, Pleistocene Conglomerates...
(https://i.imgur.com/n0RDPuo.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/2sAX0ke.jpg)
It was so quiet. no wind, no noise what-so-ever, except for these rocks and pebbles that kept falling down the cliffs from the peaks. I felt eith like Jawas or Tusken Raiders were stalking me.... That's what I was hoping over something like the movie, The Hills Have Eyes...
Then i see this... So uncomfortable! I moved a little closer and said, NOPE. LOL
(https://i.imgur.com/tmIHUcH.jpg)
Way back around 5 miles, I find these holes drilled in the rock in some weird corner. I'm guessing core samples for some geologists.
(https://i.imgur.com/2OXhBRd.jpg)
Leaving the volcanic and granite areas to the Pleistocene aged formations.
(https://i.imgur.com/cFiyvn4.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/LJ7eEdP.jpg)
Crazy folds to the layers.
(https://i.imgur.com/iCC4MDI.jpg)
Lots of these around, but no prints to ID. Any guesses?
(https://i.imgur.com/3oKk8S9.jpg)
Before I know it, I was wondering why i didn't loop back to the truck by now. As I pulled the GPS out of my back pack, I came to the unnerving notion that I was only half way and missed a turn somewhere with my rock gawking! Ugh!! I turned the gears up a bit and tried to get back quicker than the time it took to get there. As I got a mile from the truck, my legs and ass were cramping up and I swear I wasn't sure I was going to make it! Not even joking!, but I did and saw General Ursus still there and waiting for me! hahaha
(https://i.imgur.com/mpiiRXd.jpg)
I made may more stops along the way, but spent a lot more time on that hike then I was planning. I guess the other stops will have to wait for another day. I spent 6+ hours on those two hikes alone!
Multiple stops along the way just to stretch my aching legs.
Last time I was here (Actually stopped to look) was in 1995 with my buddy Todd.
(https://i.imgur.com/pNgh8ch.jpg)
Still looks the same even though I was half the age I was in this picture. Hahahahaha
(https://i.imgur.com/YXCKtwl.jpg)
I was hoping to see the Pictographs, but I was running out of time. I stopped for a beer and to pay a quick homage to the desert gods for getting me out without incident.
(https://i.imgur.com/2eiwbbM.jpg)
I continued through Julian, through Cuyamaca and returned home about 12 hours after i set out.
(https://i.imgur.com/EIDugcL.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/AWpfSI6.jpg)
Oh, I forgot about this creepy ass place. I saw it surrounded by barbed wire and fencing.
(https://i.imgur.com/Zyb86Wz.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Z8biKHz.jpg)
I saw the back gate chain broken and took a quick peak in.
(https://i.imgur.com/IT2bO6c.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/GcuZDjr.jpg)
MOTHER f@ckER! I started to swing the door open and saw some messy stuff including a sleeping bag and swear I saw a head at the end of the sleeping bag! I don't know if it was a tweaker or a dead person, but I split fast as possible. I didn't smell anything dead, so figured it might have been a tweaker. Either way, I was gone!
(https://i.imgur.com/rjRvbS3.jpg)
Heebie Jeebies!
That was it. Made it home and it was an incredible drive! Mind, Soul and body were cleaned in the best way!
(https://i.imgur.com/Po5MSmW.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Vfgj8Rs.jpg)
Thanks for reading!
Good trip.
Good thing you had the shank with you, Tweakers are unpredictable ??? Nice outing to cleanse the mind, cool pics too 8)
Cool trip. I think it's been 5 cars ago since my last "drive".
Looks like a great road trip!
Ranger or Border patrol told me those holes are from Kit foxes. They see them during their patrols.
Cool trip, I was feeling that Hills Have Eyes vibe from those pics as well.
Thanks guys. It was a great small local road trip.
: spideyjg November 04, 2020, 07:33:10 p
Ranger or Border patrol told me those holes are from Kit foxes. They see them during their patrols.
That makes sense. I saw quite a few of them.