Monday, March 6, 2017

Day Trip to Santa Catalina Island

It's true! We really don't spend all of our time in the desert. These photos were taken on a fairly recent day trip to Santa Catalina Island. You may not have heard of the Island, but you've probably heard the song (if your as old as I am anyway). Just like the song says; it's 26 miles across the sea.

 Our ride from Newport Beach to the island

 The boat is a high speed catamaran, so the 26 mile trip is pretty quick.

Newport Harbor

 A fellow passenger, lost in his thoughts. My favorite photo of the day

 A little car ferry between Newport and Balboa Island

Newport Harbor ghetto. You can probably pick up one of these houses for about $5,000,000.00. The larger ones go for two or three times that much. 

 Dolphins everywhere! It was a gray and gloomy day, and the light sucked for photos!

 This is the town of Avalon. The one and only town on the Island. It has a nice harbor. The residents don't have cars.

The Wrigley mansion (yes, as in Wrigley Chewing Gum). In addition to a chewing gum dynasty, the Wrigley family also owned the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs used to come to the island for spring training.

Yeah, I know this photo is all askew, but it seems to be the only one I took that gives you a good view of all the different sized boats/ships that anchor in the harbor. No marina here.

 "The Casino" I'm not sure if it was ever actually a casino, but it has been used for a ton of other things.


 You can see the Wrigley mansion almost at the top of the hill (on the left)



 Check out the condos on the side of that cliff. Not for me!

Many years ago, I learned to scuba dive in the little cove beneath the condos. 


Just because I loved her face. About two seconds after the photo was taken, she gave me the stink eye. 



 They call it a submarine, but I'm not sure if it actually goes under water.

Lost and found 


 Time to go back to the mainland


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 If you ever find yourself in coastal southern California, this place is a must see.  
There are several really nice boutique hotels in Avalon. There are also miles of hiking trails and beautiful primitive areas.



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Thursday, February 23, 2017

Mockingbird Canyon Rock Art

Mockingbird Canyon is a former Luiseno habitation site in Riverside County. The site contains pictographs, a "yoni" (that I didn't see), several morteros, and a "Shaman's Cave. It also has a solstice component. Unfortunately, it was unprotected for decades, and every idiot in the area with a can of spray paint seems to have left their mark there.

A nice boulder pile near the site.

Much of this site is overgrown with plants that you wouldn't want to walk through wearing shorts. Of course, I was wearing shorts. The scabs should be gone in a few more days. On the other side of these rocks...

were these mortars.

There was supposed to be some pictographs very close to the mortars. I found nothing that stood out, and thought they might have totally deteriorated.

When I got home, I enlarged my photos looking for any traces of the pictographs. In the vertical orange streaks, I saw a couple of tiny red lines.

When I used DStretch to enhance the colors, some pictographs were revealed. Maybe some of you will recognize (from several prior posts here) the diamond shaped chains, that are part of female puberty initiate rites. If you have the time or inclination, go Here and Here and Here.



There are also several more mortars along this pretty stream, that is adjacent to the village site. I searched several boulder jumbles on the other side, but found nothing of note.

Back on this side of the stream, this rock seemed a likely spot for some pictographs.

Except for the fact that it was covered with graffiti. I HATE that people do this. The penalty should be much harsher than it is now (which is almost nothing).

I used DStretch and all available color variations to try to find something.

Look just to the right of the vertical red streak in the middle. It sure caught my eye!

Ta-Dah! Those are definitely pictographs (in the middle). Red vertical and horizontal shapes  falling down to a horizontal design. A little lower, you can see some "zig-zag" shapes in red.

The little spot of blue in the middle, is the "Solstice" component. Apparently, during one of the equinox events that take place every year, light shines through that hole and onto a particular spot or symbol. When that happens, it marks the beginning of change in season.

Below the opening, is the "Shaman's Cave." That is where the good stuff is.

It was quickly apparent, that this wasn't the actual opening, but I could still see some white pictographs on the roof.


This "DStretch" enhanced photo came out pretty good, considering my long lens. I climbed back down, and walked around to the other side to see what I hoped was the actual entrance into the cave.

This (and the  next four photos)  are the ceiling above the actual opening and cave. 



When I finally got to these fantastic pictographs. I couldn't get far enough away from them, to take anything but photos of small areas. I believe that this is a solstice site. However, when I look at the designs in the last two photos,  I see fish, and I see fish nets!

On the top of this big flat rock, I thought I saw petroglyphs. Nope! Graffiti!






Monday, February 13, 2017

The Best Odd Shaped Boulder in Joshua Tree

Over the years I've posted photos of boulders that look like just about every animal I can think of. Here is a new one. To me, it's the best one I've ever seen. I can't even really describe it properly.
The hairdo, beard, eyebrows, and nose are great. The whole face is comical. I'm trying to ignore the rear end...