5 Days in the Desert travelog #13
Kelso, CA - Sun, 25 Dec 2022, 2pmIn the middle of the Mojave National Preserve, in the middle of the desert, is a beautiful train station. It was built in 1924 in a Spanish Revival style. ...So it looks like a certain building memorialized in a classic, classic rock song. Trains still pass by on the active rails, ( Read more... )

5 Days in the Desert travelog #12
Kelso, CA - Sun, 25 Dec 2022, 12pm

In my previous blog about hiking Kelso Dunes I expressed our doubt about whether we'd make it all the way to the top. Well, we pushed through. Hawk ultimately did stop a bit short of the top but I went all the way. The top of the tallest dune is 650 feet above the base. Here are ( Read more... )

5 Days in the Desert travelog #11
Kelso, CA - Sun, 25 Dec 2022, 11:30am

It's Christmas! And if you're like us and don't celebrate Christmas you find something else fun to do instead. For us that's going hiking. Especially somewhere warm. How about a desert? We're in the Mojave Desert of California this Christmas. Our Christmas morning hike is at ( Read more... )

5 Days in the Desert travelog #8
Mojave Preserve, CA - Sat, 24 Dec 2022, 5pm

"It's a short hike," the ranger said. We weren't that interested. "It's in Banshee Canyon," she added. That got our attention. When she added, "And you have to climb rings blasted in the rock in the steepest spots," we were sold.

The first two-thirds of the hike ( ( Read more... )

5 Days in the Desert travelog #7
Mojave Preserve, CA - Sat, 24 Dec 2022, 4:15pm

This afternoon we hiked the Rings Trail at Banshee Canyon in Mojave National Preserve. We did it as a two-fer after hiking at Amboy Crater earlier in the day.

As metal as this hike's name sounds (Banshee Canyon? Sign me up!) it was actually our second choice for an ( Read more... )

5 Days in the Desert travelog #6
Amboy, CA - Sat, 24 Dec 2022, 12:30pm

In my previous blog I wrote about driving to Amboy Crater in the Mojave Desert. ...Well, driving there and then hiking the first mile or so up to its base. From there it was up, up, up to the top.


( Read more... )

5 Days in the Desert travelog #4
Amboy, CA - Sat, 24 Dec 2022, 11am

This morning we got out for our first hike of our 5 Days in the Desert trip. After breakfast at Del Taco #3 we headed east on I-15 to the I-40 split. Barstow is actually where Interstate 40 starts- or ends, depending on your perspective. The other end is at the Atlantic Ocean, in ( Read more... )

It's winter recess! Both Hawk and I are off from work for the next 11 days. My company decided a month ago to give us all of next week off. Hawk has two holidays at hers and is spending 3 days of PTO. We'll both be back to work on Tuesday, Jan 3, 2023. So, how are we going to use our time off? For part of it, we're going to the desert ( Read more... )

High Desert Weekend Trip-log #12
Red Rock Canyon State Park - Sun, 27 Mar, 2002. 2:15pm

Whew. Part 5. Five blogs just about this tiny state park in the middle of nowhere. We haven't even been here that long! But the time has been packed. After stumbling on and exploring the Old Dutch Cleanser Mine (previous blog) we drove back around to the main ( Read more... )

High Desert Weekend Trip-log #11
Red Rock Canyon State Park - Sun, 27 Mar, 2002. 1:30pm

After driving around near the falcon cliffs in Red Rock Canyon State Park we decided to head to a spot in the park simply marked "overlook" on our hand-drawn map. The trek turned out to be both less and more than we bargained for ( Read more... )