Cloud Museum - Bard CA

It's always a good thing to find another desert oddity. If you like old things like I do (especially cars), this place would be right up your alley. A guy named Johnny Cloud started collecting old cars and other things many years ago. He eventually ended up with so much stuff, that he turned his place into a "museum." Bard California is a tiny little town (population under 100) near Yuma Arizona. 

This post has a lot of photos, so I'll give everyone a break and not include much more narrative. I could say a lot more about this place, and all of it would be good. 

Middle of nowhere

There must have been 150 cars here. This was my favorite.

 There were also a ton of other historical items 

 Most of the cars were either Ford Model T's, or Model A's. A lot of them were trucks.

Johnny Cloud has a story for almost every car he has. Who owned it, where they lived, and how he came to get it. 

Two posts ago, I was at another place (Mentone Beach) that also had a lot of outboard motors lined up like this.

 I can't even imagine how much money these lights are worth, but I know it's a lot.

 Anybody here (besides me) that remembers when you wouldn't dare take a car across, or into the desert without at least one of these water bags in front of your radiator?

 

 Well, this place is in the desert...

 An RV that is actually older than ours!

I don't know about you, but this looked darn spooky to me.

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We Already Have a Wall. A Big Ugly Wall...

California already has a wall on our border with Mexico. A wall that stretches as far as the eye can see (and further). If you don't live near it, or have never seen it, I guess how it looks doesn't matter much to you. However, if you have seen it, it looks like a big long scar across the landscape. Politics aside, it is ugly...

This scene was just screaming to be black & white

What does that sign say?

HA! I got closer than 100 feet...

Not Hidden or Fantastic, but Rarely Seen Rock Art - Joshua Tree National Park

These petroglyphs and pictographs are very close to what may be the busiest part of Joshua Tree National Park. They aren't hidden at all, but people just don't see them. I've been to the park more times than I can remember and I've never heard of them being vandalized.

At the rate these rocks are naturally disintegrating, I don't think these petroglyphs will last more than a few more decades.  The pictographs are already pretty much invisible to the naked eye. I don't understand why spots like these need to be kept secret. Pretty soon, nobody will EVER be able to seem them again. Just who are they saving them for? That question is usually answered with "our grandchildren" or "future generations." Well, I'm here to tell you, that those answers are nonsense. Without DStretch, these pictographs are already gone...

Almost invisible

Even after being enhanced with DStretch, there isn't much left

Not much left

Not much left to enhance either

Not much left of the petroglyphs either

This pictograph isn't visible at all

I don't know what it is, but I'm glad it is visible via DStretch. I recently read something about these brain like looking symbols, but I don't recall what it was.

I'll be sharing several more of these sites...

Sorry it took me so long to get a post out (if anybody cares). Much to post, but not much time to do so right now.

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Part #1 - Every Long Hike Should Pay Off Like This One Did

Just like the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, a recent long hike ended with an amazing reward. 

Several days ago, a friend invited me to do a long hike with him to a place he had just found in the desert. Ignoring my doctor's advice (to do nothing strenuous for six months), I of course accepted. 

This site was so amazing, and so pristine, that I will not be uttering either a name, or location relating to it. After several miles (uphill, I might add), we spotted some large rock formations that were not visible during the entire hike.

We climbed one of the rock piles and then dropped down into a hole. What I saw not only rendered me speechless, it also took my breath away. 

 The thing that blew my mind is the circle of rocks, that is just right of center, at the bottom.

At first sight most people would think that it's a fire ring. They wouldn't notice that many of the stones were placed in a vertical fashion, rather than just being stacked. They also wouldn't think much of the grassy dried vegetation at the bottom (probably a rat nest), or the branch leaning against the inside of it. 

This isn't a fire ring at all. It is an "Olla Nest." The branch (what is left of it) is a "Spirit Stick" and the grass is there to make sure the "Olla" sits on something soft. So what is an Olla?

The large piece of pottery standing next to this lady (her name is Rose), is an Olla.

CREDIT: San Diego History Center

An olla is a large piece of pottery used to store water or food. Because it was high up in the rocks, I'm thinking it was probably used to store food, rather that water. Just a thought. The olla was gone, but that didn't matter. It was awesome just to see the nest.

This little spot was in amazing enough in it's own right, but there is much more!

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We went up another pile of rocks and once again, had to drop down into an opening.

I apologize about this terribly blurry photo All I can see after dropping into the hole, is another Spirit Stick, leaning up against the rocks. When I got closer I saw...

...that the Spirit Stick was standing right next to a whole Olla. At least it was a whole Olla when it was left there.  Unfortunately, either a rock fell on it, or it just fell apart on its own. Maybe if it had been in a nest! You can't really tell from this photo, but those shards are as large as my hand with spread fingers. Some of them are buried and/or partially buried.  There were also two more Spirit Sticks in there, but somehow I didn't get a photo of them. I don't know exactly how old these two sites are, but they are very old...

My friend knew how much I would love seeing these sites. He was right and I really appreciated it. There aren't very many people who like this stuff as much as we do. There are some of course, but it's a relatively small group.

Part #2 will be posted soon. So much more to see...


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