Desert Camping at Red Rocks (CA) State Park

Before I leave talking about the time we spent in and around Lone Pine, I must include one brief stop at the old historic Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery.

It was just about a mile or so off the highway and we had stopped there years ago, but now that that our memories are in the fading stage of life, we decided another quick visit was in order.

This is without a doubt this is the most beautiful fish hatchery building I have ever seen. In addition to a pond outside, if I remember correctly, the inside is filled with large tanks of various sizes of trout. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open for viewing when we were there, so we just walked around outside.

Don put in his quarter for two cents worth of fish food and commented that this is the only place where you can walk up on the bank and the fish come TO you instead of swimming away. They put on the usual show for their two cents worth of over-priced food.

Then it was down the road again.

This is our second day of desert camping, and we are thoroughly enjoying sunny skies and temps in the 70’s, although the temperature drops quickly as soon as the sun slips behind the rocks.

We adjusted our plans just a bit, and instead of just driving off into the desert to park, we pulled into Red Rocks State Park not far from Ridgecrest, CA. It is a beautiful area where the rocks put on an amazing show,as if they are carved and sculpted designs.

Unfortunately, the Visitor Center is not open till the weekend, so we weren’t able to get a lot of information on the formations here. On close examinations, areas appear to be very dense dry mud, almost like concrete, that washes away by hard rains.



However, this is an area with not much moisture, so who knows. Like most places, I’m sure they would say this is a very, very slow process.

We are parked right up against some of the rocks. Out of curiosity I tapped on the rock surface with my fingernail. I was amazed to find that some areas sound hollow and others sound solid.

My guess is that there are hollow areas, washed out over the years under the surface, and that someday, that surface will also be gone in those places, causing another column to become visible. It is a very interesting area.

We took a hike that took us up to the top of the rocks where we could overlook the valley for quite a distance, keeping an eye out for rattlesnakes. Thankfully, we didn’t see any, but I still kept an wary eye.

"You stay right up there on that sign, and away from my feet!"

Some of the rock formations in some areas are pretty much a putty color, like where we are parked, sometimes with a pinkish rock layer above them, other places the color is vibrant. All of it looks carved by the finger of God.

After breakfast we decided to tour the neighboring area and took off first past Garlock (Nothing left there, except for someone making a political statement, "Impeach them all!" and threatening folks with rattlesnakes if they trespassed.) It worked. I stayed on my side of the fence.

Then up to Trona. Trona is one smelly town! Seriously smelly!! The first thing, even before you get into the town itself, you are greeted by this nasty sulfur smell.

This town sits beside a mostly dry lakebed, which is what keeps the town alive. (and I use that word loosely!) From the lakebed they harvest minerals, potash, borax, lime and salt. They have a sizeable plant there and the plant sustains the whole town.

We found one café open, and basically no other businesses that we could see.

None of the homes are kept up; in fact worse. They are just being let fall down around the residents. We were told that most folks just moved to Ridgecrest over the years and now commute to their jobs at the plant. Can’t blame them for that. I can’t imagine how depressing it would be to actually have to live there.

Understand, we go to these places just because we haven’t been there before and often find places of great interest. This was not one of those…

Outside of Trona is Trona Pinnacles National Natural Area. We drove out there and around the pinnacles. It is always interesting how some of these formations just seem to grow out of the ground for no apparent reason.

Next we headed off to see some of the old ghost and semi-ghost towns in the area.

This is an old gold mining area and so the hills are dotted with abandoned mines and rusted pieces of mining equipment.

We drove through Red Mountain, which took all of 30 seconds, then through Johannesburg. That took a little longer and it was amazing how tumble-down everything was, but that people were living there.

We spent some time in Randsburg. It is considered a semi-ghost town. It is rusty and tumble-down as well, but with a few (very few!) active businesses. It is also somewhat of a tourist attraction.

We had lunch at the General Store and Soda Fountain. The store is over 100 years old with an authentic and original soda fountain. You can get fountain drinks made the old fashioned way, including Green River Phosphates. (You have to be old to know what those are. Unfortunately I know. Don pretends not to have a clue!)

We split a great-tasting hamburger because we felt the need to take advantage of the soda fountain.

They made Don a HUGE chocolate malt that tasted amazing. My “Just a small one, please,” hot fudge sundae would have served 2-3 people and was wonderful! OK. We like Randsburg or at least the soda fountain.

Now we are back at camp. The sun is down, the moon is up and it is getting downright chilly. There are now pale pink and blue sunset colors in the sky. It’s time for a campfire.

Next stop, Parker, Arizona.