Saturday, November 21, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTOPHER
While planning our outing for the day, Roy had some bad news, he had fallen and hurt his wrist. He wasn't confident that he would be able to belay me safely. I may not be a rocket scientist, but I knew that if my belay was unsafe, I didn't want to be climbing. We decided to go exploring. Roy had been visiting a friend who lives near Salton City earlier in the week and had done some exploring in Ocotillo Wells. He wanted to return since his friend had taken him out in a sand rail and Roy said they had driven so fast that he needed to return to see what the scenery looked like.
We left at our usual time and stopped for breakfast at the Travertine Grill, rated the best restaurant in the area. Then we headed out to Powerline Road and headed into Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. I had heard of this area for years, but always was more interested in Anza Borrego State Park, which is next door. The main reason was that I thought that Ocotillo Wells was all about off road recreation and that all the really interesting stuff was next door in Anza Borrego. Well, I found out that there are a number of really cool things to see.
Our first stop was at Tule Springs, it's always a treat to find water in the desert and that's not all we found at this location. In addition to the spring and tule reeds, we found some ancient sea shells and a layer of sandstone with what appeared to be concretions embedded in it. After looking over this area we then headed over to the Gas Domes.
I was quite surprised when we got to the Gas Domes, they would be called mud pots in most areas, but the name doesn't really matter. They are fun to watch and wonder about. What makes them bubble? The story I've heard is that they bubble because of the high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the water. One would expect boiling temperatures to cause this phenomenon, but it's actually cold. The mud has a fine grain consistency and makes a very uniform layer on anything dipped into it, like my finger. After it dried I thought it would just flake off, but I ended up washing it off as it didn't come off on it's own.
Main mud pot at the gas domes, fairly active
Deep vent with bubble at the bottom
The least active, bubble wise
Dried layer of salts, sounded like potato chips when walking on it
The Gas Domes are popular with the off road riders
After looking around at the Gas Domes, we went over to the Artesian Well. Here clear water is bubbling out of the ground and someone found what looks like an old aircraft auxiliary fuel tank for the water to flow through. I couldn't think of any good reason for this, just an excuse to use the fuel tank. As we admired the Palm Trees that someone has planted next to the well, we noticed some rubbish piles in the area. We checked the piles out and found they consisted of bricks and a tar like substance with some wood, nails and other debris. We speculated that they must have been some sort of kilns, since the bricks had some sort of glaze on one side that seemed like a glass type substance. Another thing we found in the area was a mineral we thought was calcite.
Water bubbling up at the Artesian Well
We then headed out and found a test well site, it had the same materials that we had seen by the Artesian Spring, except there was no water. We then headed west to the Shell Reef. The Shell Reef was the most popular area we visited. It is the site for hill climbing and there had to be a hundred vehicles congregated for the fun. Off to the side and slightly behind was the actual Shell Reef. It is fenced off, like most of the sites we visited and is a pretty good climb to get to the top. Once on top we found a tilted slab of rock that is full of ancient sea shells. I had expected to find fossil shells, but the shells are not fossilized. The shells are packed in the layer of rock and mostly consist of fragments, but we did see some fairly intact shells. Once again, a special treat in an area I have long overlooked. On the steep downhill hike back to the car, we noticed a lot more fragments of rock with the shells than we had on the climb, go figure. We then decided drive over to the Pumpkin Patch.
The Shell Reef
Close up of Shell Reef
While en route to the Pumpkin Patch, we noticed that while most of the roads are well marked, there are a few exceptions, this means that we missed a turn or two. This turned out to be a stroke of luck. We drove a little farther than we had planned and ended up taking a drive through the edge of Anza Borrego State Park. The difference was quite noticeable. The park doesn't allow OHV (off highway vehicles), only street legal vehicles. It was very easy to see where OHVs had violated that regulation. I would guess that the park has more funds, the signs looked newer and in better shape. During this little side trip we drove through an area that reminded me of the painted desert in Arizona, lots of different pastel colors, pinks, purples, tans, greens, yellows and grays along this section. We then arrived at Una Palms which was, you guessed it, a single palm tree oasis. We continued on this road for a short distance and arrived at the Pumpkin Patch.
An example of the excellent signage in the area
Colorful formations en route to the Pumpkin Patch
Una Palmas oasis in the distance
I had been told that the Pumpkin Patch had a bunch of round rocks scattered around. That information was correct, but it didn't do justice to what we saw. The rocks were scattered around in an area that I would expect to be the size of a farmer's pumpkin patch, at least ones I've seen over the years. Not only that, but the rocks were about knee high, about the same as good sized pumpkins. This was the second most popular place we visited and there were even some representatives from the state park with a information booth. Booth being an Easy-up with a table under it. The two park representatives were providing information on the how the "pumpkins" are formed and answering most any questions one has about the area.
The Pumpkin Patch
The pumpkins are formed by a rock or similar object that is buried in the sand, rains come and cause chemicals in the sand to cement the sand particles closest to the object to that object, growing over time and then eventually becoming exposed as the surrounding sands are eroded away. The kiln sites were actually wells from the 1920s, when the oil companies thinking that the area was similar to the oil fields being discovered in the middle east, drilled for oil and surprisingly, found a little, accounting for the black substances like asphalt we found. There wasn't enough for commercial purposes. They also told us about some fish traps in the area, which we then decided to go see for ourselves. While I was talking to the young one, Roy got the directions from the older one. I think something was lost in the exchange.
Portable visitor center on the right
We left the Pumpkin Patch and headed out toward the wash where the fish traps were reported to be. We came to where I thought the turn was supposed to be, but Roy said no, it couldn't be the right place, although we found another Tule Spring. So we headed out to the east and Highway 86. We crossed the highway and headed south on the east side of the highway until we arrived at Campbell Wash. The directions were to drive back west under the bridge and follow the wash to the fish traps. I had some doubts about these directions, like how far or what landmark to look for to find the traps. I need not have worried, there was a four foot concrete wall blocking us from driving under the bridge. Of course we don't give up that easy. So we continued to parallel the highway south till we could cross over the road. This was no more than a mile south of Campbell Wash and we then headed west across the desert. The road didn't go west as much as it southwest over to a low lying hill. We arrived there and after a few false attempts realized that we were not going to find the wash and fish traps on this day. We decided that we had reached our turn around point and headed for home. We had the opportunity to see some special places and I plan on returning to find the fish traps some day.
No comments:
Post a Comment