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tugrikGiven the sheer number of friends-lists entries that people have to read just to keep up every day, I'll keep my verbosity to a minimum. (as for the title: Picture/Narration ratio)
Friday night was a flat-out night run to Mom-Of-Revar's place in Boron, CA. Arrived at 2:30a after much traffic. Saturday was a trip to the Borax mines, a visit to the Boron Rock Show, a blip down to Lancaster for wildflower-rompings, dinner at Chipotle (the restaurant, not the roomie) and some fun photographing minerals. Sunday was an exceptional brunch at Domingo's (the mexican restaurant where every space shuttle crew that lands in Edwards has eaten at) and a very fun, circuitous route home. The yellow line on the map above shows our route through the Mojave Desert, Lancaster, the forests up on the Angeles Crest, and down through the Carrizo Plains National Monument area. The map ends at Paseo Robles because the rest is just 150 boring miles of Highway 101 home. If you really want, look at the bigger view.
The areas highlit on the map are main spots we stopped to take photos. You can find zoom-ins of the exact routes here if you want to retrace our steps someday. An official freakton of raw pics is of course here on the imageserver to paw through. I'll let Revar cover the rock show, mine and around-Boron pictures, and I'll focus on the trip back. On with the show!
The storm coming in over the windmills was a wonderful sight. We had to race out of there via some heavily gullied dirt-roads. Washes, gullies, arroyos... whatever you want to call them, they're dangerous to be in when the rains are coming down. Busting the Element around through the twin-track of the desert was just way too much fun, if a bit risky. The little jail we've got no idea about. It was just there. Revar found a vaccum tube inside of it, of all strange things.
Revar spotted a grove of "mountain type" Joshua trees. A little dualtrack and we were in the middle of them. Very pretty. Very sharp.
Travelling along Avenue D we turned off onto a dirth path following the power lines. A little snuffling about brought us to an Offroad Recreational Vehicle area with some folks out playing on it. It was fun trying to drive up hills meant for motorcross bikes. The wind up here was a good 25+mph; very enjoyable! This is also where we got to see our first few wildflowers. I thought it was a lot of them... simply because I'd not seen the preserve we went to next.
Between the ORV area and finally getting into the California Poppy Preserve we saw more flowers than I've ever seen in one place. I now know what 'California Gold' means. Even though they were closed due to the poor weather, there was highway cone orange, flickering yellow, and patches of purple as far as you could see. Simply wow. They got thicker as we got closer to the center of the poppy preserve -- but they were everywhere for miles beyond the fences. The whole Antelope Valley area was lit up.
Following 138 uphill leads to the Tehon Pass, where I-5 winds past Gorman. The hills were like an artist's palette of watercolor pastels. The muted light through the light rain and misty air only helped the soft feel of the pass. I'd been through here on I-5 dozens of times, but I'd never seen this. How many times did I just blaze by at 95mph and simply not notice? We actually got on I-5 for about 2 miles before continuing down the western side into the heavily forested mountains.
This wasn't really a stop. This entire downhill slope, taking us from 6500 down to 2500ft over a 40+ mile stretch of twists and turns really had no safe place to stop. It was shrouded in and out by wandering little rain-bursts. The entire time I was driving this road I couldn't stop thinking how incredible this would be on a motorcycle; it's just that kind of road. I managed to find a single safe turn-off and had Revar snap a picture. For my motorcycling friends: the asphalt is well cared for and smooth. The turns are wide and sweeping, with only a few hairpins to keep you on your toes. The only real problem will be the vertigo a few of the 3000'+-foot canyon vistas might give you . The road edge is nowhere near the dropoffs, but there are simply parts that give you views which will make you feel veeeeery small.
Carrizo Plain is a place that I'm now under a moral imperative to bring my R1150-GS-ADV motorcycle to. I swear the bike was designed for places like this. The tiny dirt-roads zig-zag back and forth in a playfully 3-D way, repeatedly leaping across the San Andreas fault. It's like playing Pacific-Plate/Continental-Plate hopscotch. For the two+ hours we were in Carrizo we saw maybe 3 cars. It's so huge and so empty it makes the playa of Burning Man feel downright 'burb-ish. Some other journal entry when I'm less picture-prone and more thoughtful I'll try to describe this place and the affects it (and the weather at the time) had on me.
I didn't get many pictures in Carrizo. It's one of those places that was more worth experiencing than it was recording. Next time I'll be better with the camera.
We have a smattering of sunset pictures and a few things up closer to Paseo Robles, but they're all in .raw format on Revar's HD and not yet available to me for processing/posting. I'm sure Revar's post (if any) will fill in the gaps on mine. Remember: if you go directly to the imageserver page for this trip you'll find more photos than are on this page.
This weekend really mellowed me out. It was good.
Friday night was a flat-out night run to Mom-Of-Revar's place in Boron, CA. Arrived at 2:30a after much traffic. Saturday was a trip to the Borax mines, a visit to the Boron Rock Show, a blip down to Lancaster for wildflower-rompings, dinner at Chipotle (the restaurant, not the roomie) and some fun photographing minerals. Sunday was an exceptional brunch at Domingo's (the mexican restaurant where every space shuttle crew that lands in Edwards has eaten at) and a very fun, circuitous route home. The yellow line on the map above shows our route through the Mojave Desert, Lancaster, the forests up on the Angeles Crest, and down through the Carrizo Plains National Monument area. The map ends at Paseo Robles because the rest is just 150 boring miles of Highway 101 home. If you really want, look at the bigger view.
The areas highlit on the map are main spots we stopped to take photos. You can find zoom-ins of the exact routes here if you want to retrace our steps someday. An official freakton of raw pics is of course here on the imageserver to paw through. I'll let Revar cover the rock show, mine and around-Boron pictures, and I'll focus on the trip back. On with the show!
Stop 1: Windmills
The storm coming in over the windmills was a wonderful sight. We had to race out of there via some heavily gullied dirt-roads. Washes, gullies, arroyos... whatever you want to call them, they're dangerous to be in when the rains are coming down. Busting the Element around through the twin-track of the desert was just way too much fun, if a bit risky. The little jail we've got no idea about. It was just there. Revar found a vaccum tube inside of it, of all strange things.
Stop 2: Joshua Grove
Revar spotted a grove of "mountain type" Joshua trees. A little dualtrack and we were in the middle of them. Very pretty. Very sharp.
Stop 3: ORV area
Travelling along Avenue D we turned off onto a dirth path following the power lines. A little snuffling about brought us to an Offroad Recreational Vehicle area with some folks out playing on it. It was fun trying to drive up hills meant for motorcross bikes. The wind up here was a good 25+mph; very enjoyable! This is also where we got to see our first few wildflowers. I thought it was a lot of them... simply because I'd not seen the preserve we went to next.
Stop 4: Poppies! Poppies. poppies...
Between the ORV area and finally getting into the California Poppy Preserve we saw more flowers than I've ever seen in one place. I now know what 'California Gold' means. Even though they were closed due to the poor weather, there was highway cone orange, flickering yellow, and patches of purple as far as you could see. Simply wow. They got thicker as we got closer to the center of the poppy preserve -- but they were everywhere for miles beyond the fences. The whole Antelope Valley area was lit up.
Stop 5: Gorman / Tehon Pass
Following 138 uphill leads to the Tehon Pass, where I-5 winds past Gorman. The hills were like an artist's palette of watercolor pastels. The muted light through the light rain and misty air only helped the soft feel of the pass. I'd been through here on I-5 dozens of times, but I'd never seen this. How many times did I just blaze by at 95mph and simply not notice? We actually got on I-5 for about 2 miles before continuing down the western side into the heavily forested mountains.
Stop 6: Cerro Noroeste Road
This wasn't really a stop. This entire downhill slope, taking us from 6500 down to 2500ft over a 40+ mile stretch of twists and turns really had no safe place to stop. It was shrouded in and out by wandering little rain-bursts. The entire time I was driving this road I couldn't stop thinking how incredible this would be on a motorcycle; it's just that kind of road. I managed to find a single safe turn-off and had Revar snap a picture. For my motorcycling friends: the asphalt is well cared for and smooth. The turns are wide and sweeping, with only a few hairpins to keep you on your toes. The only real problem will be the vertigo a few of the 3000'+-foot canyon vistas might give you . The road edge is nowhere near the dropoffs, but there are simply parts that give you views which will make you feel veeeeery small.
Final roadside stop: Carrizo Plain National Monument
Carrizo Plain is a place that I'm now under a moral imperative to bring my R1150-GS-ADV motorcycle to. I swear the bike was designed for places like this. The tiny dirt-roads zig-zag back and forth in a playfully 3-D way, repeatedly leaping across the San Andreas fault. It's like playing Pacific-Plate/Continental-Plate hopscotch. For the two+ hours we were in Carrizo we saw maybe 3 cars. It's so huge and so empty it makes the playa of Burning Man feel downright 'burb-ish. Some other journal entry when I'm less picture-prone and more thoughtful I'll try to describe this place and the affects it (and the weather at the time) had on me.
I didn't get many pictures in Carrizo. It's one of those places that was more worth experiencing than it was recording. Next time I'll be better with the camera.
Homeward bound
We have a smattering of sunset pictures and a few things up closer to Paseo Robles, but they're all in .raw format on Revar's HD and not yet available to me for processing/posting. I'm sure Revar's post (if any) will fill in the gaps on mine. Remember: if you go directly to the imageserver page for this trip you'll find more photos than are on this page.
This weekend really mellowed me out. It was good.
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-15 07:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-15 10:50 am (UTC)The Poppy Preserve
Date: 2003-04-15 09:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-15 01:26 pm (UTC)