Mojave National Preserve, south of Baker, CA, and east of Barstow, CA, is one of my favorite places. We camped there the first night of our trip home from Arizona. There was a big windstorm in the forecast, but it wasn’t supposed to hit until the following morning. I woke at midnight to big wind. By morning it was even bigger. Instead of a leisurely departure, we had to throw all of our stuff in the car and leave by 8am. At least we got one pretty evening.
Pavement ends, preserve begins.
That’s my head.
Volcanic layers.
Granite and burned trees. In 2005, the Hackberry Complex fire roared through a piece of the preserve.
Our campsite in Mid Hills Campground. Much of the campground was burned in the Hackberry fire, but small sections survived.
View from the campsite, with a mix of burned and living trees.
Steve unloads the dusty car.
Our star bed, which was a dust bed by morning.
Campsite.
Time to sort out the barbies. Their morning photo shoot had to be abandoned due to wind.
I still haven’t glued the back of Sarah’s head back on. I rather like her this way.
Sunset begins.
Dinosaur waiting for a starring role in photo shoot.
Chicken posole for dinner.
Sunset view.
Moon.
Cozy fire at sunset.
Sunset through burned trees.
Evening glow.
A friendly visitor looking for crumbs.
There are several species of kangaroo rat, but I think this is a Miriam’s kangaroo rat.
I fed him Ak Mak crackers.
Morning dust obscures Cima Dome.
Burned tree and threatening sky.
Burned tree in front of granite.
Time to leave. Driving through burned area.
Back to unburned part of the preserve.
Leaving the preserve.
On to Kelso Depot. I recommend it as a stop for anybody in the area.
The nighttime skeletal tree photos are THRILLING AND CHILLING. They would love a zombie standing next to them. I will look at all of the photos again later
I loved that tree. I was going to line all of the barbies up on that big limb the next morning, but the gale-force winds ruined that plan. Steve and I laughed at the thought of barbies flying through the air on wind gusts, but I didn’t want to have to retrieve them from the steep gully.
Good enough, I can picture it. Lol all over the place.
The rock pile (granite and burned trees) is alive and buzzing with rock energy, can’t explain it.
Granite has lots of rock energy. The burned trees are the storytellers of the preserve’s recent history, and the air was crackling with dry static energy when I took the picture.
Big Granite & The Burned Out Trees. That could be a rock band. Lovely pictures – so desolate, so interesting.