High atop a mountain, nice visit with friends....

Our Location: Near American Girl Mine Road, BLM, CA

Happy New Year to everyone out there reading this little post. I hope you all had an enjoyable night and day, ringing in the new year in which ever way suited you best. Us, we slept while it came in to being. 

 

 It was skinny footing but it wasn't too bad, up or down.

 We didn't go that way. 

 Interesting rocks, I see a pig snout, what do you see? 

A nice warmish start to the night but it cooled off a bit just before dawn and I was happy to pull the duvet up higher. 

To the left of center, off in the distance is the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, and in the middle, just a slight bump on the horizon is Picacho Peak. 

More of the Cargo Muchacho Mountains off in the top of the photo, the CHP station on I-8 West, and the little church on the hill at Felicity, CA. 
 
We had plans today (yesterday's plans moved to today due to wind) to meet with Jerry again, but this time for a hike. Yes folks we hiked up Pilot Knob Mountain way over there close to the Pilot Knob BLM pay area. It took us about 10 minutes to reach Jerry & Elva's home dirt (as George would say) and after a quick chat with Elva, Riley, Jerry and I headed off to hike. 

Riley and Jerry having a rest. 

Yep, straight ahead and up is where we went from the rest spot. 

 
It was a pretty rough trail for a while but we all managed to get our feet heading in the right direction, which would be UP and off we went. Jerry is an excellent guide, not too fast, not too slow, and stops often. Jerry is a trail blazer, not a path follower, although I think he may find the 'path' much easier in the future. 

Looking off sort of southwest to the Imperial Sand Dunes a bit farther away. Those beautiful tan hills you often see in my photos are now visible in this one as well. Can you see them? 

Pilot Knob Campground and Pilot Knob BLM (pay area) in this photo. The little church on the hill off to the right. 

 Fuzzy, sorry, I didn't have my long lens. That is Jerry & Elva's home on wheels, Miss Elva's Jeep and the Dogsled down there.


The views, as we kept climbing just kept getting better and better. I think you may enjoy the photos of today's hike. We had a wonderful view of the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, we could also see Picacho Peak off in the distance. 

 This is off to the north east in the approximate direction of Winterhaven, CA, and the Q Casino.

A bit of glare from the sun but I wanted to show you the cross. That was the destination for our climb. 

 
Views included the CHP station, as well as the Agricultural Inspection Station,  the RV resort of Pilot Knob, the small church at Felicity, as well as the Imperial Dunes and the wall/fence between USA and Mexico. 

 
 
Riley is resting in the shade beside that big rock. 


 

Can you see her down there resting? 


About three quarters of the way to the top Riley was happy to sit and relax while Jerry and I continued to the cross on the very top of Pilot Knob. She settled into a comfy spot in the shade and enjoyed those views in front of her. Jerry and I continued on, heading for the higher reaches and more dazzling views. 

 Pilot Knob Rv Resort, but way off in the distance you can see the Imperial Dunes and off to the left side some faint white dots before the dunes, those are all rigs on Ogilby Road at Sidewinder BLM pay area.

 

West view, Pilot Knob RV Resort is the green space. 

 
Jerry will agree, I think that we made the climb a bit harder than we had to but it was still interesting and fun. We scurried, climbed, hiked, and scrambled in a place or two but finally found a nice easy way across the ridge at the top. The cross, our final destination was easy to reach once we found the PATH.  

The Imperial Sand Dunes, that small thin dark line is the wall between US and Mexico. Way off, when you cross those blue looking mountains to get to the Pacific Ocean. 

 The Imperial Dunes in Mexico, although they may not be called that, it gives a reference for me.

The views were wonderful. Truly worth the climb. From this height we looked down into Mexico, the town of Algodones which lies just across the border, a few glimpses of the Colorado River as well. We could see the All American Canal as it wound it's way along the wall, the green or dark fields in perfect sections in the state of Arizona, the hint of Yuma off in the distance, as well as Winterhaven. Looking off in a easterly direction we could see the casino Q, past that we could see the tall white silos (? maybe they were silos) at Indian Hill too. Looking more to the north we could also see the views I mentioned above in California, the ones we could see from lower down. Now they seemed to look smaller as the vastness of the area became more noticeable. 

The closer green fields are in Mexico, the ones past that thin green line which indicates the Colorado River are in the USA.  

 

 That would be looking approximately north toward the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, with Picacho Peak on the right and the Imperial Dunes would be on the left.

 
Truly some amazing views from the top and it was well worth the climb. Jerry and I found an easier way down to where Riley was waiting and in no time at all we had collected her and started down the mountain side. 

Algodones, Mexico. The whitish smear is smoke from a fire burning over there. 

 Look at the barren land below, between that nice green and the barren land runs the wall, and also the All American Canal.
 
We noticed a couple climbing up a very steep section, totally off the path, climbing some very steep boulders and waited until they reached the firmness of the beaten path. Jerry offered them some tips on reaching the cross and soon we all headed off in our own directions. By the time we'd reached the bottom, they had reached the top. 

 Yep, that's Jerry over there looking out over Mexico. Behind him is the state of California but also Arizona as we are but a few miles from the state line. 

Algodones, MX, the smoke has gone now. 


We thanked Jerry for the excellent time, wonderful guide that he is, he seemed pretty happy to have been asked for the tour. We had a fantastic time and enjoyed the climb and the views. Thanks Jerry. Thanks Elva for lending us a guide once more, we appreciate it. 

 Some one had walled off a small area and left some clothing behind.

Riley is down on the shady side of that big rock. 
 
 
Back home as we headed toward the Igloo I noticed a black jeep sitting off to one side, and mentioned to Riley, I think we know that jeep. Sure enough, we did know the jeep or at least the folks in the Jeep. Deb and Tom's smiling faces greeted us as we pulled up beside them.  We knew they would be in the area today but thought it would be earlier. I can say we were most happy to see them and happy to have them come back to the Igloo for a bit of a chat. I think I kept them talking longer than they wished to talk as I know they had some chores they wanted to do. It was wonderful to chat and I'm sure we'll be catching up with a few more visits. 

The Imperial Dunes and the Coastal Mountains of Mexico.  Again the names be different but it's a reference for me.
 
A talk to my dad, and many text messages to those folks up north to wish them all a Happy New Year,  some lunch, some reading, photo editing and the writing of this post took up the rest of our day.  Of course I also managed some wonderful sunset photos but I'll post them tomorrow. 

In the upper part of the photo you can see a bit of the Colorado River in Mexico, all of those buildings are also in Mexico. The helicopter is in US airspace flying right along the All American Canal (the blue water you can see just over the edge of the mountain, and along the Wall between California and Mexico. 

Can you see the wall in the lower left and right of the photo?   

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the views, and thanks again Jerry for the tour. 

Interstate 8 down there, Picacho Peak off toward the left of the photo. 

I left my name on the yellow rock to prove I was here. The rocks are located on a corner post near the cross.
 

 Nope, we didn't take that road either.

Tour guide Jerry Shannon atop Pilot Knob Mountain. 
 If you look behind Jerry on that piece of cement you will see the yellow rock from above. 



Until next time... take care, be safe, 

That tiny thin brown line is the Wall in the Imperial Sand Dunes. 


 

 Nope, that is not Jerry and I but the folks we met on the path that climbed up the side over boulders to reach the path. We are now all the way to the bottom.

 
Deb