Ahoy guys just some more pics

S

sasha

Joined
Feb 28, 2006
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Well i came back last night from my yearly desert camping trip. Didnt do much hiking as i hurt my knee again but still got a few pics.
the palms had lots of dates out. That day i went on the hike and didnt eat anything and had nothing to eat on me. So i picked some of the dates that were in easy reach. Very good and sweet, I could feel the energy comming back after eating two handfulls. Also shared some with two kids that were hiking with there dad on the same trail.
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just a nice view of the desert from a spot i stoped to rest.
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Had alot of mice running around and picking food from me. Its like having an appetizer on a stick grab one hold him over the fire for a min or two to cook and put it in your mouth.. if they just were so cute
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kangaroo mouse that guy would almost let me pet him. When ever he ran in the bushed i would look back expecting a horse to come over. Sounded like a 500lb animal back there.
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I wonder how many traveling people would stay under that rock passing in the desert.
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A barrel cacti that big can have as much as 2-3 liter of drinking water in it. talk about a life saver.
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Her to calm the gods of steal a pic of my outrider. Great knife and a good way to show the size of those thorns.
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More landscape pics
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The mother of all cucti. Jumping choia dont mess with it ever or you would learn a new laungage and write a new dictionary trying to pull the thorns out. They got little hooks on the end. So you knwo just how fish feels being reeled in.
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Looks like a good time! What was the temperature like? Pretty chilly at night?

You're right about those jumping choia cactus! My gf has one outside her front door, and you only have to bump it once to learn:o
 
There were lots of ant nests. If you just lean down and pick up the dead plant around there they make a great tinder to strike with your fire steal. There was lots of it and you can see at the bottom of the pics a small ball i made in less then 5sec and its was a small ant nest.
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Now that were a very rare sight of big horn sheep. Very few people do see them. So here im to share a few pics with all of you.
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This guy i got so close to that if i had a little baby that i could twirl around my head and throw him i were sure to hit the sheep in the head.
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Now are those tracks what i think they are ???? I knwo there were very recent as they were over the tire tracks of a car that passed my area less then two hours ago. There were also a rock toss away from my camp site
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more wild life.
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The knife i used for everything for my camping trip from cooking to some fire preparing. Its still as sharp as when i started. but some realy dry wood was hard to split as the knife was starting to twist so i didnt want to damage it.
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my last night and what a show.
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wish my moon rise pics did come out better
DWK2 and me are planning on a WSS get togher in the desert this month. I hope some of those pics entice more of you to join us out there.

Sasha
 
Great stuff man. looks like you had a lot of fun. What is the knife in your last picture. it looks to me like a old timer from Ontario. is this correct.
 
The first night it got realy cold. As soon as the sun set i swear the temp droped by about 20deg. In less then 20 min my fingers started to hurt from the cold. The first 3 nights were like that after that it got much warmer.
The knife is a very old... old hickory knife that my dad made some kind of a handle for it. I put an edge on it many years ago but never realy used it. That knife is awsome. It does tend to bend if you batton it into very dry and hard wood. As it goes more with the wood grain.

Sasha
 
Hey Sasha, nice pics... thanks for sharing. That print is definately feline. What kind of big cats are in your area? Looks like a medium sized Bobcat. Would have been nice to see more tracks in a row to judge stride, straddle, gate, etc...


Rick
 
I went to Anza Borrego desert off the S2 i got a spot over there. It a got alot of hiking trails all over the place.
Rick im sure it was a smaller mountain lion might have something to do with the bighorn sheep in the area. Made me more jumpy sitting by the camp fire at night alone knowing that there is a mountain lion in area right by my camp site.

Sasha
 
Nice pics ... damn, just thinking that there might be a mountain lion lurking nearby makes the hairs on my neck stand up :eek:

Thanks for sharing, looks like a great time.
 
I didn't know you could eat those dates that grow on the california palm trees. Good to know. Great shot of the sheep too.:thumbup:

I like desert camping myself especially this time of the year. It's not easy getting friends who are not outdoorsy to join me for desert camping. Usually we hike the local mountains of LA/SB counties.
 
Sasha: Thanks for posting those great images!

Magnussen: Since the voter ban (by popular referendum, not scientific analysis) on mountain lion hunting, they have multiplied pretty successfully and there are a lot in the Park. Mark Jorgensen, former Park Naturalist and (I believe) now Superintendent once told me that they were really hammering the bighorn sheep population, which is one of his areas of special expertise. The Park wanted to thin them out to let the sheep recover.

That said, that track would have to be a fairly immature lion or a bobcat, as you suggested.

DancesWithKnives
 
Great pics. I've never camped in the desert, but I imagine that it could get pretty creepy at night.
 
Great stuff, Sasha. You were roaming around almost in my back yard, so to speak (well, it's close to San Diego). This is definitely the time of year to get out in the desert: summer sucks, but winter and early spring are great. Love the shots of the big horn sheep. I've been roaming around out there for almost fifty years, and I've never seen one.

Thanks for sharing with us.
 
Excellent pictures Sasha. So if you were to try to harvest the water from the barrel cactus, how would you do it? Just cut it open? Can you eat the inside tissue, is it toxic?

Thanks
 
Thats a helluva a camping spot! You guys have a great diversity of country in CA!

Thanks for the pics bro!
 
There are several varieties of barrel cactus and some are not so great for food/moisture. For example, it has been reported that the Coville type can make people nauseous.

Here's a little blurb that is sort-of on topic (because the cactus wasn't fresh and he doesn't actually try the fluid):

http://www.caliberdt.com/~bill/Arizona/UseryBarrel.htm

DancesWithKnives
 
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