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Sunday, June 12, 2011

Carrizo and La Panza - "looking for a rattlesnake lunch"

 Left Bakersfield after paying my respects to an old friend. Drove west to the Carrizo Plain NM to ride the bike on some the old roads that crisscross this unique valley.
 Soda Lake looking north.
 Walked out on the lake bed and found it much softer/fluffier than the Badwater Playa in DVNP.
 Some water remains in the southern lake. Caliente Mountain in distance.
 Drove on to the La Panza Range in the Los Padres NF. Spotted this building when passing through the same named ghost town on the way to La Panza Summit.
 Water still flowing down Navajo Creek in June.
Navajo Camp to the right, across the stream and up the hill.
 Dusk at Navajo Camp. Only one campsite at this location. Two if you count the small site 60 feet from the parking lot.
 Nearby is a spring fed water trough.
 Constructed 8-25-1948.
 Water striders doing the impossible.
 Early in the afternoon a hungry California King Snake slithered through camp looking for a rattlesnake lunch.
 Dawn at Navajo Camp. Camped here for two nights relaxing, mounting the new weather station, listening to Sirius Radio and reading a couple of books. Not much traffic on the road below camp. (Three cars and seven motorcycles in 48 hours.)
Drove to a nearby mountain top.
 Noticed this working weather station.
 Looks like there might be a few dead cells in this battery.
Yikes, a UFO hovers over a ridge behind the truck.
 
FAA facility.
Or maybe satellite television/internet for the Four Wheel Camper.
 Turkey vultures soared on thermals over the summit.
The oldest building on the mountain.
 The route down the mountain.
The roller coaster road continued. Drove to isolated Friis Camp and while checking the bike tie downs watched a swarm of bees fly across the road. Thousands of bees in a 30 foot high whirlwind of stingers.
Near the San Andreas Fault.

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