A drive through the desert

Was in Palm Springs a couple of weeks ago on business and took a drive through The Joshua Tree National Park. Somewhere I'd never been and found really interesting (and I'm not a fan of deserts ). A prehistoric feel with a mix of the Colorado desert and Mohave desert and some really curious geoformations.

A great destination for rock climbers.

Thought I'd share they had camping and all sorts of hiking trails, the elevation was high enough that it stayed cool during my visit.

See and 20 mule team borax wagons?

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Those trees remind me of monkey puzzle trees. As a youngster it was the done thing in my family to pull one's lugs (ears) out whenever we saw that type of tree.

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john vanlandingham
See any 20 mule team borax wagons?

Spellcheck failure!! I thought you had that fixed? I'n stoll strugling ta git firefix ti coract me mistekes wen A wriht i pust n heer.

And you won't see any 20 mule teams kicking up dust these days. It was found that 20 mule teams were far too powerful for the modern world when their output was analysed and the conversion to horsepower was applied by modern health and safety regulations.
That's a real shame because the sight of overpowered Borax wagons kicking up stoor (dust) and getting sideways on dirt roads could have saved rallying....

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Disappointingly not yet a Jackass

You know what I didn't even think of Borax. I was wondering what the white roads were that I saw from the plane out in the middlle of nowhere desert (I suspect it's still around). I did see a couple of old mines from the gold rush days.

And...John given you're full of knowledge from every corner of the earth...without googling do you know what this is used for? I climbed a non-descript rock clustered with a few others and found this when I reached the top.

Monkey Trees are beautiful, we have some (non-native) in the Northwest. The Joshua tree is a member of the catcus family and really something unique to see. Here's another

As for the 20 mules...hmmm mules are stronger, so why horsepower and not mulepower?

http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa090897.htm
Following the Louisiana Purchase and the exploration of the western United States "frontier," the federal government decided to sell as much of the land as possible to the public. In order to make the distribution as equitable as possible among a generally uncharted and very diverse two and a quarter million square miles, they decided to divide up the west with squares.

The General Land Office (later known as the Bureau of Land Management) started surveying west from Ohio. They established 34 sets of survey meridians and base lines which were the starting points for each region of townships. Thirty-one sets are in the western and southern contiguous United States and and three pairs are in Alaska. Originally surveyors named the earliest pairs by number (the first through sixth principal meridians); the rest are named for geographic features. Names include the Boise Meridian, Gila and Salt River Meridian, and the Mount Diablo Meridian.

A township is both a square six miles long on each side as well as the method to locate the north-south (horizontal) row from the base line where the township lies. In the graphic below, the township is located at Township 1 North because it is in the first row north of the base line. Ranges are rows of townships east or west of the meridian (vertical). In the graphic, the township is located at Range 1 East because it is in the first row to the east of the principal meridian.

Each 36 square mile township is divided up into 36 single-square-mile "sections." These sections are numbered sequentially from the northeast corner to the southeast corner (see graphic). The 640 acre sections can be divided even further. For instance, if someone purchased the northeast corner (160 acres) of section 22 as shown in our sample township, the property would be identified as the "northeast quarter of section 22, township 1 north, range 1 east." When you have even smaller portions of a section it becomes a bit more complicated. Try this one, "The southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 22, etc." this quarter of a quarter section is a 40 acre parcel. Furthermore, one could identify a ten-acre parcel by adding another quarter to the description (a quarter of a quarter of a quarter of a section).

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Neat pictures. But I see the word desert and all I can think of is having a back up to the back up to the back up air conditioner.

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Kirk Coughlin
Woodbury, MN and River Falls, WI

Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est.

This is why I love this site. Where else does the concept of a boustrophedon come up besides a rally-related forum?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2013 02:46PM by Iowa999.

John, some day I'll come up with something you know nothing about


I've always been fascinated with symbols and numbers, codes I know I'm not alone here.


And you're right I wouldn't want to visit any season other than winter. Signs posted every so often on the road leading into the park to watch for overheating. Probably common in that area. I don't mind sweating, just not in the desert (If that's even possible?)


Have a great week!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2013 11:02PM by Wannabe.

I lived for 9 months in San Diego and drove out for hiking in this area several times. Very neat area to visit and at this time of the year no one around as it is "winter" and locals do not hike in "winter" or sell things like shorts as it is "winter". Winter being 68F an all...

Often a tax parcel ID will contain the township, section and range numbers in the first sets of numbers. Legal Descriptions are typically easy to read once you get a feel for the terms. For example I own the West two hundred fifty feet of the north two hundred feet of Government Lot 6 Sec 19, Township 34N, Range 1W

I do happen to have one of these markers placed in the 1960's on my property line, I think locating range 1W.

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In the long run reality always wins.

I never knew such things existed Pretty neat. When I stumbled upon it I first thought it must be something to measure seismic activity

Just returned from SanDiego, I'm there often for work. Know of any good trails at Torrey Pines? I went last year but was in a crunch for time and was under impressed.

Na Torrey Pines is not all that cool, go out to Julian - that is a cool area

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Hiking+Trails&find_loc=Julian%2C+CA

Cuyamaca Forest/ Park is the good place to hike, North off I-8 onto 79.

Black's Beach is interesting if you like naked people.

Sunset Cliffs nature Park is close in and nice too.

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In the long run reality always wins.

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derek
Na Torrey Pines is not all that cool, go out to Julian - that is a cool area

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Hiking+Trails&find_loc=Julian%2C+CA

Cuyamaca Forest/ Park is the good place to hike, North off I-8 onto 79.

Black's Beach is interesting if you like naked people.

Sunset Cliffs nature Park is close in and nice too.

And

who here duddnit like nekkid people?

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

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john vanlandingham

Quote
derek
Na Torrey Pines is not all that cool, go out to Julian - that is a cool area

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Hiking+Trails&find_loc=Julian%2C+CA

Cuyamaca Forest/ Park is the good place to hike, North off I-8 onto 79.

Black's Beach is interesting if you like naked people.

Sunset Cliffs nature Park is close in and nice too.

And

who here duddnit like nekkid people?

Depends...

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Parfois, on fait pas semblant!

I am:
I know:
I am from:

Nobody.
Nothing.
Nowhere.

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Creech

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
derek
Na Torrey Pines is not all that cool, go out to Julian - that is a cool area

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Hiking+Trails&find_loc=Julian%2C+CA

Cuyamaca Forest/ Park is the good place to hike, North off I-8 onto 79.

Black's Beach is interesting if you like naked people.

Sunset Cliffs nature Park is close in and nice too.

And

who here duddnit like nekkid people?

You have to be an optimist.

Depends...

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Thanks for that!

Will save me time from researching for my next visit.

Cuyamaca Forest looked really cool.

******

And my take on nude beaches ....they're gross. There's a whole fashion industry out with all sorts of fun stuff to wear...

Hiking Mt. Si tomorrow



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2013 08:00PM by Wannabe.