I am skipping around, because the desert tortoise sighting was so exciting. I had to post about that right away. What I should have written about first was that last week, Matthias, the dog and I loaded up into the VW Van - Gordita - and took off for a couple of wonderful days. We headed up north towards the Trona Pinnacles. These are tufa spires that were formed between 10,000 and 100,000 years ago in the Searles Dry Lake Basin. (Well, when they were formed, it was NOT a dry lake, but a real lake!) For a bit of reading about Trona, click here. What a cool place! It is quite a desolate landscape near the pinnacles. Not only were we far from any kind of civilization, but also there appears to be little evidence of any kind of life near these amazing formations. A few dusty clumps of shrub, if that. Apparently, many Sci-Fi films were shot here, including Star Trek V, Planet of the Apes, and even some car commercials. When we got there, I could see why this place is chosen for filming Sci-Fi. I definitely felt like I had gone to another planet for a while.
We spent one windy night at the Trona Pinnacles. Thank goodness for Gordita, who makes camping another experience entirely. I mean, she's got a sink, a stove, a tiny refrigerator, and when it got too windy, we just took the sleeping bags down to the lower level and put the pop top down. It makes for just the right mix of camping and comfort in my book. I LOVE that van!!! Mr. Pono loves the van, too. Even if it was windy, it was a warm night. I was happy for that, because I really hate being cold. The next morning was spectacular, and we tried to take lots of photos of the pinnacles in that beautiful morning light.
Pono is quite the tourist, and had fun exploring the pinnacles. We didn't see a soul all night long, although it does seem like plenty of people find their way to the pinnacles for a look. It was well worth seeing, dry and barren aside.
Sometimes, you just need to get away from it all. Day Two is for tomorrow, so I'll see ya then!
3 comments:
yes, indeed, it is a perfect landscape for star trek. oh how i wish i had a gordita.
as always, looking forward to seeing and hearing more beautiful and exciting things in your blog.
I'm stuck on Gordita...ha!
Looks like an awesome place to camp...we love camping in the middle of nowhere. Like the Star Trek tie in, too.
Well I can see why they film my favourite shows there, really looks like there kind of turf. Now I am a bit of a nervous nelly, I would be afraid of wolfs etc, so even though I wish I could do stuff like camp, I have to stay in hotels.
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