Gaviota Wind Caves

Had a nice hike up to the Gaviota wind caves yesterday. Ironically, it was sunny and warm up there, and cloudy and cool here. Usually it is windy and freakin' cold in Gaviota.

It was an easy hike, and purty.

View from up there.

The top cave. Tunnel, actually!

See the round hole at the top? That was the top tunnel.

Cool geology!

Just Joshing!

Joshua Tree!  Another of America's treasures, and I got to enjoy it again last weekend.  I hadn't been for a couple years, so when I had a free weekend, I jumped at the chance!

The beginning of the trip was a little rough, literally.  At about 4:00pm, the car shuddered a little. What the....?  I looked at my dash and noticed the "Check Engine" light had gone on.  Oh, no!  I immediately pulled off the freeway to Middle of Nowhere, California. I asked around for a mechanic, and was pointed to a garage with really friendly folks.

By the time I got there, it was 30 minutes before closing, and they were full o' cars to tend to. But when they heard my predicament, Phillip came out to help right away.  A sensor that relies on oil pressure had been triggered. Phillip checked the oil: nothing showing. He asked about when I had my oil changed. Just a couple months ago. Any leaks? Not that I know of.

He put oil in, and it took 3 and a half quarts. Its capacity is 4 and a half quarts. He put it on the rack. No leaks. Conclusion: at my last oil "change," no oil had been replaced!

Thank goodness the consequences weren't worse!  And amazing that it lasted this long! I've been driving all over the Southwest with no oil!

Relieved, I hit the road again, and had spent only an hour getting the car repaired. The sun was setting as I zoomed into Twentynine Palms, so I headed on into the park. 

I pulled into a campground to wait till dark so I could star-gaze for a few minutes. A group of four young men retured to their campground, made a fire, and turned on--what else?--U2's Joshua Tree. Perfect! I listened to my favey album from my favey band and gazed up for a while, thoroughly enjoying my first evening.

The following morning, I headed back. Two roadrunners and a jack-rabbit later, I was hiking.

I walked around Skull Rock, through the Hidden Valley, up Ryan Mountain, over to Arch Rock, passed by Cap Rock and trekked to Forty-Nine Palms Oasis. I figured I hiked about 9-10 miles all told.  I was TIRED by the end!

I used my very cool Urbanspoon app to find a wonderful Thai restaurant in the nearby town of Joshua Tree.  Wonderful, yummy dinner! My day was complete!

Here are pictures!

Look carefull in the middle: Mr. Roadrunner!

I love the tenacity of life!

Live Oak picnic area. Here grows a big oak tree in the middle of the desert! It bore lots of huge acorns, which the birds loved.

The bigger they come, the harder they fall.

Forty-Nine Palms Oasis

A pool at the Oasis

The Fiftieth Palm trying hard!

A fire burned the trunks of these palms but they are healthy.

Climbers enjoy these rocks!

Made it! The elevation gain was 1100 feet. Nice hike!

I love the dikes through the monzogranite.

What are you waiting for? Get on Interstate 10 and get to Joshua Tree!

ROAD TRIP! Part 6

Part 6:  Monday: Going Home.  
The final installment.  Scroll down for earlier posts.


We hit the road bright 'n' early Monday morning at 8:00!  As we were driving past Bandelier on Highway 4, we noticed these gentlemen grazing.  We stopped to say hello.

Mule Deer bucks.  Photo by Kevin

 Right across the road--I just happened to look out the other window--these ladies were grazing.  We got to see two species of cervidae without moving an inch!

Elk cows

We drove through the Jemez to enjoy the beautiful geology.  We stopped and got out a couple times to root around for fossils.  Kevin found some petrified sticks.

Gosh!  Beautiful!

Kevin really wanted to explore some deposits of the Chinle formation, where he was sure he'd find an intact dinosaur skeleton.  We turned off the road to the White Mesa Bike Trail.  How beautiful were the hills!  We stopped to poke around.  I found an interesting rock right away.  It didn't look like all the other rocks around.  I decided it might be a dinosaur bone!  I'll send it to school with Kevin to ask his professors.  Emily found a piece of petrified wood.  It was fun.

The resident bovines wondered who the visitors were.

Though no-one spotted a millions-year-old femur sticking out, we enjoyed looking around.  We hit the road again and stopped for lunch in Albuquerque.

After lunch, we stopped at Petroglyphs National Monument.  Another National Park to add to my list!  It was windy and cool, so we spent a little while and then hit the road again.

When we left Albuquerque, it was about 2pm!  Six hours after we had left White Rock!

We were behind schedule, but I really, really wanted to make it to El Morro National Monument.  I drove like a mad-woman toward the park as the sun sank lower in the sky.  We finally arrived at 3:50pm. The sign read, "Trails close at 4pm."  Aaaack!

We jogged into the Visitors' Center and were told that we were just in time to hit the trail along Inscription Rock, but too late for the Headland trail, but it was closed due to snow an ice anyway.  We learned a little about the history of New Mexico while reading about the people who carved their names here!

The beautitful sandstone cliffs of El Morro

Why they came: the water hole

What a cute couple!

Petroglyphs were among the inscriptions.

We wondered how long it took Mr. Long to carve his signature so beautifully!

We left just as the moon was rising.

It was 5:00 pm by the time we left, with about 425 miles to go before our destination:  Needles, CA.  We wanted to spend as little time and money as possible in Arizona.  What else was there to do Monday night, anyway?  We hit the road and never looked back.

The next day, it was time to go home. We made it in a few hours and I was sooooo tired by the end.  Ready to be out. of. the. car.

It was a wonderful road trip, the whole way!  W00t!