inglorious wanderer

The canyon is under the protection of the  California Fish and Wildlife. The rains of previous weeks did good to the whole canyon. Spring in Jamul, a town close to US-Mexican border, is just around the corner.  The name Hollenbeck is supposed to denote to a swampy brook. The name has a North Greman origin, a place like Hollenbek near Hamburg or Ratzeburg. I didn't see the any swampy areas but the lush greenery seems to indicate the the area is well irrigated.  There being no wildlife not game, the moment is captured on trees.  And on boulders with Kay and Claudette.

With the Glorious Holy Shit!  The glorious holy shit made it to Morena Butte! To access the Morena Butte trail, we had to go a mile through the PCT. Nineteen miles away is the PCT Southern Terminus and more than twenty-six hundred miles away on the other direction is the PCT Northern Terminus. It was at the same PCT section that I encountered my very first PCT marker three years ago. Today, I returned with the glorious holy shit with my usual snail mail more marked than it was.  The above photo was taken October 21, 2012.  I returned to Morena Butte to look for my very first PCT marker. I sure missed it. But should I go back again in the future, I am sure I won't miss the trail to get to Morena Butte. I remember Nathan saying something about ducks. I learned later that calling cairns as ducks are the American way to goobledegook the English language.  Hema brought Christmas tinsels to put on bushes to help us find our way back. What a grand idea! Ranger Dale put on a...

The Mecca in California is a Mecca for hikers. It is one of the unincorporated desert communities in the Riverside County accessed by getting off Interstate 10 and going a little southeast bound on Highway 86. It is about half an hour drive from Palm Springs, if you don't get stopped for speeding.  The Salton Sea is Mecca's version of the Dead Sea. Just like the Dead Sea located in the vicinity of Jordan and Israel, the Salton Sea is a landlocked lake that acquires its salinity on its increasing depth. The Salton Sea is 227 feet below sea level and lies on top of San Andreas fault. Any fish that gets into Salton Sea is instantly processed as fish sauce.   Many many years ago, when Mecca Hills was a lot younger than now, she as Mother Nature, decided to get San Andreas  laid. The consequence of Mecca Hills, as Mother Nature lying on top of San Andreas  created a  lot mother fucking earthquakes! It was all San Andreas’ fault! Mother Nature gave birth to ...

Anza  Borrego Dessert State Park is  named after Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, a Spanish explorer born in Fronteras, Mexico. Anza, which I initially thought to be a city in Spain, is derived from the Basque language. Basque, where the ancestors of the Mexico-born Spanish explorer came from  was a disputed territory located between Spain and France. The people of Basque, an autonomous region of Spain had a distinct way of identifying themselves from the rest of the Spanish population by putting "De" before their chosen pen names . Anza, which is more of the Mexico-born Spanish explorer, means "pasture in the dwarf elder trees".  Anza Borrego Desert State Park, is also named after the big horn sheep, Djeline's white butts and my horny goats.  Kurt, the gracious carpool driver who made everyone wonder if Robin Williams came back to life unshaven, thought they must be busy elsewhere, it's the mating season. Larry Redden also referred to them  Djeline's whit...

The Arschloch found the arch rock at the White Tank campground near spot #9 with the mounted plaque that described the rock formation.  "Geological processes have created the beautiful arch over time. But we must realize that in geological framework, it's existence is only for a moment and it is not a final product. Erosion or wearing away will continue. Water will dissolve minerals on the surface and will seep into tiny cracks causing them to expand and contract with temperature extremes. Bits and pieces of the rock will fall away exposing new pieces to the elements. Wind will wear it away as other agents in this environment. Then one day, this arch will tumble only to be replaced with other unique shapes and forms." The Glorious Holy Shit may have been a figment of my Arschloch imagination but the arch rock  or whatever rock is not. Right now I thought I just saw a reptile with an outstretched font legs like its about to do some push ups.  Djeline referred to the arch r...

Djeline calls them white butts. To me they look like horny goats.  "They are called big horn sheep!" RN rebuked like he'd written the Joshua Tree National Park brochure himself.   "Aren't they called anza borrego?" I thought I read somewhere that the Anza Borrego Desert Park is named after horny goats. The reason why I signed up for the San Diego Photography Collective meet up was because it's going at a place called Wonder Valley at JTNP. The meet up group was there to photograph what used to be homesteads. I expected wandering through the ruins of what used to be a rustic community. I was thinking of Bodie, a ghost town in the eastern Sierra Nevada area. I think of a homestead as a tenant's make believe ranch. The The Homestead Act in the US gives farmers and settlers the right build their homes on public domains and till the land for their subsistence. I first heard about homesteads from a Filipino who planted fruit bearing trees and vegetable shr...

It took a train ride on a weekend day pass in the company of the glorious holy shit in my pocket  and 18 hike maniacs to get lei'd on a sidewalk! The meet up was set for 4.7 mile hike to Udupi Palace, a restaurant specializing in South Indian cuisine in Artesia, a city south of LA. Getting off at the Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs station, nothing could suggest to a curious police cruiser what the group of 19 hikers  from San Diego is up to. The police cruiser hovered by a while until it eventually gave up.  For most of us, the meet up was an exposure to vegetarian dining and for others, it was an exposure to something Indian and the realization that India is actually a country in East Asia. Ernest Sato once mentioned that Hema, the host and the idea behind this Southern India food exposure is originally from Kashmir. Kashmir is more of a North India so I thought of Kerala as more of South India.  Marushka who comes from the Tuva Republic ordered exactly like what Hema ord...