2010.3.23-30. Southern California in search of desert flowers

No, I didn't see such a splendor :( Probably taken in 2005, an exceptionally good year for spring flowers at Death Valley national park.

Day 1. Tuesday. Arrived at LAX at 2:30. By the time we drove out of Avis' giant parking, it was almost 4pm.

Beverley Hills is rather flat. The mansions are nice, but not terribly impressive. Only a few are heavily guarded. The streets are well designed, each one planted with one single tree specie, all very tall now. Nice looking, quiet.

West Hollywood is a fine neighborhood, full of boutiques and restaurants/cafes. Not big.

Hollywood sucks: totally touristy. Crowdy, stores selling tacky souvenir. Few street performers. Here parking meters are enforced till 2am (comparing to 8pm or 10pm in other places). The iconic Chinese Theatre might be the only place of interest: actors' foot and hand prints in the courtyard.

Downtown LA is not as bad as I remembered. Still quite empty. The Music Center is beautifully done (including the Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry). Fountains and lots of water (next to the LA department of Water and Power), chairs and table in shades. Glittering at night. Financial district has quite a few handsome buildings. But again devoid of people.

Dinner in China town. Not bad. Much wider streets than the usually China Towns.
Overnight in downtown LA.

Day 2. Wednesday. 10am reservation (required) at Getty Villa in Malibu. I didn't print out the ticket. Just used the confirmation #. Well worth a visit. J. Paul Getty's recreation of Villa dei Papiri uncovered at Herculaneum (still largely unexcavated), using the floor plan by the excavation engineer Karl Weber, aided by timed pieces collected with the oil wealth, drawings from other Roman homes in the area, learned imagination of Norman Neuerburg. Getty oversaw the construction and design details, but died without ever set foot here. The 10 year renovation by Machado and Silvetti is nicely done, giving an impression of an archeological dig. The new entrance amphitheater, both the inner and outer peristyles, floor patterns, murals are all lovely. The Villa houses Getty's Green, Etruscan and Roman collection (all wonderfully displayed and illustrated), a research library (not open to public) and an education center which is said to provide the only graduate program on art preservation and restoration in US (joint with UCLA). More photos can be found on Wikipedia.

Rushed to Venice, arrived at Joe's 5 minutes before they closed. The gracious host sat us next to a nice water wall. The $18 3-course lunch is unquestionably the best deal. Olive bread with dill, butter and tapenade. We had venison sausage and tuna tartar for appetizer, braised beef and sanddab for main course, panna cotta and strawberry pastry for desert. Not very innovative, but all simply and nicely done. Probably the least pretentious restaurant who won a Michelin's star.

Decided to walk off the extra calories at Venice beach. A disappointment. Long and wide. Very popular. But ugly.

Too late to go to any museums. Went visit a former housemate B.H. in Irvine, working on inner ear implant, whom I haven't seen for ~14 years! Had tea and nosed around the equipments.

Overnight in Temecula, before heading over the mountains. A Quaint town. Quite cute at night. More photos on this Website.

Day 3. 3/25 Thursday. 40 minutes after leaving Temecula, on route to Anza Borrego Desert State Park, saw our first patch of wild flowers along Hwy 79.

Did a short hike (1 mile R/T) in Surprise Canyon from the Hellhole parking lot. Saw a variety of flowers. But all were small patches. Consulted the rangers in the visitor center, and saw a well-done 10 minute video.

Overnight at Borrego Spring Resort. Not an ideal location unless you just want to relax in your hotel: a mile or 2 away from the main drag of the town. Many people here spent hours tanning by the pool.

Dinner at Pablito, a Mexico restaurant. Quite pleasant sitting in the open shaded porch facing a nice courtyard with a small fountain.

After dinner, hoping to get sunset shots, took a wrong turn and ended seeing many rusty prehistoric animals in the fields along Borrego Springs Rd.

Day 4. 3/26 Friday. Got up at 5am, now hoping to get sunrise shots. Drove to the north end of Di Giorgio Rd, continue 1.5 miles on dirt (sand) road. It's just slightly more compact sand in a large wash. Our tires stuck in loose sand shortly after 6am. Still dark. Cold and terribly windy. As the day broke, a stranger drove out from nowhere. Thanks to his help, we dug the car out after some serious effort. Stupid me forgot to ask his name. Watched the sunshine spreading across the valley (Coyote Canyon). Bloom everywhere: verbena, lupine, phacelia, desert sunflower, evening primrose (oenothera deltoides), popcorn flower (cryptantha augustifolia), a couple of desert lily (Hesperocallis undulata). However, the invasion of Sahara mustard is overtaking the entire area. Color is far from impressive.

Chatted with a group of hawk watchers (equipped with chairs and hot coffee) on the way out, via Henderson Canyon Rd. Quite a lot of yellow (sunflowers) and pink (verbena) close to Pegleg road. Some barren canyon along S22 (Borrego Salton Seaway). Soon, the landscape gets boring. Could see Salton Sea afar. Headed north along Hwy86, both sides some good blooms of yellow.

Detoured to Indio for Shield's Date Farm. Watched a short video on date farming. Bad image quality, but interesting. Human pollinate these date flowers! Had a blast of time sipping date milk shake and sampling different date varieties and date cookies. Bought some dates to go too - my only purchase during this trip.

Joshua Tree National Park. First stop: White Tank camping site. Big boulders perfect to hide and play, on an otherwise flat desert floor. 2nd stop: cholla cactus (Cylindropuntia bigelovii) garden. Strange to have so many of them in a small area. As we gained the elevation, more and more Joshua trees came in sight, until almost like a forest. Very ugly, but useful for the birds and insects here. Technically not a tree. We saw many in bloom.

Climbed briefly around the Skull Rock. Hiked a short loop to Baker Dam. A pond, even a couple ducks, some petroglyph, all in 1.5 miles. Refreshing to see water. Probably should check out Cottonwood Spring, and Hidden Valley.

Keys View, at 5185 ft, is a must stop. Wheelchair accessible! The shiny surface of the Salton Sea, at -230 ft, on the far left, Santa Rosa Mountains and 10800 ft San Jacinto Peak in the middle, snow-capped 11500 ft San Gorgonio Mountain to the right. The southwest side of the ridge drops nearly a mile into the Coachella Valley. San Andreas Fault, stretching 700 miles from the Gulf of California to north of San Francisco, runs through the valley and can be seen below. A well done display also tells you that what we stood on moves 2" a year.

Overnight in 29 Palms.

Day 5. 3/27 Saturday. 2 hours drive heading to Mojave National Preserve, only stopped on Amboy Rd when crossing the Bristol Dry Lake. From from dry now. Even found a flock of birds resting on water. snow white salt, quite lovely. Some salt evaporator operation.

Arrived at Mitchell's Cavern at 9:50am, hoping to join the 10am tour. Sold out. Came back later for the 2nd tour on weekend days at 1:30pm. A waste of time, if you've ever seen a cave before, even though our guide did a good job.

Drove the unpaved Wild Horse Canyon Rd, recommended by the ranger. Not worth the trouble. Hike the 1 mile loop of Hole-In-The-Wall (aptly named), behind the visitor center. Fun: needs all 4 limbs, and the help of chains.

Drove pass Kelso Dunes, the largest in US. Should have stopped. It does look impressive from the road.

Snacked at Kelso Depot, a defunct train station of Union Pacific. Headed out after they closed (5pm) along Kelbaker Rd, saw a few craters.

Overnight in Beatty, Nevada. Being Saturday, I might have reserved the last room in town (called just 1 day earlier, got the last room after 4 unsuccessful inquires). 24 hr gambling and food service. A good base for Death Valley. Of course, in-park rooms during March and April were filled months ahead. Even the camp + RV sites were full this weekend.

Day 6. 3/28 Sunday. Death Valley National Park. Strangely beautiful in a majestic way. Zabriskie Point is stunning. I shall check out the 1970 movie. A bit further along 190 is Twenty Mule Team Canyon, well worth the short dirt road.
Dante's View at 5475 ft offers a grand vista. Much cooler, looking at the hellishly hot, yet shiny and pretty Badwater below. Can somewhat make out Mt Whitney (the highest point in lower 48) to the north. An interesting display points out all the lowest spots in the world. Still snowy on Telescope peak.

Lunch at Furnace Creek Inn, after visiting the visitor center and museum. Well presented Sunday brunch. Good variety. Superb service. Food can be improved, but good enough for the dessert.

Tried to walk off some calorie in Golden Canyon (3 mile R/T). Get close and personal with the curving walls. Quite impressive.

Drove along the white Flowers were beginning to come up in this alluvial flat. Devil's Golf Course is a short gravel road to the middle of the jagged and dirty salt crystal. So so. Badwater basin. Natural Bridge (1 mile R/T) is of minor interest. Further south, at the bottom, you can walk out to the vast dried water surface, snow white, peaceful. Seems you could walk to the other end. If you dig, you'd still see water now (maybe for another week). When walking back, raise your head: a sign of sea level is painted on the steep slope. There was still a very small pond next to the road.

Artist's Drive and Palette is not to be missed. A paved one-way road. Very colorful: pink, blue, green and purple.

Walked around Harmony Borate Works before leaving the park. Sun was setting, painting everything a warm hue. Temperature dropped quickly. Saw a Coyote by the road staring at our car, when I slowed down. Unhospital as it is, Death Valley is home some endemic plants and animals. I was hoping to find Golden Carpet (Gilmania luteola).

Overnight in Beatty. Much easier to find a room on Sunday.

Day 7. 3/29 Monday. Scotty's Castle. (If you go north bound on 95, be sure to count the miles for the left turn: only sign at Scotty Junction is on the south bound.) Very green surroundings. Guided tour (small groups) every ~30 minutes (for ~50 minutes). Modern at the time: it had electrical toaster, fridge, freezer, watermill, an organ, a couple of self playing pianos. Well kept fabric and leather curtains (still original). Charismatic showman Scotty came to life with our guide's storytelling.

Scotty Castle Road was being repaired with the new federal money. Along the road, quite some low lying purple/red flowers (verbena?). (I hate pilot car.) Reached Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes ~1:15 hrs later (~40 miles). Far smaller than Kelso Dunes.

Lunch at Stovepipe Wells's Toll Road Restaurant & Saloon. More of a saloon, serving sandwiches and burgers, plus beer. Decorated with horseshoes, pots & pans, misc. mining gears of the period. Glad to be out of the sun. It took a minute to get my eyes accustomed to the low light inside.

Mosaic Canyon, 2 mile bad road. ~1 mile R/T hike. Narrow, sometimes hands required. Well worth it.

The small yet long Wildrose Canyon road climbs to 10 Charcoal Kilns in a Pinyo pine forest. Windy, snow on ground. Extremely well preserved. They stand 25 ft tall (black inside). Each load took 8 days to fire, and ~5 more days to rest, before hauled down to the mines. The operation lasted for only 3 years.

Paramint Spring Resort. Seemed like a forgotten place. Tried to hike to Darwin Falls, but deterred by the road condition. Should have come earlier and walked (only 2 miles to trailhead). Or rent a 4WD car, so to visit more remote spots like Race Track.

Overnight in Ridgecrest. Gusty wind. The road out of the park through Paramint Valley and then route 178 to Trona is quite scenic. Trona itself looks like an industry dump. Searles Lake, looks quite pretty from afar, ugly at close, with pipes, train wagons ... All fenced off by Searles Valley Mineral Co. making borax, salt among other chemicals. As soon as Trona was behind us, we could see the Pinnacles looming menacingly in the west horizon. Too bad, I wasn't aware of this, so didn't allocate time to visit it.

Day 8. 3/30 Tuesday. Headed out shortly after 7am. Red Rock Canyon State Park. Visitor center was closed. Walked a bit. Not a single sole around. Only saw one car passing by (well, not 8am yet).

The slopes along route 223 between Arvin and Hwy 58 are covered with yellow (fiddle neck) and blue (lupine). There are white lupines! At least 4 other yellow flowers and some white, some pick. Met two cars with fancy lenses and tripods. I-5 just at (or north of) Grapevine exit (south of I-99 junction) is purple for miles. Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, at least a week from full bloom. Still colorful. Probably no need to park up the hill ($8). Plenty poppy fields all around the area.

Last stop: USC. Met with G.L., whom I haven't seen for 5 years. Despite of her busy schedule (canceled a medical appointment), she showed up the gorgeous library in the Moorish philosophy building.

Summary: I'm at least 1 week too early for a massive flower show. (I used Deasert Wildflower report as my planning guide.) Still a very nice trip (not too hot). LA has better museums (more people with a large fortune) and more good restaurants. Dry and windy. Very agreeable temperature now. Death Valley is certainly a highlight. Well worth the flight and long drive.