THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Mojave to Bakersfield, AKA, Beige to Green!

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

March 19, 2013

After several months of beige, with a few dashes of red here and there, it is time to move even more further west, from beige to green, from Mojave to Bakersfield.

We will travel up to the Tehachapi Pass and come down into Bakersfield on 58.  The pass is known for its wind, we saw signs warning us of gusty conditions, and long 5 and 6 % grades.

You know there is gonna be some gusty wind, when you see wind mill farms, and a few Joshua Trees in front, and lookie, at least one is in bloom!  LOL

Fire, danger, sadness:

Always interesting to me, herds of cattle, manufacturing, sharing spaces.

Brush is now seen growing on the hills.  Can you imagine the view this home owner has?  Can we say WOW??

I spied these two tunnels, and several more, we will learn the story later during our stay in Bakersfield, stay tuned, it is pretty interesting.

Getting green and DOWN we go!

More green, more down!

And, down in the valley, crops, green, more green.

During the two weeks we spent in Bakersfield we were treated to the orange trees going from buds to full blooms to the flowers falling off the trees.  The bees were busy pollinating!  And, it smelled heavenly!

Sunsets through the orange trees were sweet too:

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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Randsburg, California, Mining Town, Not Quite A Ghostown

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

March 18, 2013

After leaving Red Rock Canyon State Park we drove north(east) on 14, then, southeast on 395 to Redrock Randsburg Road which we took southwest back to 14.  A circle (of sorts) of course, because going back the same way we came is not in our normal game plan.  We were told that a stop at Randsburg would be interesting, that was all the hook it took to get us to stop.

Along the way, we found the Billboards that were even mentioned on the state park map they gave us, really!

The drive is miles and miles of barren land, barely any scrub brush, no trees.  Water, our life blood, is frequently stored, we saw quite a few of these:

Per Wikipedia, the 2010 census recorded 69 souls calling Randsburg California home.  They lost a few souls since 2000 when 77 called Randsburg home.

We ate our lunch in Jolly, drove around a bit, walked around the local museum grounds (they were closed) and Sony Too and I found several photo ops, old mining equipment, signs and rusty artsy fun:

Above:  This is part of the Baltic 5 stamp mill.  Below, the rest of the story:

A mining town has lots of mining equipment:

Be still my heart, a ole rusty truck, I snapped my photo from the best vantage point I could get, there was another photographer there with a tripod working hard for a photo of this same truck.

Cannot resist old signs either:

And, in closing, what else would you expect in a mining town?

We headed back to camp, the next day we would head to Bakersfield for a couple of weeks.



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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Red Rock Canyon State Park, Near Mojave California

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

March 18, 2013

Yes indeedy, I was hard up for color and yes indeedy, I found ANOTHER Red Rock Canyon.  Must visit if only BECAUSE of the name!

This one is on 14 north of Mojave California, just a few miles north of 58.  We stopped for 2 nights just to take in the canyon, of course, we found a bit more, but, the canyon was the reason for the stop.

Not many words this post, just glorious land forms, enough red to make me happy.

Yep, all white, but, the structure, the art work of Mother Nature and her rain machine - -

Yes, we took a hike, about a mile or so, in Hagen Canyon.  The canyon is named for a German immigrant, Rudolph Hagen, he mined in the area.  He eventually opened a diner with a bar, primitive lodging and a post office, his own private park.  He named many of the rock formations himself.

The contrasts ALWAYS leave me breathless.

The park is quite large, and we did not take Jolly off road, where they say there are some terrific things to see.  Between you and I, the forms you can see from 14 just driving through right by the Ricardo Campground and Hagen Canyon are so spectacular that I could have stood there for hours, never moved an inch and been totally delighted.  I guarantee these photos do not come close to portraying the beauty here.  Well worth the time to stop and see and experience.  If you happen along that way, even if you cannot spend a couple of nights, just drive north on 14 from 58, a few minutes of your time, worth it, so worth it!



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