Some of the hikes out here on the desert are reachable by
driving on a paved road to a trailhead.
But others, like getting to Paiute Canyon on the east side of Mojave
Preserve, were not so easy.
I drove from Las Vegas southeast to Searchlight, CA, and
peered along a straight sandy road toward the mountains where the trail begins.
Soon the sandy road became like a sea of sand. I have a Jeep with four-wheel-drive, and
would surely have gotten stuck without it.
Steering in the deep sand is like sailing in high seas. You have to push the tiller far to one side
just to keep a straight course, then steer the other way according to whims of
sand or sea.
This road hadn’t been graded in years or else a storm hit it
recently so that half of the road was gone in some places.
And then it began to rain.
I began to worry about the dry washes I had crossed and whether they’d
be passable on return, But the rain was light
and I kept going toward the still-distant mountains and Paiute Canyon.
As the storm darkened and rain fell harder, I made the
decision to turn back toward the paved road. But not without taking pictures of tiny
flowers close to the sand. And within
two hours the storm had moved on and rain had stopped. I could have made it.
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| Sunset from the Motel |
Oh! Sunset from the Motel is best! Magnificent. the tiny flowers too... as if a prelude to the sky. Taura Dalton Rick and I with Bright Stars here at dinner... thinking of you. I made a spicy vegetarian eggplant parmiegan you would love. ...earlier Briony Joyce and Joan at poetry with me today...using the new whitesboard... while you take care of the wild roads and spectacular sunsets. Miss you, Our poetic world alive and waiting... oh wait you're just getting started!
ReplyDeleteYes, just getting started, about one-third into the trip, and as usual, many things have changed for my planning. today's rain, yesterday's road that I couldn't find. But I make do, and trapmped in Wee Thrump Joshua Tree Wilderness instead. Bending with wind and weather is part of trees taught me.
DeleteGreat sunset! Also, love the first photo! Many words can be written there.
ReplyDeleteThe first photo shows an impossibly long road, which is only seven miles really, but not easy going. The, much to think about there.
DeleteCertainly an opportunity to review 'what would you do?' Somehow, I think you 'would' rise above any concerns as you have done many times and then we would hear of your triumph through the images of lovely flowers and the punctuation of a beautiful sunset as you safely view the day from motel window. And, of course, if we didn't get a blog post from you, we'd all don our hiking boots and head out in a search party. Yup!
ReplyDeleteThanks Junnie, for a vote of confidence. I surely would not lie down and die at the first disaster. But don’t come looking for me either; it’s a huge area and I could be anywhere in it. If all fails, I can die happy that it was not in a rest home.
DeleteA resplendent sunset waiting for your camera. It may not have been so resplendent if you'd stayed after the rainstorm. Risk must always be weighed alongside a feather. ~ Lois
ReplyDeleteYes Lois, the best and the worst are not as they seem at the time. Resplendent sunset versus a night on the desert waiting for the dry wash to become dry. Risk is a feather flitting about never quite coming to rest, only showing where it might land. As it turned out I could have kept going, the rain did not raise the creek, I could have hiked Paiute Canyon. But ah, that sunset.
Delete