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| Dirtbags in the snow. |
Dirtbag (according to Urban Dictionary): A person who is
committed to a given … lifestyle to the point of abandoning employment and
other societal
norms in order to pursue said lifestyle. Dirtbags
can be distinguished from hippies by the fact that dirtbags
have a specific reason for… living non-hygienically; dirtbags are seeking to
spend all of their moments pursuing their lifestyle.
Perhaps I’m only an intermittent dirtbag, but by the end of
the 8-day Mojave Desert overland, I certainly felt like one. I was disconnected from societal norms like
celebrating Christmas and taking hot showers.
That being said, though we weren’t “roughing it smoothly,” as the folks
in giant RVs say, we did benefit from a fridge and propane furnace. On second thought, I’m a dirtbag with
benefits.
Marco hadn’t been camping with me since the 2018 winter
solstice trip. Having his company was
exciting, as was our plan to boondock (camp outside campgrounds) as much as
possible. In the end there was but one
night of seven in a campground, and for that we had a good reason, I promise.
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| Rainbow in the Mojave Desert. Lurch is the tiny dot at lower right. |
I had a chance to show Marco a spot off the beaten path for
our first night. This place was my
favorite discovery last season. In all
my camping nights there, I’ve never encountered another human. It rained (a perfect excuse for a nap) and I’d
forgotten my good snow boots, so I trudged off into the sand dunes in my
plastic rain boots (not so great for hiking) without much hope for the overcast
sunset. As the lottery ads say, “you can’t
win if you don’t play;” I was rather glad I got out that evening when the
rainbow showed up.
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| Storm light in the Mojave Preserve |
We had a plan for the next night in the Mojave Preserve but
turned back (not for the last time, it turned out) when the truck started
squirming alarmingly in the mud. I had
some notes on my wish list for exploration, and we were able to discover a
great new spot in the Joshua Trees. And,
there was photogenic fog.
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| Lee Flat Sunrise, Death Valley National Park |
From there we headed up to Death Valley, thinking we might
spend one night in the developed part of the park. There’s a little kiosk near the park entrance
where visitors can pay the entrance fee.
I was aghast to see at least 40 cars there and a long queue of standing
people at the automated pay station. All
the major attractions from there to the developed area were choked with
people. We needed a “plan “B” and
settled on Lee Flat. We spent two nights
there but scooted out to Lone Pine between them for a phone signal to learn
whether we were at risk of getting stuck in that day’s snowstorm. I knew the weather would be gray and
uninspiring, but the forecast called for clearing before the next dawn. It was one of the most spectacular mornings I’ve
ever seen and was well worth sitting in the camper reading and playing gin
rummy through the stormy previous afternoon. Yes, even despite the overnight
low of 17F
From there we headed out Racetrack Valley Road and explored
Hidden Valley. We found icy roads, more
mud lurking under the snow, and a 4WD truck abandoned and sunk to the axles. We
backed up carefully and considered ourselves lucky.
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| The Racetrack and Grandstand from the north |
There was one, rather uninspiring, camp spot. It was an unproductive
day photographically, but I’ll chalk it up to exploration. The next morning, I chanced a slightly
different view of the famous Racetrack.
Perhaps this alone was worth the detour.
The night at Mesquite Springs Campground was convenient for
the next day’s tour through the long-closed Scotty’s Castle. The road and parts of the historic complex
were washed out during an October 2015 flood.
The Park’s Natural History Association is
partnering with the park service on these tours, which raise money for
restoration projects.
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| Ubehebe sunrise |
In any case there were a couple of unexpected benefits of
staying at Mesquite. The temperature was
55F and we felt like we were lounging on the beach. We were also surprised to find we’d camped
just across from a friend from Moab and enjoyed happy hour with him. The next morning's sunrise at nearby Ubehebe Crater was a treat as well.
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| Layers at the last camp |
The last camp spot is an old favorite. Sadly, we missed sunset (before 5:00 in
California’s winter), but I took a few shots and we enjoyed boondocking on our
own again before heading home and hitting the showers.
More from the 2019 Solstice trip are in the Winter 2019-20 Gallery on
the website. Sorry, no more pics of the
dirtbags. We looked pretty bad by the
time we headed home.
