Sand and Salt

In finding the caches I needed to complete the Delorme Challenge cache, our trip through Death Valley took f0t0m0m and I to some significant and fascinating geological areas.

The Mesquite Valley Sand Dunes spread out over a large part of the valley floor. The wave shape of the dunes make it look like an ocean of sand.

No, they NOT film “Star Wars” here, as I confirmed when I got home and looked it up.
Sand Dunes of Tatooine
Mesquite Flats Dune Field

One of the requirements for one of the earthcaches was to collect some magnetite from the sand. This was surprisingly easy, as the mineral particles are very abundant.

Salt Creek is exactly that. It’s high salinity hosts plants and animals that have adapted to living in it, including the pupfish.
More on Salt Creek here

The boardwalk winds along the creek, allowing clear views of the hills, plants, and little pupfish.

More photos from below sea level next week, meanwhile here’s a bonus link! I and several other local cachers were interviewed for an article by the L.A. Times. This is a GOOD piece on our hobby – “Geocaching is Fun Hidden in Plain Sight”

Speaking of geocaching in the media, check out the new book “Maphead” by Ken Jennings, the monster Jeopardy champion. Chapter 10 is all about geocaching, and I even have a special mention at the bottom of page 197!

Yea, Though I Walk Through the Valley of…

I’ve long anticipated a trip through Death Valley. It’s one of the few areas of California to which I have never been! Finally, in the quest for completing the Southern California Delorme Challenge, f0t0m0m and I did a loop up through the Antelope Valley to the western entrance of Death Valley and back down to Primm, NV.

The first part of our journey was to collect the last few caches for me on the pages that I had not gotten to yet. The first stop was in Monument, CA, a few miles west of Mojave.
Sand Canyon Cache Creek

This red farmhouse up the road made a striking contrast to the surrounding brown hills.

One of the target caches took us up a narrow canyon with unique geology.
Maintenance Desired!

The layers of rock were almost wafer thin….

… and the strata have been pushed up completely vertically.

The view on the way out was spectacular.

An earthcache brought us to a dramatic overlook of the Panamint Valley, one over from Death Valley. f0t0m0m helped out some other tourists as I answered the cache questions.
Death Valley Earthcache

Panamint Valley

Furnace Creek is in the middle of Death Valley.

It’s thata way! More next week!

Nike Hike

I saw some new caches up by the old Nike base on dirt Mulholland, and headed out there to grab one.

1837

The gate at the crossroads was locked, so I decided to just get this one, saving a few for another day and another couple miles of hiking exercise:

The weather was perfect: cloudy, breezy, cool

Since I more often drive up this section of road to the Nike base, I noticed some new things as I walked:

Here’s the entrance to the old Nike base, now adorned with signs describing its history:

I wonder where this paved path used to lead:

Some funky old posts at the side of the road:

The local flora is starting to show more color:

Down the hill and to the north is the Encino Reservoir:

This is the view from the cache looking back toward where I parked.

Looking down on the San Fernando Valley:

Madera Wine Trail

Winetrail

Cottonwood Creek

My sister and I enjoyed a day of tasting wine along the Madera Wine Trail, and of course, I found a couple of caches located conveniently along the way.

The tastings were set up among the various wine barrels and wine making equipment:

Each featured winery also had live music, food, local crafts, and a wide variety of other booths and displays.

The biggest surprise was seeing this cheetah! A local big cat rescue was on hand to raise funds with some of the wine sales.

This cheetah is the one featured in a recent Hyundai commercial:

Geology and the Old 99 Highway

Spoondoggie had never been to the south side of the Lake Pyramid dam, so we set aside some time to head up there and take the 5-mile roundtrip hike up the old highway 99 to check it out. Here’s bit on the history of the highway – Hwy 99

The contrails were striking in the clear blue sky. It was pretty windy, but not too chilly.

This is Piru Creek: “Here, the flow of the lower creek is augmented by water releases from Pyramid dam and reservoir. This segment offers one of the few reliable year-round cold water trout fisheries in Southern California and is managed as a catch and release Wild Trout Stream by the California Department of Fish and Game. It is also a popular spot for families to picnic, view wildlife, and catch a glimpse of old California, before it was transformed by the urban megalopolis.” – from this site

Here’s where the wild trout are:

The dam is ahead of us, and there is a lot of geology to see in the rocks cutaway by both the original road construction and river erosion.

Scott finally got to see this side of the dam, and we both analyzed the nearby rock formations to learn about Piru Gorge Sandstone Ripples and Channels. I never knew that rocks could show which direction water flows.

Be sure to check out that cache page for diagrams and information on this phenomenon, expertly described by TerryDad.

In the spirit of Los Angeles history, we had lunch at Tommy Burgers! Those are not just iconic, but super yummy!

Wildflowers

I got out for a hike with f0t0m0m yesterday morning hoping to beat the rain. We didn’t, and ended up hightailing back to the car for a mile and a half in the drizzle and the mud, but on the way up, I was once again delighted to see the first of the myriads of our wildflowers already starting to bloom.

I don’t know the names of them all, but I do know this one is purple lupine:

This is indian paintbrush:

This photo shows at least a dozen different types of plants:

I’d like to learn more about what plants are edible, but the only one I know for sure is this one, miner’s lettuce:

Here’s a little blue flower:

Here’s a little purple flower:

You can see bushes of purple flowers on the rocky hill across the canyon:

I saw three different types of yellow flowers!
cluster:

some type of daisy:

clover?:

This lonely sticky monkey flower will be one of many setting the hillside ablaze with its orange and yellow color in a couple of weeks:

The rock formations show interesting colors, too:

They also are home to moss:

… and lichen.

The clouds lifted from time to time to allow for some great vistas!

Here’s what we found today on the hike, and there are more to get on the next, hopefully dry, hike up.
I-5 Overlook
Ursula's Unhealthy Buffet
Oak Grove #1
Oak Grove #2
Oak Grove #3
The Tin Man
TREE

Los Angeles Pet Cemetery

After well over 25,000 finds, there are still amazing and surprising things to discover while out caching!
The Pet Cemetery

The Los Angeles Pet Cemetery is one of those places, indeed. I was completely unaware that any such place existed, and it’s been here since 1928.

Follow this link -LA Pet Cemetery- to learn more about the cemetery and its history. It looks like any other cemetery at first glance.

There are new flowers everywhere, so this is a very active place.

Near the entrance is a charming garden…

…with a large stone homage to The Rainbow Bridge:

It was difficult not to get choked up as I walked around. Some headstones were quite large!

These are two from what was the first section of plots, dated 1929:

Some had photos of the pets, much like some human headstones:

I even found one in Chinese, near this tree covered in wind chimes:

The music from the chimes added to the peace and charm. At the back is a small mausoleum, also dated 1929.

It’s decorated with some really beautiful stained glass:

f0t0m0m explored a different corner of the cemetery, came across some famous horses!

We even found Rudolf Valentino’s dog.

There were a few graves for cats and horses, but most were dogs. I don’t know if I’ll put my cats here to rest, but it’s certainly something to consider. It was wonderful to come across this unusual and significant bit of Los Angeles history and culture, in any case.