Author Archives: Jicky

A day full of contrasts

I have spent the last two days in La Quinta at Lake Cahuilla and the surrounding area (Indian Wells, Palm Springs).
I can’t remember the last time I have seen so many brick walls surrounding homes. All these gated communities with cookie cutter homes, golf and polo clubs. Driving through these towns was not particularly interesting. That was until I didn’t make that left turn, but continued going straight. Deep down I knew that I was not on the right road, but I was glad I didn’t turn. Only ten miles from these manicured lawns and this unreal desert life did I stumble across the other half of society. I had found the agricultural side. Groves of huge date palm trees with their fruits wrapped in paper or some kind of netting, orange groves, fields of bell peppers and tons of farm workers at work. The groves and fields were bordered by the trailer communities of the farm workers, no paved roads and most trailers were run down. I can’t bring myself to take photos of these kind of places. The dead dog on the side of the road didn’t help.
I was fascinated by the palm trees. I had never seen a palm tree farm, never even thought about where dates came from. The trees were at least three stories tall and just below the crown was a ladder attached to the trunk, but there was no climbing help from the ground to that ladder.
I had to back track a few miles to get to the road I needed to take.

Salton Sea beach covered in barnacles and dead fish

Highway 111 along the east side of the Salton Sea to Niland. There wasn’t much traffic on this one lane highway, which I always prefer over the busy highways. Hwy 111 runs right along side the Sea. The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake, larger than Lake Tahoe. It looked beautiful from the highway, blue water against a great mountain back drop. Hey, I had some time, and I needed to make myself some lunch (on the rare occasion I eat more than just a banana and some cookies).

Salton Sea - dead fish

I pulled into the State Park and parked at the beach. A quick bite to eat and off I went to take some pictures. Great white pelicans on the lake. I don’t think that I had seen white pelicans in the US before. Usually you see the brown variety. As I made my way to the water I got stuck in mud and soon realized that there were hundreds upon hundreds of dead fish everywhere. They were small fish all dried up. Not a pretty site. I checked the Salton Sea website, but could not find anything about the dead fish. Only a National Geographic Magazine article mentioned the mass fish die-offs. Pollution, increasing salt levels and low water levels are some of the culprits. So much for a nice afternoon at the beach.
I continued my drive south on hwy 111. My final destination for the day was Slab City.

My neighbors - Slab City

Not really a city, more (sometimes temporary) home to the traveling kind and squatters on the abandoned and dismantled Fort Dunlap World War II Marine training base. No hook-ups and no fees.
I had my reservations to stay overnight, but decided to stay anyway; after I called a friend to let at least someone know where I was. I think I might have ended up across the street from Slab City. Not that there is a big difference, just that there are no concrete slabs on my side only dirt. The land is now owned by the Teachers Authority, go figure, and they have no problem with people staying here for free.

Salvation Mountain

Unfortunately, people don’t always take good care of their surroundings when it is free. Some areas are pretty badly littered. On the other hand, I saw a beautiful sunset through the back window of my camper. This place is in the desert, mountains on two sides, the Salton Sea to the west.

Salvation Mountain - Yellow brick road

Just before Slab City is Salvation Mountain; the life’s work of Leonard Knight. A monument to God and his universal love.

This is my first travel related post in a very long time, sorry about that. I started some posts, but haven’t finished them. Hopefully, I will be able to catch up now that it is getting dark by 5 PM.
Just briefly, I spent several days in Death Valley, followed by a visit to my friend John in LA and most recently I visited Bob and Faith in Laguna Niguel.

It was the trunk, not the branch

As of Monday I will be without my camper for one or two weeks. I will stay in hotels for the time being. I can’t quite get use to the thought of not being in my home for so long. Why am I “abandoning” my home? Not because of the weather.

Bad luck

On my way to Laguna Niguel I met a tree. I was pulling into a parking strip and a tree was ever so slightly leaning into the road, bang. I have a decent size hole on the front edge of my roof. I am just glad that I have insurance, even if it comes with a large deductible.
It costs the insurance roughly $4,000, including my hotel allowance. Maybe this way I get around to writing a little more. 🙂

P.S. If you thought that Southern California is nice and warm during the winter months, you are wrong. I woke-up to 21 F, yes 21 F (-6C). It did warm up to 60+ (18 C) during the day.

Race to Deliver – West Coast

Thank you to all my generous donors who supported me this year.  I managed to raise $1,695.  Unfortunately, I fell short of my goal to raise $4,000.  However, it is not too late if you still want to make a donation (click here).

With my running partner Faith

I ran the 4 miles with my friend Faith in Dana Point in Southern California.  We were lucky, the rain finally stopped in the early afternoon.  Temperatures were comfortable in the low 60s.  Not what you would call typical California weather.

We ran along the lovely Dana Harbor Point and a bit along the Pacific Ocean.  My high altitude hiking in Utah and Arizona paid off, I finished the run in just under 39 minutes.  Not bad for someone who only pulls out the running shoes once a year.

West Coast Race to Deliver - after the race

Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving.

Final fundraising push

Only 4 more days until the big race for God’s Love We Deliver in Central Park.
I will be running / walking somewhere in Southern California. My goal is to complete the 4 mile course in less than one hour. I think I will meet that goal; however, I am not sure if I meet my fundraising goal. I have only raised 1/3 of my goal to raise $4,000.
So, please do not wait any longer to make your easy online donation now. Visit my personal webpage to make an online donation. Tax season is not far off; make your year end tax deductible donation now.

I know all about the economy and I understand if you cannot contribute as much as you did in the past. Just remember, $5 will go a long way providing life sustaining meals to people living with serious illnesses. $5 is better than no dollars at all

Thank you very much. I really appreciate your support!

Jicky

P.S. Regular posts to come soon again 🙂

Culture shock

Wow, last night I spent a couple of hours on the Las Vegas strip. What a difference to the places I visited the last month. Coming from very quiet and remote places, Las Vegas was just a little bit too much for me.
Between the crowds, the noise and the not so pleasant smells (BO, chlorine, booze and cigarettes) I was happy to be back at my camper after two hours on the strip. I thought I might gamble ($5), but after walking through one casino, the cigarette smell was way too much.
Vegas is an interesting place. The casinos and everything around them is huge. It takes forever to walk from the back to the front of any given place.
The good thing is that the temperatures are back in the 70s. No more fleece, long johns and wool hats.
I am off to Death Valley where the temps will be just as pleasant.

Grand Canyon - North Rim

Grand Canyon - North Rim

I made it - atop Vermillion Cliffs

Too much for me - in front of the Bellagio

Las Vegas - The Strip

Thank you! – Congrats – Dealing with adversity

A big, huge thank you to Dan and Mosie from Ohio. My campground neighbors at the Grand Canyon. They were kind enough to let me borrow their power inverter. That little thing you plug into your car cigarette lighter to charge your cell phone, batteries or laptop. My inverter broke just as I arrived at the Grand Canyon North Rim campground. And of course my camera batteries were on the brink, never mind a dead computer. Thank you!

Congrats to Christie, Mike and Jim-Bob for hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim. That’s 46 miles with roughly 6,000’ in elevation change. Way to go!

Dealing with adversity is never easy, but sometimes confronting it head on works best. I had said that I don’t want to spend any time in freezing cold weather. Sometimes things just happen and I ended up at the Grand Canyon North Rim, it wasn’t planned, but who can just drive past the exit. Night temperatures were in the mid to upper 20s F. That wouldn’t be so bad if you had heat. Well, I had been dry camping for four nights before I arrived at the North Rim and my camper batteries did not charge as well as they used to in the summer time, I am using a solar panel.
Only until you have little battery power do you realize how much runs off it. The water pump uses power, so no matter how much water you have in the tank, you can’t get to it. The fridge runs off propane, but the control panel needs electricity, same with the heater, needs propane, but electricity to blow the air around. What to do with limited amps? For starters you put on three warm layers and a wool hat, turn off the fridge overnight, don’t take a shower (good thing I travel on my own) and have only one little light on. Waking up to 42 F is not a whole lot of fun, but it is not 32 F. I have to say sleeping with a hot water bottle and a wool hat can really make a difference. Trust me; I don’t like to live in a cold room. In NYC I was on the phone with the super when the temperatures dropped below 68 F.
Last but not least, the motor for my camper legs also run off the battery. Guess what I had to use to put the camper back on the truck; the good old hand crank. I could have just stood there and be mad and kick the tire, but I chose to just deal with what was put in front of me. It took me three times longer to put the camper back on than it usually does, but it got done.
The great thing about visiting the North Rim around this time of year is that nobody is there. The Lodge closed a week ago and the campground was officially closed as well. No flushing toilets or running water, except at the backcountry office. There were only five campers at the campground which has 80 sites. The Grand Canyon is spectacular, but more about that in another post.
I am now parked at a campground with electric and water hook-up. Taking a nice hot shower was bliss and only wearing a sweat shirt is wonderful. My little electric space heater is humming away. The only draw back, I am 200 yards from I-15, a busy interstate to California. But you know what, I don’t even care, having electricity is worth it.
So many exciting and exhilarating things happened in October. I hope that I will have time, when I am not hiking, to write about them.
Have to go now, lost an hour driving from Arizona to Utah. Arizona does not have day light saving time.

Please don’t forget, God’s Love’s Race to Deliver is in just a couple of weeks and I am falling way behind in my fundraising efforts. Please go to my personal webpage to make a donation online or send a check payable to God’s Love We Deliver to:
God’s Love We Deliver
166 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10013
Attn.: Jicky

Thank you!

Your support is requested!

I am not sure if you know that, when I don’t travel, I am a volunteer for God’s Love We Deliver with over 9 years / 1,200 + hours volunteered. I used to spend every Tuesday night in their kitchen chopping vegetables for the nutritious meals they deliver every day to people too sick to provide for themselves.
God’s Love is a non-profit organization which relies on donations. All meals delivered are free of charge to the clients. Since 1985 God’s Love has delivered over 10,000,000 meals!!! For more info please go to www.godslovewedeliver.org

On Sunday, November 21st God’s Love We Deliver holds its 17th Annual Race to Deliver in Central Park. This four mile race / walk symbolizes the organization’s daily race to ensure that no person, or their dependent children, ever has to face the unthinkable combination of illness and hunger. Your tax-deductible gift will help God’s Love win that Race. This would have been my 11th race; unfortunately, I won’t be in New York to participate this year. But this is a cause dear and near to my heart and I hope to surpass my fundraising goal of raising $4,000. I will try to walk or run the four miles no matter where I’ll be that day. But I can’t do it without your help!

It’s easy to make a donation. Visit my personal webpage to make a donation online or send a check payable to God’s Love We Deliver to:

God’s Love We Deliver
166 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10013
Attn.: Jicky

No donation is too small!

Thank you very much for your support.

Stuff I had to “deal” with

Sunrise! over the San Rafael Reef

Room with a view – San Rafael Reef

Goblin Valley – Goblins

They really made us walk down this way – Arches

Arches Nat\’l Park

Moon over rock at my camp spot

Needles

Needles at the Elephant Hill trail

Road side art

I am so sorry that it has been a really long time since my last full fledged post. It is not that I am sitting around twiddling my thumbs, I do that too, but that’s not the reason for the lack of posts. I am in the middle of writing about my time in Colorado when I realized that it is getting late and I won’t be able to finish tonight. Since I wanted to post something tonight, you can take a look at what I have been privileged to see. I save Bryce Canyon for a later post.
I have been waking up in the most incredible places, just turning my head and watching a sunrise from bed. Utah is an incredible place. There might be plenty wrong with their politics, but everything is right with their scenery. I have been going on 6 to 8 mile day hikes which is another reason (excuse) for the lack of writing.

Colorado

Alien at the UFO Watchtower

So much has happened in Colorado, cowboys, turquois, UFOs, ancient monuments. I will try to write in detail soon. I am now in Utah where I have to make some route changes, adding more places to visit. This is the kind of research that takes away from my writing time, sorry.

Jicky atop High Dune, not just trees in Colorado

Idaho – not just potatoes

OK, just want to go back to chronological order.
I left Spokane heading north on a small, narrow, curvy road that runs parallel to hwy 2. Sometimes, I ask myself why I choose these roads and I quickly remember when I am back on major roads with all the traffic and no place to stop. When I drove to Spokane I was surrounded by wheat fields and desert and now I was once again surrounded by pine trees and some birch trees that showed already their fall colors and it was only early September.
Originally, I thought I would drive through Coeur d’Alene and then go up north; however, I had no interest to go back on I-90 with crazy drivers. So I opted for highway 2.

Kootenai River my campground- idyllic

Highway 2 leads through the narrow panhandle of Idaho with lot’s of pine and mixed tree forests. A stark contrast to southern Idaho with its lava fields and a much more barren landscape. Before I knew it I had almost driven through Idaho with only one little stop in Bonners Ferry for lunch. No, no, I can’t just drive through this beautiful place and not haven taken a single photo. So, instead of continuing into Montana, I stopped in Moyie Springs, twelve miles west of the Montana border, and stayed at the Twin Rivers campground. The campground was down in a valley at the confluence of the the Kootenai River and Moyie River. The road down to the campground was pretty steep and of course a dirt road. The drive down was definitely worth it. My site was surrounded by pine trees and the river was just 50 yards away. What a difference to the asphalt lot I stayed in the night before. I spent the afternoon walking along the river, just enjoying the peace and quiet, skipping rocks. OK, nothing is ever perfect. At the top of the mountain was a lumber mill with the equipment running 24/7. The noise was not very loud, but annoying enough when I tried to fall asleep.

Kootenai River

I managed to leave early the next morning, but was robbed by one hour as soon as I crossed into Montana. I do prefer heading west where you gain an hour. The scenery just got better. I don’t know if you ever watched the 1992 movie “A River Runs Through It” directed by Robert Redford with Brad Pitt. If you haven’t, google it and watch the fly fishing scene, then you know what I looked at throughout my drive thru eastern Montana. There are many wide mountain rivers and I couldn’t help but to constantly think of that fly fishing scene, gorgeous.

Kootenai Falls

The drive to Glacier National Park lead through forests and mountains with rivers running along side the road. The mountains ran parallel to the road until I arrived in Kalispell and I all of a sudden faced this huge mountain range right in front of me. The Rocky Mountains. Wow, what a site. These are truly impressive mountains. Fortunately, I didn’t have to drive over them at this time.

Crystal clear water at Lake McDonald

At Glacier I camped at the Apgar campground right in woods by Lake McDonald. No electricity or running water. That solar panel on the top of my camper came in very handy, kept my batteries charged for the four days I stayed in Glacier.

Glacier - Moss covered hemlocks

Glacier is quite incredible. I have never seen clear water like that in Lake McDonald and the rivers around it. Mountain reflections in the lake look like paintings.

Fall colors - Aspen trees

One of my excursions led to Bowman Lake, north west of Lake McDonald. It was supposed to be this very quiet spot not too many people travel to. Well, there were not too many people, but it wasn’t quiet. Unfortunately, sound traveled extremely well at the lake and I could follow people’s conversations from several hundred feet away. So much for a quiet place. There are two roads that lead to Bowman Lake, the Inside North Fork Road, 30 miles of not so fun dirt road. Took me over three hours to get to the lake. The other route is on Camas Road and the Outside North Fork Road. A mix of asphalt and dirt road, but not anywhere as bad as the inside road. Took just over one hour to get back.

Polebridge Mercantile

Treat yourself to some great baked goods at the Polebridge Mercantile just before Bowman Lake. The huckleberry bear claw was wonderful. I wish I had taken the Outside road in both directions.

Glacier - Dead trees

The other excursion was a four mile round trip hike to Avalanche Lake. I usually don’t go on these slightly longer hikes, but I was told I definitely should, so I did. It was a mostly uphill hike. Avalanche Lake is completely surrounded by mountains.

Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Gorge

On the eastern side, several waterfalls run down the mountains, very cool. Despite the fact that there were a bunch of people, it was peaceful. I stayed for a while just marveling at the sites. I don’t know what possessed me, but I had to run back. It was downhill and who can resist running downhill? I wasn’t dressed for a run, but I have to say I made pretty good time, 25 minutes for two miles over roots and rocks is not too shabby. I slept well that night.

Lake McDonald at sunset