The photos below are what we saw.
Overall,
we had a very smooth trip. But, in the LA basin, the large
number of cars makes accidents a statistical certainty.
This 2-car mash-up happened near Glen Helen near the foot of the
Cajon Pass. Nobody was hurt, but the Honda rear wheel was
torn off.
Out of
necessity, our route took us through Baker, CA the home of "the
world's tallest thermometer". Every town has to have its
own claim to fame, but this claim to fame is "lame". Baker
is merely a wide spot on the path to Las Vegas and has
exploitative prices on food and fuel. We arrived in Baker
near sundown and still had several hours of travel ahead of us.
We
rolled into Pahrump around 1900hrs and discovered to our
amazement that every hotel room in the town was full. So,
we worked our guide books and smart phones and determined that
the closest town was Bonnie Springs, NV about an hour
away. Kathleen secured us a room at the Bonnie Springs
Motel and we headed out at high speed. We arrived in time
to get dinner at the restaurant at Bonnie Springs so we ate and
had a couple of cocktails. The motel was rustic, but more
than adequate for our needs. I could see from the map that
Bonnie Springs was near Red Rock Canyon, but was not sure,
exactly, where we were. Sunrise brought exhilaration when
we could see the surrounding terrain. To our north were
the cliffs of Red Rock Canyon.
The
motel was Western-themed and right at the foot of the tall
sandstone cliffs. I got out of the sack and cruised around
the area checking it out. Because of the high-quality
springs, this area has been a stopping point for travelers in
the area since the Spanish Conquistadores in the 1500's.
There
were at least a dozen peacocks at Bonnie Springs. This
male insisted upon a full display when I came near. When
fully spread, his fan is about 8 feet wide.
Bonnie
Springs Ranch is a "dude ranch" and in addition to a motel,
restaurant and horses, there is a miniature railroad. Note
the large pry bar on the engine. This is for re-railing
the engine when there is a mishap.
The
cliffs behind Bonnie Springs Ranch were magnificent. The
clear skies and morning light brought out all the detail.
The panorama above was stitched together from 4 frames using
PTGui. The result was about 20,000 pixels wide and
therefore impractical to display in a web page so a 1200 pixel
reduced-size version is shown instead.
As I was
exploring the area at Bonnie Springs Ranch, I came upon these
fellows who were attempting to use their quad copter with 5
GoPros on it to create a virtual reality tour of the ranch for
promotional purposes. They were focused and therefore
rather uncommunicative.
The
springs at Bonnie Springs Ranch is used to feed the duck pond.
The structure to the right is the bar and restaurant.
There
were plenty of peacocks and they were not shy.
Stepping
away from the brush that surrounds the wet areas at the springs
allowed us a clear view of the tall sandstone cliffs. The
weather was pristine: calm, clear and sunny which made for some
rather uninteresting photos.
On our
exit from Bonnie Springs Ranch we could see that the yuccas in
the area were nearly in bloom. Red Rock Canyon is to our
north and is our next destination.
The road
to Red Rock Canyon provided an unobstructed view of the
cliffs. Bonnie Springs is at the bottom of the cliffs
below the left-most peak near the left edge of the panorama
above.
The face
of the cliff line was impressive. Note that the yucca have
been destroyed by a recent fire.
Red Rock
Canyon has a very nice scenic drive that provides up-close views
of the sandstone formations. Note the checkerboard erosion
patterns on the rock faces.
The
upper reaches of the Spring Mountains had formidable
cliffs. Indeed, it is the cliffs that bring local rock
climbers to the area.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2016, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.