Feb 9, 2014: Painted Canyon

More canyons to explore today. Some wide, some narrow:

 

 

 

 

I was amazed to see that feral bees abound.

At low elevation, the canyon was warm at night, so I continued to play with my camera.

 

 

Feb 8, 2014: Painted Canyon

This is the Painted Canyon Trailhead. Busy during the day but ours alone from late afternoon until the next morning.

We got up early to catch the morning light.

A wonderful echo chamber in which to practice our recorders.

Feb 7, 2014: Painted Canyon

The road to Painted Canyon was unpaved, washboard sand. Driving 4 miles on it shook us so hard that several cabinet doors in the trailer opened and the contents dumped out. Furthermore, a metal hinge on one of the cabinet doors actually tore apart!

 

 

It wasn’t until the morning after our late arrival that we could see the beauty of our surroundings. We spend the day hiking through the canyons, and climbed up to the ridge tops between them.

Part of the trail required climbing ladders.

 

The evening light, bouncing off the orange an purple tinted canyon walls enhanced the lighting of our photos.

Feb 6, 2014: Santa Rosa Mountain Switchbacks

 

The high winds and a bit of over night rain in the mountains surprised us. A twisty road led our descent from the Santa Rosa Mountains to the desert floor.

Feb 5, 2014: Pinyon Flats BLM Campground

These images are from a hike on Pinyon Flats.

Feb 4, 2014 Palm Springs and Pinyon Flat

Now in Palm Springs, it finally feels like we have arrived at our main destination. We arrive at the first backcountry camp area of our trip just at sunset.

 

Feb 3, 2014 Jurupa County Park, Southern California

We spent one night at Jurupa Canyon County Park—a pretty but very sanitized camping experience. We did, however, enjoy taking showers (finally) and doing a laundry.

Feb 2, 2014 Kern County Campground

We skirted around LA to spend a night at a campground we had visited twice last year—Kern River County Park.

Feb 1. 2014 University of California, Berkeley

 

Our first destination was University of California, Berkeley where our niece, Mira, is a freshman. (Lower left of image, next to Ann). Mira took us on a tour of the campus which included climbing the hills overlooking UCB and the town of Berkeley. San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge could be seen in the distance.

Jan 30, 2014 Interstate 5 near Mt Shasta and on down the road

Mt. Shasta from I-5

It has taken more than a week on the road to post my first blog entry. Only now does it feel like our camping trip is underway. We have spent many boring hours of driving through bleak and gray landscapes, punctuated by tense moments in heavy rain towing our trailer alongside semi-trucks.