Holtville Hot Springs

 

We are still at Holtville, the weather has been a bit cooler the last two days,but the forecast is for 80 degrees starting tomorrow.

We drove to Holtville North LTVA, which is on the other side of  highway 8. the Hot Springs are right along  side the highway.

There were three or four men in the pools

The pond around the Hot Springs

 

The Hot Springs are not on but right beside the LTVA. I read that they are kept clean by the RVers.

We also drove  down highway 98 to looks at Tamarisk LTVA which is about 15 miles east of Holtville.  The shoulders of the highway were flat and perfectly smooth.

 

We found out why when we came across a Border Patrol Car driving back and forth dragging a tire attached to the car by chains. Then if anyone comes across the border illegally they can see their footprints. I wanted to take a picture of the car but when Skip slowed down, the Border Patrol  car stopped too, and I didn’t feel right taking the picture. In other words I chickened out.

Tamarisk is the smallest  of the LTVAs , It is basically a rectangular area edged with Tamarisk Trees.

It certainly wouldn’t be for everyone, unless sitting in the sun reading or doing a hobby for a week or two suits you.

The plan is to stay here until Monday, when we will  drive to El Cajon and stay overnight, then leave early Tuesday morning for the coast. Hopefully we will be north of Los Angeles when we stop for the night. As usual that is subject to change.

 

Jean

Holtville is Hot

 

And that suits us just fine, we were hoping for some warm weather before we headed home, so far so good 80+ and no wind so far although the forecast is for some tomorrow.

We drove down highway 111 alongside the Salton Sea, lots of fields like this, we  have no idea what they are growing, but it must be something that requires protection from the sun. They should put  signs  along side the fields so people like me know what they are growing.

I recognized this crop of carrots, which is the big crop around Holtsville

At Holtsville there are two Long Term Visitors Areas  or LTVA  which cost $180 for the season or $40.00 for 14 days. Plus there are two free 14 day areas, all  are administered by the BLM.

Holtville North, is where the hot springs are although  we haven’t seen them yet, as we are on the other side.

Holtville North LTVA

 

Holtville South where we are parked.

 

Neighbors

We walk the dogs by the canal

 

Holtville isn’t the prettiest area we have stayed in, but the weather is warm and we are about 120 miles from San Diego and the highway home that we will be taking in about a week.

 

This is called playing, it sounds like they are fighting.

Jean

Box Canyon and Meccacopia Trail

 

We set out yesterday to hike Painted Canyon. We crossed highway 10 and drove into  Box Canyon.

We took the Meccacopia Trail which turned into quite a ride.

The wash was quite wide at the beginning

Pretty Brittle Bush Flowers

Gnarly Mesquite Tree

 

The road quickly got rougher

In some places it went straight up

And straight down

The little Sunrunner did really well

This  little canyon was so narrow we couldn’t open the doors.

We could see the Salton Sea when we came out of the little canyon

More rocky cliffs

Until we came to another view of the Salton Sea

We didn’t see any signs so we kept going and came out beside this church that didn’t appear to be in use anymore

Pretty bush

We found a road that took us to highway 111 along the north shore of the Salton Sea, nine miles from the town of Mecca. We didn’t see the sign to Painted Canyon until we drove through Mecca and entered  Box Canyon from the opposite end we started from. By that time it was too late to doing any hiking. Meccacopia Trail is 11 miles long and is for 4 wheel drive only. It took us over two hours but was it ever fun. We will do Painted Canyon another trip. We left Joshua Tree this morning and headed south,hopefully the wind won’t follow us, it’s hard to sleep with the wind howling all night.

Jean

Wind, Rain, and Finally a Hike

 

It’s been an interesting few days at Joshua Tree National Park, we have had rain showers a couple of times since we left home last September, but on Thursday it poured for hours for and the wind didn’t stop blowing  until sometime Friday. We noticed a couple of cars at a coming out of the park with snow on their roofs. We are not camped at a high enough elevation but several campgrounds had some snow.

On Saturday there was no wind so we decided on a short hike three mile hike to Mastodon Peak.

The trail starts at Cottonwood Spring

The trail is pretty easy to start.

Looking back it’s hard to see the trail

 

That’s where we are headed

Glad we weren’t underneath when this rock split

The trail ended and it was straight up.

 

The view from the peak

Looking Back

Nice to see some flowers

We had to go to Indio today for groceries The dogs do not like staying but it is too warm to leave them in the car.

Sad faces

We brought this box back, Louis got in it, so I put his blanket in it.

Of course Jake claimed it right away.

So Louie took Jakes bone.

Jean

Joshua Tree

 

We gave up wandering around the deserts of Arizona and headed to Joshua Tree National Park. Last year we drove through the Park on  our way to Death Valley, we decided then we would come back and explore the park.

We are parked in BLM area just outside the south gate

The roads in the camping area are in really bad shape, with lots of washouts. The only spot we could find that was level and not in soft sand was by the road. It’s not a problem for us because the  dogs  are always on their leashes or in their pen.

It was unusual to see this in a BLM camping area

And this..I think Jakes telling me, he’s missing his lawn at home.

It’s 151 days since we left home, in that time we have only had hookups one night. we haven’t had to worry about power, as our solar system has worked flawlessly. We changed the lights we use the most to led bulbs and it has made a big difference in the amount of power use in an evening.We are pretty careful with water, we use our on board water for showers and flushing the toilet,we carry about 20 gallons of  water in containers and we use that water for dishes, making coffee and cooking. In a few weeks we will be starting our trip home to Vancouver Island, and we will be glad to get home. Out little house always seems so big after so much time spent in the motorhome.

Jean