Living the Life- Coachella Valley outside of Palm Spring
January 14
We met John and Athena in the hot tub at our San Diego RV campground. Lots of people ride motorcycles but none look better doing it than John and Athena. Did we mention that there are in their late 70's? I should have gotten a picture of them on their cycle but I was too busy admiring how they seemed to float over the road. One of the reasons that they may look so good is that they haven't experienced winter in 57 years!
Heading east to El Centro we stopped at a rest stop and we saw two Western Bluebirds (103) at a distance.
The desert west of El Centro is spectacular in its barren bouldered beauty. After rising to 4,000 feet in the mountains we descended to 51 feet below sea level as we entered El Centro. We so appreciate the camping rates at Walmart!
January 15
We woke to a flock of noisy Boat-tailed Grackles (105) and California Gulls (106), packed up and headed to the Sonny Bono Wildlife Reserve on the Salton Sea. For you young 'uns, Sonny Bono was half of the 70's music duo, Sonny and Cher. After many decades in music, he became the Congressman of California's 44th District and was very popular with his constituents. The reserve is a beautiful memorial. On the way there we saw:
Cattle Egret (107)
White-faced Ibis (108)
About a century ago the Colorado overflowed its bank and created the Salton Sea. It is about 200 feet below sea level so the water has nowhere to go. It is steadily evaporating and the salt is becoming more concentrated. There is substantial fish die-offs as the salt water concentrations are too much for most species. Bird die-offs also occur.
Still the birds love it and flock here in large numbers. The vsitor centre is informative, and like most centres, staffed by knowledgeable, genial Boomers. There is a long dyke walk out to a view point overlooking the Salton Sea. We saw:
Burrowing Owl (109) -sunning himself by his tunnel
The Burrowing Owl likes to use abandoned Prairie Dog burrows. With the decimation of Prairie Dog towns, this bird has been on the decline. Recent efforts by conservationist have provided acceptable tunnels for these birds to re-establish themselves in their former range.
Here are some other interesting birds and creatures at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea Reserve.
Black-necked Stilt
Desert Cottontail
Ross's (110) and Snow Geese (111)
Ross's and Snow Geese - the little ones with the small beaks are the Ross's.
Other birds that we saw for the first time on this trip included: Verdin (112), Roadrunner (113), Loggerhead Shrike (114), Northern Harrier (115), Caspian Tern (116) and Tree Swallow (117).
We drove north round the west side of the Salton Sea. There was no easy access to the sea along the west side. We did drive into a town called Seaside to see more birds. The town was a real dump and more like a ghost shanty town. We were surprised as we thought the Salton Sea would be a tourist attraction. I guess it's golf or bust in these parts. Sad. We did see an Osprey (118) among the boarded and dilapidated buildings.
We drove on to a $60 per night RV Park in Palm Springs. That seemed high for what you get, especially when you can see motel rooms in less prestigious towns going for as low as $39.99 a night.
Greater Roadrunner
January 16
Palm Springs is one continuous gated community. Hundreds of massive motorhomes are housed shoulder to shoulder in each gated RV Park. The roads are very wide and the sidewalks often non existent. The status thing to have in addition to a huge motor home is a suped-up electric golf cart.
After the abject poverty around the Salton Sea this conclave of wealth reflected the relative extremes of our society.
We drove to the aerial tram that takes you up 5,000 feet to the top of the San Jacinto Mountains. We loved the ride but the temperature dropped from 75 at the bottom to 33 at the top. Emma has discovered that she is allergic to winter, so as much as we enjoyed the pristine nature, we were happy to get back to ground-level Arizona. The view of the desert below was spectacular.
Bottom of the Tram
Top of the Tram Ride
We did a two mile walk around the frozen paths that wound through the pine forest. There was a dusting of ice and snow on the ground but this didn't stop the Pygmy Nuthatches and Mountain Chickadees from foraging through the pine cones looking for the pine seeds.
Pygmy Nuthatch (119)
Mountain Chickadee (120)
After a few hours we took the thrill ride back down to the warmth of the desert.
Going Down
January 17
We drove to the Coachella Valley reserve. It's an amazing preserved palm oasis. This small forest of California Palm Trees surrounds a small spring of water in the middle of the barren desert.
We spent a magical few hours walking among a the palm oases in this semi sheltered canyon. We saw a Cactus Wren and Gambel's Quails in addition to many yellow-rumped Warblers and White-crowned Sparrows. The quail scurry together squeaking as they sneak from bush to bush. Their scurrying reminds me of the opening to the 70's Partridge Family.
Cactus Wren (121)
Gambel's Quail - male (122)
Gambel's Quail - female
California Palm Tree - fruit and female Yellow-rumped Warbler
We continued north and east to the Yucca Valley. As we gained elevation coming into the Yucca Valley we started to see many Joshua Trees along the roadside.Dr. Seuss must have gotten some of his inspiration from Joshua Tree National Park. We always thought his inspiration was more of the Timothy Leary variety but these trees are real.
Joshua Tree
January 17 - Joshua Tree National Park
We entered the magical desert landscape of Joshua Tree National Park.
We went on the one mile hidden canyon walk. This box canyon had a narrow hidden entrance and acted as a natural corral. Legend has it that rustlers took advantage of this convenient location.
Entrance to Hidden Canyon
Interior of Hidden Canyon
We also took a 1.5 walk at Baker's Dam. Decades ago, cowboys had dammed a small canyon to hold water for their cattle. During part of the year it holds water but not when we were there.
We finished the day with a 2.5 mile walking loop.
Rock Outcrop
Some of the many beautiful cacti we saw.
Prickly Pear Cactus
Yucca
Teddy Bear Cholla
Emma - hiking and birding in the desert
Skull Rock - looks like a bald conehead who really needs to shave his beard.
"Talk to the Hand" - Emma after a long hot day in the desert.
A lot of the rock formations have holes in the middle of them. Emma was crouched in an opening in a rock, and stuck her hand through another opening.
Western Scrub Jay - in the process of cracking open an acorn
Anna's Hummingbird
This little male was flashing his wares on the top of a small shrub. We could of sworn he was posing for us. We left the park by the north entrance and spent the night at 29 Palms.
January 19
We took the route less traveled and went on a hike to the 49 Palms Oasis at the north side of Joshua Tree National Park. The hike went up the side of a mountain ridge then down into a canyon with a palm oasis at the end.
Palm Oasis
We spent awhile sitting under the palm trees beside the quiet, cool pond. A Canyon Wren and lizard ropped by to see what we were up to.
Canyon Wren (123)
January 20
We spent the morning in 29 Palms and saw some Lesser Goldfinches (124). Emma had some grant applications and reports to complete. I went for a hair cut. We are quite near a major navy training base and there were dozens of barber shops offering marine hair cuts and hand massages.
I guess the marines are all training during the day and come to town for their hair cuts in the evening as all the small barber shops were closed in the morning. I finally found an open shop and a very friendly barber. She asked me if I wanted the works.
I assured her that I only wanted the basics. She did a great job so I gave her a nice tip. She was so pleased she gave me a big hug and told me to come back any time. Friendliest barber I ever met.
Emma liked the results but was not enthused about the barber.
We packed up and headed back into Joshua Tree National Park. We went to the Visitor Centre and the clerk pointed out a Roadrunner outside the door.
He scurried off, but Emma was determined to see one. So, she quietly stepped outside and waited. He came out and it seemed like he was scrutinizing her as to why she was on his territory. I guessed she passed muster, because he retreated in the bush and let her proceed to the nature walk.
Phainopepla (125)
Northern Mockingbird (126)
We continued south through the park.
Natural Arch
Cactus Garden
January 21
We awoke before sunrise to photograph the day break and bird watch early.
We saw:
Black-throated Sparrow (127)
Sage Sparrow (128)
Black-tailed Jackrabbit [11]
It was time to leave Joshua Tree National park so we headed for Blythe and Yuma. About 40 miles outside Blythe we ran into a tremendous sand storm. It was bad and quickly got much worse. I tend to gauge the extent of impending danger by the quality of Emma's fearful expletives. I had heard f@#% before. Even Emma's "F@#%ing Hell" had occurred on rare occasions. However, new highs were reached when the RV rocked over heavily and she shrieked "F@#%ing Hell MOMMY!" . . . . . . . The RV righted itself but clearly we were in a spot of bother.
The highway traffic was heavy and moving quickly while the visibility had dropped to 20 feet or less. The wind was hitting the RV broadside at 50 miles an hour with some gusts much higher. The RV was swaying like a drunken sailor. It was a toss up whether we would hit the car in front of us, get rear ended or just blown over.
I spotted a narrow opening by some trees and dove for it. After an hour the wind abated somewhat and the visibility improved. We continued on our way to Blythe. All the locals were talking about the storm.
We recovered quickly and decided to go bird watching at Cibola National Wildlife Refuge on the banks of the Colorado River. The refuge was nice with a short road tour around part of the refuge. However, it was 30 miles south on bad roads to get to there and the only new birds for this trip were the Western Meadowlark (129) and Sandhill Crane (130).
We continued south through the desert and arrived at one of Yuma's Walmarts after dark.
January 22 to January 31 Yuma, Arizona
We had an extended stay in Yuma as Emma had an opportunity to get extensive dental work done across the Mexican border in Los Algadones. We stayed at a nice and reasonable RV park near the Yuma airport.
It's a good thing that Jim is over 55 as almost all the RV Parks are 55+. Younger wives are permitted grudgingly by the other women but enthusiastically by the guys. Women, if you want to feel young (and you are under 55) go to Arizona. Emma is often the youngest person at any RV park, or visitor centre, or supermarket..... It may be a bit of an adjustment to return to Vancouver where the average age is not 65.
We enjoyed the Yuma visitors' centre because of the great historical displays.
Yuma Visitors Centre
Emma is a firm believer of social networking to find qualified professionals in a new town. So, after meeting the guide at the Visitor Centre and liking her hair, she asked for the name of the woman's hairdresser. The hair dresser did a great job, and she seemed very well-connected in the community, so Emma asked her about Mexican dentists. The hairdresser referred her to her Mexican dentist, so a phone call was made, and then another, and the next day, Emma was sitting in the dentist's chair getting seven hours of work done. The dentists were excellent with Emma feeling great the following day: no painkillers needed, and lots of energy to bike ride and hike. The following week, we would return for Emma to get major procedures over two days. This time, major painkillers were needed, and Emma was put on a no exercise, no solid food and no alcohol regime - for two weeks! In Emma's words: no alcohol, not a big deal, no solid food, that's a drag but I can live with it, but no exercise? That's going to be painful!
In between dental visits we lounged by the campground pool, visited local attractions and made some short birding excursions to the nearby Colorado River. Jim got very used to the mellow Emma, and he may have trouble adjusting when she gets her energy back, and he hears once again: "hurry up, let's go!".
I'm not quite sure how I talked Emma into this desert excursion. Military history is not high on her "to do" list. She must have been high on pain killers.
However, seeing birds like the Vermillion Flycatcher (131) and Gila Woodpecker (132) is always a thrill. Emma is getting good at spotting birds. She spotted this one and many other "Lifers" I've seen on the trip.
Vermillion Flycatcher - on the banks of the Colorado River
Hummingbird - nesting in January in Yuma
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