SC4x4G Traveling Circus
December 2011 - January 2012
The 2011 Traveling Circus left Penn Valley on Saturday, December 24th and headed south by way of 395. Christmas Eve dinner was in Mojave…yeah, at a Denny's. Christmas Day started with Greg revisiting Mojave, the little desert town that fueled his motorcycle addiction. We then headed up to scout Red Rock Canyon, making sure that there was a good spot for the McNicholas clan to stow their RV for the planned visit after Death Valley. We had a fun short tour of Red Rock Canyon then headed back up to Lone Pine. If you haven't been there before, Lone Pine is a great little place considered to be a jumping off point to Mt. Whitney, Death Valley, Mammoth Lakes and other cool destinations. Just west of the town are the Alabama Hills, where a large number of westerns and some action flicks were filmed. We had a lovely Christmas dinner and called it a night.
Monday morning, we were greeted by a temperature of 18 degrees. As Greg was draining the ice chest, the drain froze mid-stream. We now had a skating rink under the FJ! We planned to meet Steve, Mary, Connor & Shannon at Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley in the early afternoon, so we decided we'd make our 90 minute ride a bit longer and a lot more interesting. We took Saline Valley Road off of Hwy. 190 and headed into Death Valley on unpaved roads. Made a very interesting trip through Lippincott Pass and over to the Racetrack Playa. Unbelievable geology! Alluvial fans, basalt, cinder cones, craters and more. We cruised past Teakettle Junction and headed towards the Ubehebe Crater and Scotty's Castle Road. Thankfully, the suspension let us rip down the gravel road at a pretty good clip and we ended up arriving at Stovepipe Wells a full 5 minutes after the McNicholas family! We checked in and decided that Furnace Creek would be our first stop. It is a much larger resort that the one at Stovepipe and had a great ranger station with lots of good info for us. We had a fantastic dinner at the 49er Cafe and headed back to plan our next day's adventure.
Tuesday we started out by heading to Aguereberry Point for fantastic views of the valley then up Wildrose Canyon for the Charcoal Kilns. At first we thought, "Who on earth would build a charcoal kiln in a desert?" But as we traveled a bit higher, we noticed a lot of pines (pinyon?) and then decided that this was a GREAT spot for charcoal kilns. Was it cold? Well, not as cold as in Lone Pine, but there was still snow on the ground. Finally, we traveled to Jail Canyon. Jail Canyon is in the Surprise Canyon Wilderness and NOT well traveled - yeah, we liked that. Strangely, we found a game camera in the canyon wall. What the… Maybe it was for watching the wild burros or the Bighorn Sheep? Or wayward offroaders… Or, most likely, just put there by someone with a great sense of humor. There was a cabin with beds and some supplies (great if you need a place to rest your weary bones) and lots of old mining equipment. We hiked a short distance up a creek (yes, there is running water) to the mining outfit. The mine itself was blocked off, but you can certainly climb up and check out the equipment. It is so wonderful to know that those who visit here manage to see so much history and then don't take the historical artifacts away.
Wednesday found us taking the entire Circus (including the RV) up to Scotty's Castle for the 9 AM tour. Really interesting story and "castle". We circled the wagons and headed south to Trona, where Steve's Dad worked after WWII. Next stop - Ridgecrest, where we would spend the night and work on the next day's itinerary. Thursday we headed further south to Red Rock Canyon. We went off road and visited The Cudahy Dutch Cleanser Mines and the Holly Ash Mines. The pumice or pumicite that they mined was used for cleaning products, an additive for paint and Portland Cement. Next we visited the Burro Schmidt Tunnel. William "Burro" Schmidt single-handedly dug this 2087 foot tunnel through the solid rock of Copper Mountain (more info here: www.bickelcamp.org/BurrolSchmidt.html) It is really sad to see all of the damage done to his cabin since the caretaker died several years ago. We drove back out the easy part of Last Chance Canyon and started our jaunt down to Borrego Springs. After checking in at the Palm Canyon Resort, we went into town and had dinner at Jilbertos Taco Shop. All that was left to do was prepare for the next couple of days' adventures.
- Pam
Bob & Kathi began their portion of the Traveling Circus by spending Wednesday night on Millionaire Mesa and were joined there on Thursday night by Tom & Lawana. This small Mesa group packed up on Friday morning and headed to Palm Canyon Resort, where they met up with Bruce & Kathy, Greg & Pam, and Steve, Mary, Connor, & Shannon. The Circus was almost complete. After our morning "Hello, Nice to Meet You's", our mid-morning departure for the Borrego Springs Visitor Center found our group meeting up with Chad and the final weekend of adventures began.
After our tour of the Visitor Center, the group headed for the Calcite Mine. We all enjoyed the geology and historical significance of this site and spent some time there getting to know our newcomers for this trip, Bruce & Kathy and Chad. After the Calcite Mine, we drove west to Font's Point, an incredible overlook that defines the rugged nature of this area and what the early settlers must have endured to cross it. After Font's Point, we headed north out of Borrego Springs and visited some of the nearby "Sky Art". These are fantastic metal sculptures built by Ricardo Breceda and dot the landscape throughout the valley floor. Not wishing the day to end, we continued north into Coyote Canyon and followed it's creekbed until nightfall. Our dinner at Jilbertos Taco Shop that night was the 4th meal there for Greg & Pam (guess they liked it?).
An early start on Saturday (New Years Eve) found the Circus heading through Ocotillo Wells and into Fish Creek Wash. Our first stop in the wash was the Wind Caves. We hiked back to the caves and spent a lot of time there taking photos and marveling at the formations. Continuing down Fish Creek Wash, we drove up Oyster Shell Wash hoping to see large oyster shell beds. While some shells were found, we finally realized we were in the wrong area; the shell beds will have to wait for another trip. After lunch we toured Sandstone Canyon, an absolutely amazing canyon featuring sheer, near-vertical walls and a twisting, narrow 4WD route. We spent a lot of time here; this is a must-see for any traveler in the area. We headed back to home base near dusk and enjoyed a wonderful New Years Eve pot luck at the motorhomes.
New Years Day found Greg & Pam and Steve, Mary & the kids heading home well before dawn. Bob & Kathi, Bruce & Kathy, and Tom & Lawana made one last trip to the Visitor Center for memorabilia then off we went to Millionaire Mesa for some four-wheeling. We dropped down off the Mesa for an hour or so of wheeling in our favorite area (how could we possibly be so close and not do this???). We all packed up @mid-afternoon, said our Goodbyes and headed for home. This was another great trip with new friends, adventure, history, and memories.
- Tom
