The cool katabatic winds are flowing down off the Sierra Crest snowfields this evening, caressing our campsite nestled behind a copse of bushes running along Goodale Creek, north of Independence in the eastern Sierra. The change in temperature is a refreshing change from the hot and desicating winds of the southern California desert we left behind just this morning.
We camped last night at Red Rock Canyon State Park, off Route 14, northwest of Barstow, CA. This very large park is home to a population of desert tortise and contains many tall and colorful eroded rock escarpments dating back to older than the Sierras themselves. Once the sun went down and the temperature moderated, the black tailed rabbits, and cottontail rabbits came out to forrage. We have modified our daily schedule to accomodate the climate, rising early for a sunrise outing, then resting in the shade or driving with the AC on for the hot mid-part of the day, then making another forray out later in the afternoon or early evening. As we serendipitously wind our way back towards home, we are making stops as suits our fancy,or as recommended by fellow travelers.
Today we had an interesting set of experiences at Fossil Falls, 2 miles south of the northbound rest area on 395 just north of where it joins 14, just south of the massive red cinder cone on the east side of the highway. We had just pulled into the parking area at the end of a fairly short and passable dirt road, when a large SUV pulled in, loaded for bear, canoe on the top,towing a 25 foot shimmering airstream trailer. This parking area was way too small for such a rig, and there was no room to turn such a beast around. We kept nibbling our sandwiches, as I was brewing some espresso, and watched the show, wondering how this driver was going to extricate themselves from this predicament. Next thing we heard a sickening scraping sound like aluminum against igneous rock, and the whole assembly came to a halt. The driver got out inspecting the possible damage, walked around in circles for a few minutes, saw us and came over to request our assistance. She asked if we could spot the trailer as she tried to manuever it somehow off the rock she was impaled on, mid-trailer. Having never manuvered such a large trailer before, I was not sure how much help I would be. The most recent and relevant experience I had was managing the snowmobile and utility trailer at Royal Gorge all winter.
We discussed her predicament, and decided the only solution was to BACK the whole thing up the dirt road to a Y 1/10 mile away where there was more room. She had almost no experience driving in reverse with the long trailer attached, so Diane positioned herself towards the back, and I stood about mid-ships, and tried to offer suggestions and direction as the motorized assembly began it's treacherous backwards journey up the dirt hill and around a series of tight turns. After a very promising start, things started going south, and after several failed attempts to correct the situation, we had a jack-knifed rig on a blind sharp curve, on a dirt steeply sloping road, one lane wide. I did my best to use a calm voice and to tell the driver she ws doing fine, but she kept over turning and over compensating. Her confidence was shot and in exasperation, she asked if I could try. Well, what could I do? In did not tell her about my snowmobile trailer resume,but agreed to change positions with her. She hoped out of the drivers seat, and I hoped in and was immediately affectionately licked by a huge black dog who had been concealed in the back seat. I pulled forward, straightening everything out, then slowly began to back up,wracking my brain for any past experience or adventure story I had read which would offer me some insight on how to manage this situation. I remembered reading something about doing everything backwards from what your intuition tells you, so I gave that a try, with Diane spotting the rear, and the owner spotting the blind side. Fighting my urge to turn the wheel one way I experimented with turning it the "wrong" way as the rear began to deviate from the centerline of the narrow road. Sure enough, the trailer obediently revered it's errant path, and curved back off the bank and onto the road. Slowly, ever so slowly we worked our way backwards up the grade and around the curves,with just a few stops to force my brain to stay on task and working backwards, we made it into then"Y". I got out, breathed a sigh of relief, bid our farewell to the frazzled owner who sheepishly informed us she was at the very beginning of her solo trip to Alaska. We wished her safe travels and ran back back to the camper, where we had left all the windows open, valuables out, and coffee simmering in our haste to respond to a call for assistance. Diane quickly informed me she had turned off the coffee before we left abruptly, so disaster was averted.
2 comments:
Wow this is really amazing place .. thanks for this red rock pictures , i love too
What excellent photos, I'm so envious of your ability to just get in your vehicle and drive to such magical places. I really felt sorry for that poor woman, she was very lucky not to find herself alone when she got banged up and stuck.
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