MidnightRider
Advanced Member
Last weekend, my family and I headed out the 10 east toward the Salton Sea. Our destination was the 2012 Desert Rendezvous, an event put on by some folks over at Expedition portal. We headed out a day early, so we could do a little exploring, as I had never been this part of the desert.
The first spot I wanted to see was the Salton Sea. I had driven past it about 10 years ago, but never seen it up close. I have heard all the stories about the movie stars going there in the 50's or 60's, vacation homes, water skiing, fishing, swimming, boating, etc. Iv'e also heard the more recent stories about how it smells and all the dead fish and pollution.
I wanted to see it for myself. So after turning down several wrong roads (private) we found a road down to the shorline where we could walk around. It was smelly and had tons of fish along the shorline, tilapia I think. The water was really murky brown, and looked like a dead lake. There were lots of birds in the area and water so at least this inland sea still has some life. Interesting area.
After watching the sunset from the lake, our next goal was to find Checkpont #1, 32°59'14.43"N 115°57'11.73"W the meetup place where we would get the coordinants to the Rendezvous location the next day. After heading down Split Mountain rd until it dead ended at a gypsum mine, we headed out into the desert and camped along the base of the Vallecito Mtns. While laying out looking at the stars, we got surprised by a low flyover of two blacked out military helicopters.
Next day we received the coords to camp at cp#1 and headed down the dusty Carrizo wash 10 miles toward Superstition Mtn along The Fish Creek Mtn range. It was an adventure geeting out there in 2WD along the soft silt beds and sandy washed out sections. The weight of the camper and airing down the tires was a good combination. Some others needed a tug thru, even some 4wds got stuck.
The Rendezvous was fun, there was a desert challange contest, a raffle, happy hour, food, and checked out all kinds of overland rigs of people who like to offroad & camp. We met lots of like minded folks & had fun exploring the Ocotillo Wells/Anza Borrego Area. It doesn't look like theres much out there when your driving by on the highway. But there is so much out in there in the desert to see & do if you walk around & get out in it. This is an area I will definatly be back to do more exploring.
On the way out of Anza Borrego Park the rain hit and washed the truck. We stopped in Julian, checked out the museam, got an apple-boysenberry pie to bring home. From there we didn't wan't to go home quite yet so we drove the loop up Palomar Mtn (cleavland national forest) above lake Henshaw and explored that area a bit and had an early dinner in the camper in the pouring rain on top the mountain, then headed down in case it turned to snow.
It made for a great weekend exploring our local desert. Im not much of a photographer, or photo editer, so sorry if the pics are bad quality. I always enjoy looking at other membes trip reports and pictures, so I thought I should post one up. Photos to come.
The first spot I wanted to see was the Salton Sea. I had driven past it about 10 years ago, but never seen it up close. I have heard all the stories about the movie stars going there in the 50's or 60's, vacation homes, water skiing, fishing, swimming, boating, etc. Iv'e also heard the more recent stories about how it smells and all the dead fish and pollution.
I wanted to see it for myself. So after turning down several wrong roads (private) we found a road down to the shorline where we could walk around. It was smelly and had tons of fish along the shorline, tilapia I think. The water was really murky brown, and looked like a dead lake. There were lots of birds in the area and water so at least this inland sea still has some life. Interesting area.
After watching the sunset from the lake, our next goal was to find Checkpont #1, 32°59'14.43"N 115°57'11.73"W the meetup place where we would get the coordinants to the Rendezvous location the next day. After heading down Split Mountain rd until it dead ended at a gypsum mine, we headed out into the desert and camped along the base of the Vallecito Mtns. While laying out looking at the stars, we got surprised by a low flyover of two blacked out military helicopters.
Next day we received the coords to camp at cp#1 and headed down the dusty Carrizo wash 10 miles toward Superstition Mtn along The Fish Creek Mtn range. It was an adventure geeting out there in 2WD along the soft silt beds and sandy washed out sections. The weight of the camper and airing down the tires was a good combination. Some others needed a tug thru, even some 4wds got stuck.
The Rendezvous was fun, there was a desert challange contest, a raffle, happy hour, food, and checked out all kinds of overland rigs of people who like to offroad & camp. We met lots of like minded folks & had fun exploring the Ocotillo Wells/Anza Borrego Area. It doesn't look like theres much out there when your driving by on the highway. But there is so much out in there in the desert to see & do if you walk around & get out in it. This is an area I will definatly be back to do more exploring.
On the way out of Anza Borrego Park the rain hit and washed the truck. We stopped in Julian, checked out the museam, got an apple-boysenberry pie to bring home. From there we didn't wan't to go home quite yet so we drove the loop up Palomar Mtn (cleavland national forest) above lake Henshaw and explored that area a bit and had an early dinner in the camper in the pouring rain on top the mountain, then headed down in case it turned to snow.
It made for a great weekend exploring our local desert. Im not much of a photographer, or photo editer, so sorry if the pics are bad quality. I always enjoy looking at other membes trip reports and pictures, so I thought I should post one up. Photos to come.
