Kearsarge Pass

Kearsarge Pass is an eloquent way to see the Earth. There is something very special about the view from the top. It will make a fool adore the ground he walks on and the Earth he inhabits. Demanding respect, this trail is arduous and time consuming but well worth the work. Only feet from the trail you can see some of the world's most beautiful alpine lakes, it's a real treasure to be lucky enough to lay eyes on. The adjacent photo features Heart Lake, one of the trail's many pristine Alpine Lakes.

The trail is located in "Onion Valley" in John Muir Wilderness, a 13 miles drive from the lovely town of Independence, California. If you stay the night, I highly recommend staying at Ray's Den, the best lodging experience West of Death Valley. The place is spotless, you'll get a full breakfast in the morning, it's totally affordable and Linda (the proprietor) is the a wonderfully sweet lady.



The drive up Onion Valley Road is awesome. The views are spectacular. If you have fears of heights, this road (and trail) is not for you! You will begin the trail at around 9,189 feet and climb to 11,760 feet. The trail is relatively easy in the beginning, with lots of switchbacks being the only pain in the ass.

The trail is 4 miles, one way. It should take you about 5-6 hours or so. It's a huge elevation/temperature change so make sure to bring some layers because you will need it. We went in August and at the summit I was pretty cold. I also got quite sunburned from being so close to the sun! So bring some sunscreen, if you care about that stuff. Expect a tough time the last miles, give or take. It's a strenuous uphill that offers no breaks. I run daily and this was still tough on my legs. The photo below is of the last stretch. If you look closely you can see the small trail running alongside the mountain.


The summit is just awesome. Looking down into King's Canyon, I felt more like I was in a sci-fi movie. There were some fires burning in the canyon which created a smoky/misty look that impaired our view. But nonetheless, breathtaking.



We plowed our way down and made it back down the trail in no time. We had to pass 'cheaper by the dozen' along the way down. Too many children!
This was a wonderful late August hike. Enjoy!

Bull Canyon (Mojave National Preserve)

We went to Bull Canyon the other weekend. I think it was Bull Canyon. We were actually supposed to hike up to Cima Dome, but we had a change of plans after speaking to a park ranger who advised against the road in a KIA. Actually, we might have been a bit lazy too because we normally could care less what the quality of the road is or isn't. We didn't get much sleep the previous night because the train was so loud. Lots of squeaking and squealing. Normally, I LOVE the sound of trains but this sounded like the train was actually being tortured.

So the hike had us beginning near Kelso Dunes rd. From there, we went to Pipeline rd. And from there we just 'trail-blazed' and headed east (I hate that word but it makes us sound really bad-ass). It was a nice feeling knowing you are completely alone, there's no trail full of people. I felt really human. I like feeling human. Living in the world of advertising and consumerism, it's a break to be able to be out and about and away from all the hustle and noise.

After drifting on a beautiful 'Lacustrine plain' for a bit (the whole area was at one time submerged underwater), we headed south towards the canyon. Along the way we found a lot of bones. Kind of macabre, but I thought they were fun! They were fairly big in size and I even kept one that I plan on varnishing. There were lots of beautiful rocks out there, too. This area had previously seen heavy volcanic activity, so the rocks were primarily igneous and dark colored. Lots of exposed rock surfaces and odd shaped formations.

The canyon was (mostly) dry, expect for a few spots higher up where we saw colorful green lichen on some boulders. The canyon is carved mostly by sediments flowing down the mountain. The fluvial and alluvial process are abundant here, comparable to Death Valley.

There were lots of boulders to scramble on and about and it was relatively moderate hiking material. You just need to be comfortable with your own internal compass, or at least-have an internal compass. You could buy a GPS to simplify matters.

The view from atop one of the canyon's mid way was breath taking. The views of crusty, jagged and dark New York Mountains to your north and craggy Providence Mountains to the south, smooth and soothing Kelso Dunes straight straight west and the lava beds of Cima Dome, made for overwhelming sights. This place is ridden with the talent of only a god's architect.

As far as wildlife, there was a lot of it in this canyon, but I am guessing it's all nocturnal. The combination of bones, paw/hoof prints, water and the shielding canyon itself makes for easy living for many animals. I repeatedly had a feeling I was being watched. This could just be my natural inclination to paranoia, but I don't know. I felt like something above the canyon was looking down and following our presence. I tell you this, I would not camp in that canyon.

Photos by Steve Taylor.

Salvation Mountain

I went to Salvation Mountain this weekend. We had perfect weather throughout Southern California and it was especially felt here in the Imperial Valley desert. We drove through the agricultural Mecca (literally, Mecca, California) and through some other lonely communities on our way. While driving through Mecca, I began to understand why the Salton Sea is the way it is. Because of it's fertile soil and agricultural wealth, there's a lot of run-ff into the Salton Sea. I am not saying it's in bad shape or it's in good shape (there is a lot of controversy surrounding this), but it's safe to say it's anthropogenically induced. Of course, we had to stop at Bombay Beach and grab some California riviera breeze. I always feel kinda bad when I stop there. I don't want the few people left in that community to think I am preforming some kind of 'class tourism' or something. I am not better, no worse. I just like to stop and check it out. It provides me a place to think and bird watch, too. It is an interesting place, though. There is a great movie on the Plagues and Pleasures of The Salton Sea . Leonard Knight is in it as well. It's definitely worth watching.

Oftentimes when I go out to the desert, I am going there in hopes of meeting some locals and listening to their wisdom, in the form of profanity or not, it's all good. I have been to Salvation Mountain before, and Leonard blessed us with some storytelling, which he is very talented at. The place was booming this time around! There were so many people. I was happy to see Leonard, happy, and delighted to show his art to interested strangers and passerby's.

I went there mainly to get a picture of Leonard, smiling. To me, there is nothing in the world quite like a good smile. Smiles are a big deal to me. I can't describe it, but I can feel it. It has an energy and an honesty. I felt that since the first time I had met Leonard, and was delighted to personally be able to grab a shot of his smile this weekend. His Mountain is in great shape and looks wonderful. He really wants everyone in the world to know they are loved and they are special. You can see this everywhere on the Mountain and the dugouts throughout. I am so happy we made it to see this gentle, hard working and kind man.

Back Up A Bit...To Panamint City

One of my BEST HIKES EVER was taken recently, this was to Panamint City, California. Panamint is located right on the edge of the Death Valley National Park boundary in the Panamint Mountain range. The history of this old town is rich, and will hopefully stay that way as it's an 8 mile hike up the canyon into a well preserved town. Michel Diggonet wrote a series of excellent and informative books about hiking in Death Valley. I have never read a more thorough book in my life. You can find it here.

The vegetation is lush, dense and we did a lot of weed whacking. It's not your typical Death Valley adventure because of the elevation gain. I remember as we kept hiking through the canyons, when we would get to another turn I'd hope to see the infamous smokestacks, but nada. It really was a long and tiring hike. Lots of narrows, canyons, and really wet. Once you begin this hike, let go of the commitment to stay dry. It's not gonna happen. But totally worth every wet, mushy, step. We arrived at the trail head by noon. It really isn't necessary to drive a 4 wheel vehicle up there, just go slow. Fairly smooth drive. We first passed the town/village of Ballarat (Rock wasn't home) and then made our way up the road. It was a beautiful November day. Crisp air and deep blue skies.



As we hiked, the terrain changed from low desert to cold desert. That's one of my favorite aspects of Death Valley, you begin to feel the transition from Mojave to Great Basin. By the time we arrived to the Panamint Hilton (one of the remaining cabins up there) the temperature must have been in the mid fifties. There were a few older men and women from some sort of hiking club, I think. They were having out on the porch and invited us to come in and check it out. They advised the other cabin up the hill might be better for sleeping in. While they cooked on fire, we headed up to check the cabin out. It was cool shit! There was a stove, sink, two beds, a 'porch' and a fire pit. We made some dinner at sunset and called it a night.



While trying to sleep, I couldn't help but hear a scratching behind my head. This became increasingly difficult to stand. It was a rat or mouse, and it was just getting up for its version of day. It continued all night long. It was tough to fall asleep to. Certainly not a magic moment from this trip.

The next morning, I woke up tired, cold and hungry! There was no caffeine for hundreds of miles, literally, and I was kinda bummed I didn't bring any. But alas! Some SWEET ANGEL OF GOD left a Starbucks VIA on the counter top! They will never know how happy that made me. Big smile!



I realize how yuppie that sounded, but seriously, I would have drank any coffee, 8 O'clock, Jolt, whatever. I'm not cool enough to know what desert ephedra looks like or how to consume it, plus it's not as satisfying as plain old caffeine. The coffee was really good. I mixed it in my water jug and... voila!



The best was saved for last. As we were heading down the road on Sunday afternoon, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a heard of Big Horn Sheep! I really wanted to see burro's as I heard they were plentiful in that area, but the sheep were so bad-ass! I was thoroughly satisfied with this hike and am looking forward to doing it again this winter, in the snow.





Because I like storytelling, here's a story if you care.


Steve Taylor is awesome. But man did he fuck up when we first met. So a few months into our relationship (about 5 years or more ago) he's like, "Wanna hike Mt. Whitney?" Ooohhh, bad-ass. Before this, I hadn't hiked more than 1/2 mile in Mountain Park, stoned out of my mind. He definitely romanticized it, and now I don't blame him. The truth is, I didn't really wanna hike that shit. I didn't really care about hiking. The images of hippies and "gear" and all that crap turned me off so bad. But I did and I was so horribly prepared it's comical. We arrived late in the day for Mt. Whitney standards. I had no gloves, no warm layers on, but I did have hiking shoes that Steve bought me the day before (which I still have). Being that we drove through the low(er) desert to get there, I assumed it would be the same temperature as it was on the ride there. I was so wrong.

It was winter, there was a lot of snow on this mountain. Yet we pushed on. I was so cold, but so intimidated to say anything, it was just terrible and hysterical at the same time. There was really no one else hiking and we could not see any distinguished trail. I didn't know any better so we carried on.

About two-thirds of the way up (that's a guess because we really had no clue), or 6 hours in, the snow became unbearable. It was literally up to our shoulders. I thought I was being a kick-ass hiker it was ON, fuck with me. I had hiking poles to hold me through the snow. Steve gave me some gloves, hell yeah! But I began to wonder, where was everybody?

So Cliffhanger & Die-hard decided to stop for a bit. We needed to figure out where the hell we were cause we were getting worried about going over a crevasse (actually, I wasn't getting worried because I was too stupid to have any knowledge of crevasse's in the first place). I remember looking to my far right and seeing white snow, blanketing the mountain and just two white lines of pressed 'powder', indicating some tweeker skied his crazy ass down the mountain. I thought, "Who the fuck?"

So we realize we should probably just settle in for the night. In a ONE PERSON TENT possibly on a crevasse. Die-hard starts to build a campfire, I take a pair of pants off and they turn to ice moments after I threw them over the tree branch. ICICLES, I swear.

We then try to cram THE TWO of ourselves into this tiny one person tent and I couldn't take it. I take a few Tylenol PM to try to help me sleep. Then, I realize this is so awful and uncomfortable and freezing and I'm never gonna sleep.

We head down, on ice, in the middle of the night. I am fucked up off sedatives, Steve has no clue where we are and the moon carried us safely down after hours of hiking on ice. We checked into the shitiest motel on the Lone Pine strip (actually, they're not that bad) and it was one of the best moments ever.

So this is how my love affair began with the desert. Albeit, high desert style at first, but after this trip, my life was never the same.

Hello!

This is why it's here-I can consume my down time at work (there's a lot of it right now) while doing something I love, day dreaming about my desert travels! It is my hope that this blog will serve to enhance your knowledge and the quality of your your travels while simultaneously allowing me to reconnoiter with some old (and new) memories.
<-Goldfield, NV