Midnight Sun

Heroic adventures are the adventures that you look back on and think “Man, glad I made it through that one… that was awesome!”. Example: Snowshoeing up the Cache La Poudre River in Colorado in March when you are 20 or 21, it’s snowing and you’re sleeping under a tarp in a depression dug in the snow and drinking cowboy coffee in the morning. Age-appropriate heroic adventures are renting an RV, dry camping in very sparsely populated national park campground at Joshua Tree (here is the heroic part…) winds blowing out of the north at up to 30 knots, gusting to 35 knots, air temperature at night hovering in the mid-30’s, lots of snow visible on San Gorgonio and San Jacinto Mountauins and the RV house battery powering the fan on the propane heater indicating that it had been a long day and it was taking the rest of the night off. To add to the excitement, the RV was a small class B coach on a Dodge Ram van chassis so there was only a 4-gallon cassette toilet on board, and we used the NP pit toilets for the majority of our waste disposal activities. We were not sure if the lack of odor in the facility was due to incredible engineering or if everything down in the hole was frozen. I believe it was engineering since the venting on that hole was phenomenal, increasing in intensity with each wind gust. It was the opposite of the nice warm Japanese bidet experience. However, as in real life heroic adventures, everything looked much better each morning thanks to our Keurig coffee maker brew with Kahlua and or Baileys to help warm up the morning.

But I digress. We spent three nights camping at Jumbo Rocks in Joshua Tree in a largely empty primitive campground surrounded by monzogranite everywhere that we looked. In case it is not obvious yet…. I am in awe of this place. Almost as much as Mesa Verde. JT is a geologist Mecca and now, finally after almost 48 years, I do know the answer to the question of why a granite is a granite.

I had initially started the planning on this adventure thinking that we could sleep in a tent, or alternatively (after a very short discussion with my better half), I could sleep in a tent and Joni could sleep in an RV. Luckily, high wind warnings and the forecast of butt numbing cold gave me a gracious way out of that heroic foolishness and the tent stayed home.

We did get a couple of hikes in during the trip so there are pictures below. Notice that the sun was out all day, and the stars (including the Milky Way and every airplane flying into the LA Basin) were all visible at night. The downside was the wind, which did moderate on Wednesday during the day but came back with a gusty vengeance around 3:00 AM on Thursday morning.

I did cut way back on the number of pictures include (no… really, I did!). As I told Joni, you can only take so many pictures of really odd-looking granite.

A reconnaissance trip south to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. 600,000 acres of desert geology, wildlife and vegetation. It is about 84- miles/1.5 hours south with a lot of those miles along the west side of the Salton Sea. Great badlands, dry lakes, mountains and vegetation. Trip also took us through the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicle Recreation Area (SVRA) which is 86,000 acres of open area for off-road recreation. More interestingly, camping is allowed in the entire area (no services-boondocking) with no fees for up to 30-days/year.

The San Jacinto Fault runs through the eastern portion of the park and the Elsinore Fault is visible in the western portions of the park. There is good reason to think that the San Jacinto Fault is replacing the San Andreas Fault in this area as the primary displacement fault. The San Andreas has been locked in the vicinity of the Big Bend and the San Jacinto has been more active. However, in any given year, the Coachella Valley/Imperial Valley area experiences up to 11,000 earthquakes (most not noticeable) as the whole area shifts during the Gulf of California rifting and associated downdrop of this area. The only thing that keeps the water from the Gulf of California from inundating the Imperial and Coachella Valleys is a 40-foot high delta built up at the discharge of the Colorado River. Once that goes (and it will) Palm Springs and the entire area may become coastal communities.

A short (1.9 – mile loop) with a 328-foot elevation gain with a great waterfall and pool at the top of the loop. This is the third of four Indian Canyons in the San Jacinto Mountains just west of Palm Springs/Palm Desert. Lily had on her purple crocs for the journey and teamed up with a bunch of other kids to frolic in the pool beneath the falls. Very crowded trail since it was a holiday week, but still a great experience. More tortured rock along the Palm Canyon Fault with great outcrops of desert varnished rock.

A relatively easy 3.2 mile out and back with just over 150 feet of elevation gain for a Christmas Eve hike. Temperature was in the mid 70’s (F) and there was a lovely breeze from the east-southeast. Kiara and Jax were along, and we had a great hike. Not a lot of hikes allow dogs but this one does. A lot of dogs on the trail for Jax to meet, greet and sniff.

The Mission Creek strand of the San Andreas fault is one of up to six strands that it splits into along this part of the fault. The current thinking is that the Mission Creek Strand has had the most movement over the last 5 to 6 million years. Some of the later pictures in the collection show the tortured rock in the western portion of the Creek. Mission Creek itself is intermittent flowing in some areas and not in others due to water movement up along the fault traces and then infiltrating and disappearing into the stream bed.

Merry Christmas to all and a Happier New Year.

After reconnoitering with Joy and Larry, we decided that today’s hike would be Split Rock Trail, a 2-mile loop near Jumbo Rock and Skull Rock. It was a little cooler than in October with temps in the high 40’s to low 50’s. I picked a trail with no shade and the sun helped us stay warm while hiking. A great trail, with only a couple of sections not well marked that Joni was able to navigate as the lead. As always, I way overdid the number of photos, but the granite and pegmatites were just awesome along with the regular Joshua Tree scenery.

Another reconnaissance hike in the Indian Canyons. A 1-mile loop that Joni and I had on our list. Better yet, got to do it with Mollie, Olive and Bear! I keep using the same superlatives over and over so refer back to previous posts. Not overly crowded for a Black Friday hike! Finished with a stop at La Michoacana for some ice cream!

Another spot on the list of places to visit. Mollie, Olive and Bear here to enjoy it with us. A short 25-minute drive from Taos Ct. and we were there. Nice trails – a little crowded on the day before Thanksgiving. Great hike thorough the desert and back through the date palm grove. Must be right along the Mission Creek Strand of the San Andreas Fault. Then lunch at Bubba’s!