Dead batteries

The weather was almost perfect for hiking today. A little on the warm side (mid to upper 80's) but still very nice. Since I was in the middle of a bunch of mountains, there wasn't much of a breeze most of the time, so it was kind of gnatty (new word; notify Webster).

On the way into Bulldog Canyon I pulled over to let a Hummer load of tourists by (the road is only wide enough for one vehicle most of the way). I sat there while 6 Hummers went by. That's the most tourists I've ever seen out there. Maybe it was a wedding party or something. Hope they had a good time.

I studied Google Earth this afternoon to decide where I was going to go. Well, it's hard to tell on Google Earth if you'll be able to cross a small canyon or not. More about that later. I was on my way to a long canyon that I've been meaning to explore for several years. I was getting close to it and was following a wash when it got too rough and full of plants, so I went up the side, but that was almost too steep to walk along. Anyway, I had stopped to take pictures and catch my breath (when you carry a camera, you never have to admit you're out of breath; you just stop to take a picture) when I saw that my camera batteries were almost dead. On a cold day you can get a few more pictures by warming up the batteries, but today the batteries were already warm. I didn't want to go someplace new and wonderful and not be able to take pictures. I turned off the image stabilization to save some power. I didn't know how much further I would be able to go on that difficult terrain, anyway, so I decided to wander around near where I was. That was probably a good idea. I thought I had taken more than enough water but I only had half a liter left when I got back to the truck.

As I was wandering around, I was thinking about taking a different route back to the truck. I had enough water for that, and if it didn't work out, I would be in shade as I retraced my steps. It turns out that it didn't work out. I didn't go far before I came to a small canyon (maybe 25 feet deep) with steep sides. I could probably have gotten across, but it would not be easy and what if there was a more difficult one after that? I turned back.

The scenery was beautiful where I was wandering around. The pictures don't do it justice. You just have to stand there and look around. I made a short video of looking around, but it just isn't the same. I was hoping to get the constant background hum of hundreds of honey bees, but all you can hear in the video is the breeze and my feet crunching on rocks as I turn.

And here are the pictures.

BC_2008_05_03

As I was driving out of Bulldog Canyon (on a different road than when I went in), I came across two groups of people (who were not associated with each other) that had campfires going. I can't imagine having a campfire in a place with so much dry vegetation. Actually, these were more like bonfires. The flames were higher than the heads of the people standing around. Why do people need huge fires when it's in the 80's? Judging by the way they were swatting, it didn't keep the gnats away. Maybe it's for the same reason they buy F250's to commute to work; masculinity issues. Truly bizarre. I tried to get pictures as I drove by, but the camera would only focus on the bugs and dirt on my windows.