|
We had several last minute cancellations, and ended up heading out
at 8:00 am Saturday with only 5 people. It was raining steadily as
we headed up I-15, and as we passed Victorville it began to lighten
up and became intermittant sprinkles. We arrived at Seventeen Mile
Point around noon. There were still some sprinkles, and a couple of
quick showers. Since Seventeen Mile Point is basically inside a normally
dry wash, we decided to move to our alternate spot about 12 miles east
on a bank above Willow Wash. As we pulled into the new campsite, the sky
turned lighter, a pair of rainbows appeared, and within minutes we had
mostly blue sky and sunshine.
|
|
Sunday dawned with a few clouds, but mostly sunshine and it stayed that
way all day. I firmly believe that the first one up in the morning is the
luckiest camper, as they get to observe the sunrise, and smell the coffee
and bacon cooking.
|
|
After breakfast, we hiked up the nearest of the extinct cinder cones. What a fantastic view!
|
|
The ground is littered with red and black, twisted chunks of lava and basalt,
with so many holes (air bubbles) huge piece weighs only a couple pounds. At the
top, we startled a Big Horn Sheep who quickly sprang away and disappeared. A bold
little baby Big Horn however, stayed to stare at us. He 'ba-ah-ah-ahed' at us,
and instead of running, he approached us within a few feet! I had a hard time to
stop my daughter from trying to hug him.
|
|
We rested at the summit before climbing down.
|
|
On Sunday we did some offroading looking for mines and the lava tube caverns. The
area is laced with old 4x4 trails, but because the NPS allows street registered
vehicles only, there are no motorcycles or ATVs tearing up the area. These roads are
fairly easy, with a few sections of deep sand.
|
Trip Report - February 2005