Our last day was spent walking the Andreas Canyon trail at the Agua-Caliente Native land in Palm Springs. Although cool-50 degrees, the sun was out and no wind. A nice finish to a great week of hiking and natural history. We will return for part 2 of Desert Trekking in February 2014. I promise warmer temperatures!
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| Andreas Canyon |
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| The stream through the canyon |
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| The Club |
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| The Club cabin |
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| My Boss |
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| The loop trail |
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| Balancing rock |
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| Glue? |
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| Huff and puff and blow the rock down |
Welcome to the second part of College of DuPage at the Salton Sea, Mud Volcanoes and Slab City trip. Mud volcanoes and mud pots are produced when water and CO2 are forced upward through clay and mud soils. Openings in the earths crust reach down to a magma body near the surface. The line up of volcanoes and pots indicate a fault. The San Andreas Fault is responsible for these features.
Slab City and Salvation Mountain are located in Niland, CA. Slab City began as a marine base in the early 40's. It was decommissioned in the 50's. A chemical company hired 20 Mexican workers to gather Creosote in the area. They lived on the slabs. In the early 60's several squatters from Painted Canyon near Mecca were forced to move. They came to Slab City. Now snowbirds, pensioner's and folks wanting to off the grid live there. Leonard Knight came to the area in 1985 and began constructing Salvation Mountain, using straw, local clay and donated paint. Leonard is now in a retirement home and friends have continued to construct the mountain.
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| Mud Volcanoes |
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| Volcanoes closeup |
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| Checking steam in a new volcano |
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| Mud Pot |
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| Mud Pot |
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| Mud Pot |
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| Resort from the 40's-Adobe with Hot Springs |
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| Entrance to Slab City and Salvation Mountain |
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| Leonard Knight's creation 1985 |
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| Salvation Mountain |
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| Gib on the Yellow Brick Road |
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| The Flood of 1905-1907 |
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| Snow Geese |
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| Snow Goose with Canada Geese |
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| Willet with Dunlin |
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| Black-necked Stilt, Greater Yellowlegs and Least Sandpiper |
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| Avocets |
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| Cormorant preening |
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| Black-necked Stilt |
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| Stilt with food? |
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| Stilt with great legs |
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| Great Egret |
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| Black Phoebe |
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| Burrowing Owl next to burrow |
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| Cormorant Tree |
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| Eared Grebes |
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| Female Kestrel |
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| Green-winged Teal |
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| Shoveler Duck |
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| White-faced Ibis |
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| Snowy Egret |
Continuing on from Ghost Mountain, we stopped at a Kumeyaay Village to search for mortero's (grinding pits), and Cupules (probably puberty rites). Mesquite, Pinyon Nuts and other seeds were ground in the mortero's. Probably 200 or more Kumeyaay were in the area. The trail to the Pictographs yielded some nice views of Black-throated Sparrows. The Pictographs are painted figures dating back somewhere between 200 and 800 years ago. We journeyed to Borrego Springs by way of S-22 and Montezuma Grade. We stopped at Barrel Springs (Pacific Crest Trail), Ranchita and one of the overlooks. We finished the day with a tour of the town of Borrego Springs, including the metal sculptures.
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| Mortero's and Cupules at the Kumeyaay Village |
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| Cholla Fruit |
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| Black-throated Sparrow on Pictograph Trail |
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| Dieweed? |
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| Lichens |
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| Pictographs |
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| Pictographs |
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| Pacific Crest Trail |
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| View of town with hotel from S-22 |
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| Ranchita above Borrego Sorings |
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| Red-shouldered Hawk near Ranchita |
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| Mythical Dragon |
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| Dragon Head |
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| Bighorn Sheep |
