After resupplying in the Palm Springs area, I decided to explore north of there, in what some people call Homestead Valley. I’d seen on the maps that there was a scattering of BLM land that was not too high up. That’s a good thing in that it was not that warm yet. I was also just far enough away from the Los Angeles metro area to be out of range of homeless camps or party spots just outside of the city area. But it turned out I was definitely close enough to get a mix of LA and local rural culture in the area. It was an interesting mix. Read on to see what bits of culture I found boondocking in the desert here.
My resupply took me to Indeo first for dump and water. My last water fill at a gas station around there left me both untrusting of the people and the water. The “people” tried to hustle me into giving them cash for a “gold ring”. The water was marked as non-potable, but really is the same city water supply as elsewhere. The potability issues stem from the tap being too close to the sewer dump. So you get idiots spraying their hose around cleaning their septic, contaminating the tap in the process. You’re usually ok using these spots (clean the tap as best you can) but you are taking a chance.
Electrical treasure
This time around, I just used a local campground. It is much more secure. I had to be let in a gate to even use the facilities. $25 is not too bad a price in the area for water and dump. It is still a minor expense compared to staying in an RV park.. Looking at the stalls around me, I see everything is very neat and tidy, with a nice mini golf course you pass on the way into the camping stalls. This is a brand new place, so I’d expect everything to be nice. The camping prices were a bit more reasonable for the area if you are looking to do that kind of thing.
I proceeded onward for grocery supplies, resolving to try my namesake grocery store at least once while I was within its service area. I certainly knew I was in the Palm Springs area – the average age of the customers here felt like it was in the 70s. I can’t say I was surprised, in fact I kept an eye out for potential retired actors I might know, with Palm Springs being known as a retirement area. Not to mention, my knowledge of American stars ends around year 2000 anyways, so anyone I’d recognise would be pretty old these days. Of course I saw no one, my only surprise was the how cramped the space was in this store. The selection was good, but they crammed everything into a store that would be 50% bigger elsewhere. Perhaps that is a sign of the age of the area too.
Not as close to the tanks at the photo makes it seem
Boondocking view
My boondocking plans were fairly vague for me. I had scouted out some potential spots on the maps north of Joshua Tree National Park. My first foray up Highway 247 ended up at a road I thought was just a bit too sandy to proceed further down. The aerial didn’t have anything that promising looking down there anyways. So, from the area east of the highway I had gone to, I tried a little further north and west, heading to the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. I drove by some water tanks that are marked on one of the camping apps as an overnight spot. Indeed, there were signs of camping, along with a ton of junk. I proceed up the road a little further, and find a little turnaround that is not quite level. Exploring up ahead, I see a larger area with signs of recent shooting. I decide that the spot I was parked at was level enough, this would be my spot. There was a nice view of the valley, and there looked to be some good potential hiking and motorcycling in the area.
Tank target
I was glad I didn’t camp further up the road, as several times people came up that way for some target practice. I have not seen this much shooting since I camped east of Bullhead City. Yet there was a strong hippy new age vibe to the area as well. For example, close to where I had given up traveling east to find boondocking was The Integratron, “Sonic healing” was all I needed to read to infer this is not your standard medical science type of healing. There is a bit of a paranormal reputation to the area too, with stories involving The Giant Rock. Joshua Tree is only a few miles south of me, which definitely has more of liberal vibe to it. The LA escapees have been coming here for a long time, bringing a mix of their culture with them. The few remaining “born and bred” local ranchers would form the conservative end of the scale, joined by the LA escapees sympathising with them. I suspect multi-generation people living out here tend to become more conservative over successive generations.
The neighbors about a half mile away
I was camped on BLM land, but the area is mostly private up to the foothills. I had a neighbor about a half mile away from me, whom I could see well from my perch above. It was the budget snow bird type of setup – RV, shed, a bit of a fenced yard and miscellaneous. Being late winter, they were packing up, leaving their site for the season. The area is not quite Palm Springs warm, but still low enough that the winters rarely see snow. I say ‘budget’ because land can be had for pretty cheap – I see multiple lots of two plus acres for less than US$25K as I write this.
I was close to some hills to climb, with an ATV trail to follow up most of the way, so off I went to see what there was to see. To my surprise, I found a little camp partway up the hill where the ATV trail pretty much ended. To my further surprise, the fire ring contained garbage of the formerly valuable kind: a scorched iPhone, 7 by my guess, I’m not an Apple weenie. In terms of erasing your data from your phone, burning it certainly would do the trick, but you’d need to burn it a little more thoroughly than this one. I wonder if someone was messed up enough to drop their phone at the edge of the fire then forget it leaving the next day. Sad to say, a lot of people who need mental help are out camped on their own away from the rest of humanity.
Some much smaller rocks
Getting a bit into the hills surprised me too, with some rocky scenery similar to Jumbo Rocks Campground in Joshua Tree National Park. While the rocks were not quite as dramatic as the National Park’s, they were free and devoid of people other than the occasional ATV in the area. I was glad I took the motorcycle in as I was able to do a longer loop that got me to some more scenic areas, plus yielding me another potential boondocking area at my exit out of the area heading back to camp.
VHS garbage
For all of the nature loving side of the culture out there, it didn’t extend to keeping things looking nice. The garbage was pretty heavy, and weird sometimes. But I seem to find weird garbage a lot out in the desert, at least weird to me garbage! I even found fresh garbage, a local’s waste drywall and lumber bits left on a road that had been clean when I passed it previously. As I’ve mentioned before, most of the garbage is lazy and/or cheap locals getting rid of their stuff nearby. I did find one bit of ‘treasure’ in the garbage remains this time – an In-N-Out Burger gift card that turned out to have a bit more than $10 on it still. Judging by the scattering of other cards about, I think someone lost a wallet or the contents of one out there ATV riding. I never did find anything to ID the owner, so I got to try what turned out to be just enough gift card for a free cheeseburger, fries and a shake. My verdict was it’s okay – fresh but nothing spectacular. OTOH, for the price it was good!
Looking across at the line of buildings
My one other mystery that took me a while to figure out was the strange bit of civilization I could see way across the valley from me, looking like a bunch of sea cans stacked in a long line. It turns out that it is part of the Marine Corps 29 Palms base, off limits to the public. The distant perspective certainly made the whole thing look like a giant shipping depot rather than a marine camp.
Definitely not native lizard
I had a pretty good time exploring the area. If I get back, I’ll have to try some of the pizza and/or bars in the area. The new age reviews suggest a trippy vibe to the local establishments in the area. But in the meanwhile, I was off to the north, into the desert approaching Death Valley. See you next time in that area!
