I spent a few days camping out in Anza Borrego and the Box Canyons near Mecca, taking advantage of the pananderia and affordable produce. Once I had reached my beans and tortilla limit, it was time to move on. The Riverside Mountains outsid of Idylwild looked promising with free NF camping and pine trees. Have I mentioned how much I have missed forests since being in SoCal? It was rather windy and I was fortunate to have data to check the forecast which hovered around 45 in the days and mid 20's at night. My water bottle froze solid one night despite being inside my tent. Fortunately the rain held off mostly and it was blue skies as far as the eye could see. On my last night of camping before heading back to LA, I decided to go even higher into the San Bernardino NF to find some snow. Making camp at 6200ft meant sliding along the icy dirt road with steep drops and no margin for error. Once parked and with my tent staked down against the wind, I set out for an exploratory evening hike. The enormous pine cones of the Sugar Pine caught my by surprise. These are the largest pine cones from the tallest pine trees in North America. The golden sunset over San Bernardino and rhe greater LA area in the distance. Mt. Baldy stands tall just right of center. After the sky grew dark, dotted lines of streetlamps on major boulevards formed a checker pattern reminscent of the make-out spot in old movies. The sound of owls and coyotes drift on the wind and I nestle lower into my bag against the higher altitude chill.
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Mike SaundersIn May 2014 I quit my job to ride a Honda Ruckus over 69'000 mi and counting. Wild camping most nights and cooking most of my own meals, I keep the costs low and the landscape changing. Archives
April 2018
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