Night on Ghost Mountain

Monday, Gail and I headed to the Anza Borrego Desert to revisit the ruins of the Marshal South home on the top of Ghost Mountain.  When we were there before, we thought it would be a fun place to spend the night, see the night sky, and experience Yaquitepec as the Souths did from 1932 to 1948. However, we weren't quite prepared for what Mother Nature had in store for us.

After driving about 6 miles on a dirt road, we arrived at this area of Blair Valley.

At the end of a short side road is this sign at the foot of Ghost Mountain.

Since we had plenty of time, we decided to take a long cross country hike to eventually get to the top of the mountain.  Ghost Mountain is hardly a mountain, perhaps being about 600 feet or so high.

A pretty little barrel cactus.

You have to watch out for those yucca spines!

From up on Ghost Mountain, you can see all of Blair Valley.  Our car is in the lower left of the picture.

After hiking for awhile, we took the trail down to the car and drove over to explore the Morteros area.

Kumeyaay pictograph made from charcoal and oil from roasted Wild Cucumber seeds.

Western Side-blotched Lizard (male).

White-tailed Antelope Squirrel.

A different looking Western Side-blotched Lizard.

After an hour or so we headed back to the trailhead for Yaquitepec.  Our plan was to backpack up to the top of Ghost Mountain, make dinner, do some night photography, and spend the night.

At the top, about 150 feet from our "camp," the welcoming committee was ready for us in the form of a Red Diamond Rattlesnake.

 This is what is left of the Marshal South home.  Compare it to the picture on the sign.

These are the cisterns for storing rainwater, if it ever did rain.

We spent a lot of time looking for a sheltered spot for sleeping, as we were not bringing a tent, AND the wind was blowing a steady 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph, according to the National Weather Service.  Being on the top of this barren little mountain, I think we experienced at least that.

Conversation Pit

Imitation of blowing yuccas.

Imitation of blowing bushes.

Imitation of blowing juniper tree.

 The ruins.

Back-lit cholla cactus and red hair.

We didn't do much night photography, as the wind made it pretty cold.  We slept totally zipped up to our mouths, with down jackets and thermal underwear.  The wind got even stronger in the middle of the night.  It actually pushed us back and forth on our air mattresses.  Neither of us slept much after 2:00 AM.  At 5:00 AM we quickly stuffed our packs and headed down to lower ground where the wind wasn't half as bad.

 Heading out at the crack of dawn.

"Let's get off this mountain!"  We did have a spectacular moon rise last night - a giant red moon rising over the Coachella Valley.  Here, it has two or three hours to go before setting.

 We drove to this large rock that we could shelter behind and cook our breakfast.  Illegal fires have left their marks on this fine boulder.

 Warmed, fed, and energized, we drove to the "Pictograph" trail, and had a very pleasant morning hike to the dry waterfall.  There was a bee hive up in those rocks and bees were zooming everywhere.

Looking down from the top of the dry waterfall.

 A Mearn's Rock Lizard had just emerged from a crevice.

Lizard hunter at work.

Another Mearn's Rock Lizard near the trail on the way back to the car.

When we got home, we pulled out my pirated tape, "The Ghost Mountain Experiment", a documentary on the eccentric artist, poet, builder, Marshal South, his wife Tanya, and their three children.  We both slept at least 10 hours last night - ahhh!