Millerton Lake

I seem to have lost the post where we drive from Saddleback Butte to Millerton Lake State Recreation Area in the Central Valley near Fresno.  To get there we drove past the Lancaster Air Force base where they first broke the speed of sound, then through Antelope Valley famous for its spring wildflowers (the California poppies were just getting started), onto the I5 and across the snowy summit of the Tehachapi Range in search of warmer weather.

We stayed at Millerton Lake on our way home from Florida in 2013.  We hoped to camp again under the same oak tree where we'd seen 41 species of birds in one day, most of them in the oak tree. But we couldn't remember which site it was.  As it was, we walked around the campground and got great pictures of a red-taled hawk feasting on a squirrel.  Which I would have published here if I hadn't lost the post.

The next morning we hiked up to the Buzzard's Roost. The trail follows the road along the lakeshore from our campsite and then up to the summit through meadows and oak covered hills.  

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Where there's oaks, there's Acorn woodpeckers.

We found this interesting skull in the middle of the trail:

See the whiskers?  It must be a bobcat.

From the summit we got a great views of the lake and even to the Sierra Nevada in the distance.

Look at at us enjoying ourselves, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen to the world.  That afternoon we informed that we had to leave the state park, and the next day we were on our way home.

Saddleback Butte

Our campsite at Saddleback Butte with said butte in background

The forecast was for snow at Joshua Tree so we thought we'd better move on to somewhere warmer.  Our original plan was to head for the Mojave National Preserve, but it's even higher elevation there.  We checked out the coast but the forecast was for steady rain.

Instead we decided to head for the central valley.  To break up the drive we stopped for one night at Saddleback Butte State Park in the Antelope Valley. It was deserted with one other camper on site.

We set up camp and then hit the trail to the butte.

Its hard to tell in this picture, but the desert is abloom after all the rain recently. All that green foliage is blooming. Its just that the flowers that are abloom are these:

Common Fiddleneck

They are not very showy. We also saw this pretty white flower for the first time:

1. -raYellow-rayed Layia.  The little yellow flowers are California Goldfields.

Also more of these pale blue-lilac Mojave Woody Asters we've seen before at Big Morongo and Joshua Tree.

At the summit we had a great 360 degree view around us.

These yellow patches in the distance are thousands of the tiny California Goldfields shown above:

Leo got a shot of our campsite far below.

It was very blustery up there and ominously dark clouds were surrounding us so we hurried back down.

With all the wind not many birds were about, but Leo got a good shots of this black-throated sparrow.

Big Morongo Canyon

Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is noted as one of the most significant birding sites in the US. As a change from your average California oasis it's dominated by cottonwoods instead of your run-of-the mill palm trees.  There's a boardwalk that circles the marsh, and trails that go up into the hill around it.

So they had some birds we hadn't seen lately.  A junco!  Their rare bird sighting was a northern catbird that Leo saw but did not photograph. We saw our first ruby-crowned kinglet,

bushtits, a cedar waxwing. Our bird of the day,

this oak titmouse was investigating a nest hole in this  tree with its partner.

They had another long-eared owl nesting in the woods

Spot the long eared owl

but it was hard to get a good photo with all the branches in the way.

This Bewick's wren was collecting material for its nest:

Cottonwood Spring

Another day, another oasis.  We visited Cottonwood Springs on a Saturday.  It took us 45 minutes to drive there from our campsite, and by then the place was packed.  We had the luck to arrive at the same time as a school group of 20 kids, so we rushed through the oasis to beat the crowds on the Mastodon Loop trail.

Cottonwood Springs is at a lower elevation than most of the park and the desert here is Sonoran rather than Mojave, so the vegetation was looking pretty lush

and more flowers were blooming like these desert bells (Phacelia campanularia)

and these Mohave woodyasters:

We wound up getting pleasantly lost, wandering around the boulders and yuccas

 until we found our way back to the trail.  In our perambulations we happened upon a secret oasis near the site of the former community associated with the Mastodon mine,

which was full of birds like this female Gambel's quail

and this hooded oriole posing in a beautiful blooming (Peritoma arborea) shrub.

Then we looked up and lo and behold, 21 pelicans were flying overhead!

We tried to stop at a few other trailheads on our way back to the campsite, but spots in the parking lots were hard to come by.  Joshua Tree was full up!


In the evening vehicles were cruising around the campsite looking for a place to camp so we let a group of 4 young people set up their tiny tent in our campsite.  Just as well they were all squeezed in together as it got very cold overnight.

Ryan's Mountain and Barker's Dam

Back to our travelogue:

The next day we hiked up Ryan's mountain.  It was cold and blustery.  There weren't many birds about, just the ubiquitous white-crowned  sparrows, house finches and the black-throated sparrows.

Nice view from up top, but we didn't stay long in the howling wind.

In the afternoon we headed to Barker's Dam, which was very busy with people.

Right at the start we encountered the Bird of the Day.

A Western Scrub Jay opening an acorn.  Because of the water and the shade between the boulders here there are liveoaks and pinyon pines here, attracting woodland birds like the jay and titmouse.

We arrived at the petroglyph site at the same time as two Rangers who explained to us that Walt Disney "improved" the petroglyphs for a movie they were shooting here before Joshua Tree was made a park.

The authentic petroglyphs are the unpainted ones on the lower right.

We also saw this early flowering hedgehog cactus:

Home Safe and Sound and Self Isolating

I may have sounded rather cavalier about the coronavirus crisis in the last blog; keep in mind I actually wrote it a week earlier than it appeared.  In any case on the actual March 18 we were sitting in the sun outside our trailer in Millerton Lake State Park blissfully unaware of world events and contemplating booking another day when a State Parks police officer dropped by to tell us we had to leave in the morning as they were closing all State Parks..

The next morning we were headed north listening to National Public Radio and realized how serious the situation had become.  California schools were closed, all public events were cancelled and Canada had agreed to close the border to all but essential travel.  So we made a run for the border along with a lot of other BC snowbirds, comparing notes at highway rest stops along the I5.

We overnighted just before the Oregon border at the Yreka rest stop.

The next day we drove 1100 km in 12 hours through Oregon and Washington.  The plus side of the crisis was that traffic was down 40 percent in the Seattle area due to self-isolation according to NPR.  We were able to drive through downtown Seattle during rush hour with no traffic snarls for the first time in 30 years.

Once we were north of Seattle, the highway signs changed to read "Border closes at 9 pm to all but essential travel."  We made it across at 8 pm.  The customs officer asked us if we had any symptoms and told us to self-isolate for 14 days.  We parked for the night at Costco and drove home the next morning.

Where in the World are Connie and Leo?

Hint:  our campsite comes with its own boulder and namesake tree

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's dramatic sunset because at 6 am the next morning it started raining.  We hooked up in the rain, we emptied our tanks in the pouring rain and we drove back toward the Salton Sea in the pouring rain.

In the desert they don't install culverts they just put a dip in the road and let the water pour over.  Well the dips were full of muddy water today.

We checked in at the Joshua Tree National Monument Visitor Centre in the rain.  They told us it should be easy to find a campsite in this weather.  Indeed the Belle campsite was half empty and we wound up choosing the exact same campsite we stayed in 3 years ago.

I went out into the pouring rain to direct Leo in and within seconds I was totally soaked with my shoes filling up with water.  Instead we jumped into the trailer, stripped off our wet clothes, bundled up in fleece and down and made hot chocolate, soup and grilled cheese sandwiches to warm ourselves while the lightening flashed all around us and a torrent flowed through our campsite.

When the rain lightened up slightly we put on our rainwear and set up the trailer, then drove into 29 Palms and spent a few hours drinking coffee and catching up on the coronavirus crisis.  We have been quite out of the loop, and now find that our Prime Minister has self-quarantined himself and in our own hometown the grocery shelves are empty of toilet paper.  Really? The toilet paper aisle here in 29 Palms is also bare.  What's the deal? Personally I'd stock up on cookies and chocolate bars to get myself through a crisis.

So far the only way we're affected is Starbucks won't fill our personal coffee cups and no longer dispenses cream in a communal jug. That and our go-to radio station NPR has turned into the National Coronavirus Station 24/7.

When we returned the dips in the road were full of debris and all the gravel roads and the highway south from our campsite were closed. By evening it had cleared up and we went for an hour walk from our campsite amid the Joshua trees and the boulders. 

The stars came out, but the wind was howling.  We bundled up in our down jackets and were soon in bed.

Hellhole Canyon and Blair Valley

The next morning as the fog was lifting we hit the Hellhole Canyon trail.

It was anything but hellish, with abundant red and yellow bushes and huge robust blooming ocatillos.

These tiny yellow blooms must have just sprouted with the recent rains.

We knew we were nearing the oasis when we ran into the first sycamore tree.

This oasis was particularly green with lush abundant grass.

We climbed over some big boulders to get there so we decided not to continue up to maidenhair falls as we were told the scrambling would only get rougher.  A bit awkward with binoculars and a big expensive camera to lug.

Lots of birds here with all the lushness.

Costa's Hummingbird

And the California towhee, identified by the orange in front of its eye.  Lifer!

We also spotted a Scott's Oriole for the first time this trip.

Our next hike took us south toward Ocatillos Wells into Blair Valley.  We walked 2 trails here.  First the Motero trail through an area once inhabited by the Kumayaay people.

It was easy to imagine the women working in the shade of these big rock slabs.

Note the mortar holes for grinding grains and the cupolas (unknown significance) on the vertical surfaces .

As the info plaques noted, right next door was the larder with yucca and agave and creosote bush for medicine.

The Pictograph trail led us down a wide wash

toward a painted rock.

The info plaques always emphasize that while we like to speculate the significance of these symbol is unknown.  Nevertheless I'm pretty sure that this is a picture of a quail:

See the bobble on its head!

The trail continued on to the dramatic Smuggler's Cove with its dramatic view of the valley below.

Right at the start of the trail we saw Lawrence's goldfinch (but no decent photo) and on the way out we got good shots of a Scott's Oriole

We've been hearing western meadowlark throughout this trip, but here we had our first good view:

 And when we got back to camp we followed up on a tip from one of our fellow owlers and played the song of the California Thrasher.  Up popped two of them in response.  Lifer and Bird of the Day

Let's end this long post with our last sunset at Anzo Borrego: