God is Love

Leonard Knight and his mountain

Thumbs up!

Leonard again

My Mom at the entrance

My Mom is visiting from Wisconsin. I took her to Salvation Mountain because I thought she would like it and it seems like a good things to do on Christmas Eve. Lo and behold, Leonard was there! He gave us some postcards and a DVD about the mountain and we chatted for a bit. We went to the Mud Volcanoes first and almost got her (aptly named) rental Borrego stuck in the mud. A truly unforgettable holiday!

Wistful Winter

Hellhole Canyon

70s in December? I surely am in uncharted territory. My first winter outside of the Midwest. I had never foreseen being a bit wistful for the Wisconsin iciness. In fact, I’ve always cursed it until today. Nostalgia tugs at me with memories of: frosty windows, icicles, colossal heaps of white fluff, the soothing apple cider warming my esophagus, creamy-bready-cheesy comfort food and cozy wool sweaters… Alas, there’s still day trips to the mountains and May in King Salmon to look forward to. It’s nice to pick and choose my snow days…and you’ll never hear me complain about hiking scarf and mitten free below the palm trees.

Great Underdevelopment

the Salton Sea near Niland, CA

I live in one of the few great underdeveloped places left in California. This is where the Wild West mentality still exists. The proportions are just right: the city is just small enough and the backcountry is overwhelmingly huge enough. The people are still interesting, eccentric, meddling and friendly. I selfishly hope the Salton Sea never fully revives. For if it does; the end of this frontier freedom is nigh. May these tiny pockets of individualism exist forever!

The Pumpkin Patch

Ocotillo Wells SVRA

The Pumpkin Patch is my favorite place to work at Ocotillo Wells unless, of course, it is windy. They are not petrified pumpkins, dinosaur eggs or geodes. They are sandstone concretions. Wikipedia it!

Salvation

Salvation Mountain, Slab City

No matter what you choose to believe or not believe, any man that can build a mountain is a true inspiration.

Salton Sea Mud Volcanoes

Niland

A trip to see the gurgling and burping of the earth's bowels...

Wild Turkey

Mecca Hills Slot Canyons

Sitting on a rock next to the glow of the campfire…Grubby hands scooping beans right out the tin can. Sharing laughter with pleasant company while engaging in the ritual “pull and pass” of whiskey. The warmth of a sleeping bag amidst the chilly canyon air… It is these very moments, which countless cowboys, hobos, college students and artists have already experienced moreover glorified; that leave us not at a standstill, but moving to the fore.

Orion's Disapproval

The haze has settled. Orion watches over us from his normal resting place. Does he disapprove of the 6 lane highways being erected in the sky? What was once a singular winding, lonely and dusty Milky Way are now the paved, predetermined paths in which the bright lights of satellites and airplanes zoom by.

Introducing: the new and improved...

MILKY EXPRESSWAY

Playful Pursuit

An ocottillo

To my surprise this afternoon, I saw a coyote willfully but playfully pursue a jackrabbit, weaving slaloms between ocotillos. I can’t help to think that in this bone dry environment, neither animal has it easy. The fact that fauna their sizes (though miniature in comparison to that of places I’m accustomed to) can even exist out here continually amazes me. God speed, giants of the desert!

The "W"

Locals don't call it by it's name as that may beckon it...

The big “W” is howling again. Eerie moans through the crack in my bedroom window. It is all encompassing and seemingly impossible to escape. Another indicator of the harshness of this land I set up shop in. Luckily, one can find respite indoors, where the only reminder of the cruelty outside can be heard softly in the background amongst the safety of my government furnished and carpeted luxury.

23.

Carlsbad Caverns NP, New Mexico

Alamogordo, New Mexico near White Sands NM

Saguaro NP, Arizona

Grand Canyon NP, Arizona

Joshua Tree NP, California

Salton Sea, California

The most excellent and extravagant birthday presents I received today, I procured myself. No two things could have been superior to what was waiting for me at the end of a long, magnificent journey: the bravura of employment and a nice (not warm, but that’s okay) shower. Hallelujah!

I have learned lessons of vast enormity as an eager student in the discipline of getting up, getting out, and getting off the interstate. There’s much to be exclaimed about wrestling the back roads, surveying the seemingly trivial, microscopic towns and monitoring the local political sensitivities broadcasting through the radio speakers. To any of you who may feel uninspired, the time is NOW. Your future is forthwith! Acquire as many excuses as you can to sojourn with friends in faraway places, feast upon fruit from a stand on the side of the road, adventure through the Parks while thriving on the cheap. Delight in southwestern sunsets, only camp gratis, snuggle, snooze and snore under the stars. Truly experience America the Beautiful as well as maintain, breathe and subsist on the dream!

Gape at something other than your computer screen. Do something other than wonder. Become something you never fathomed you could be. The only limiting factor is you.

Happily Marooned

Fure's Cabin

Sleeping arrangements

Historic windmill

The view

Lichen on the Grosvenor Portage Trail

Charcoal art

Katie frolicking in the dandelions

All's calm here

Kara's dream home

After the storm

Brooks Camp Life

BRT 4 (right) = Home!

Inside the tent-cabin. I live in the loft.

The Lodge

Headlining!

Eagles near Brooks Falls, waiting for scraps

A quiet afternoon

A busy afternoon for me on the platform

708 (Amelia) on the "new" trampoline trees

In the search of food

Lunch

Too close?

Disputes over fishing spots

236 (Milkshake) and her 4 fluffbuckets

More cubbie wubbies

La Gorce, of course, and Katolinat is where its at


I have no words for this place. It's truly magical.