Return to Pegleg
©Bert Gildart: We left Anza Borrego Desert State Park last April, but are back now, exploring the hills but keeping our eyes open for snakes, scorpions and tarantulas. This “snake” was here last year, but it appears to have gotten even larger. We found it by simply stepping onto a desert trail that leads from the steps of our Airstream and then following it up for about a mile to a small cove of rocks.
"Snake", discovered while hiking trail above Pegleg.
It’s good to be back in the Sonoran.
We got here several days ago, departing Mojave National Preserve. It was an easy day drive from our campground at Kelso Sand Dunes, but we got a late start and when we saw a sign at Chiriaco Summit along Highway 10 offering “Free Dry Camping” near a display of old Patton Tanks, we decided to overnight.
L to R: “Free Dry Camping” adjacent to old Patton Tanks at Chiriaco Summit along Interstate 10; Janie heading above Pegleg; Mexican workers loading vegetables onto pallets — working as though choreographed.
Next day we struck out for the remainder of our drive passing a group of Mexicans who seemed to be working hard with coordinated movements loading fresh fruit onto pallets for shipping. Such labor is, of course, available to Americans of all ethnicity, but the workforce consisted of Latinos only.
An hour later we pulled into Pegleg (Pegleg’s Gold)and since that time have been settling in for what will surely be a stay of at least several weeks. Our solar panels are up and once again we marvel that we can play music, run computers, watch TV at night, run the heater — charge telephones, Nooks, and camera batteries and never pull the charge in our four 12V batteries much below 12.8. That means we remain near the “fully charged” indicator at all times. The sun pops up about 7, and by 9, we are fully, fully charged again.
L to R: Pegleg campground below Janie, who later finds snake and “adds” to its growth.
That means we have no worries and can explore to our heart’s content. Look at the above photos and you’ll see that that is precisely what we have been doing. Give us a few more days to settle in and our wanderings will take us further afield. Upcoming trips will have us looking for sheep and Indian morteros, and, most likely, see us returning to old Marshall South Homestead. South was a noted magazine and book author, who choose a life style that was absolutely isolated.
You’ll want to stay tuned for upcoming posts.
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Airstream Travels Two Years Ago:
4th ed. Autographed by the Authors
Hiking Shenandoah National Park
Hiking Shenandoah National Park is the 4th edition of a favorite guide book, created by Bert & Janie, a professional husband-wife journalism team. Lots of updates including more waterfall trails, updated descriptions of confusing trail junctions, and new color photographs. New text describes more of the park’s compelling natural history. Often the descriptions are personal as the Gildarts have hiked virtually every single park trail, sometimes repeatedly.
Big Sky Country is beautiful
Montana Icons: 50 Classic Symbols of the Treasure State
Montana Icons is a book for lovers of the western vista. Features photographs of fifty famous landmarks from what many call the “Last Best Place.” The book will make you feel homesick for Montana even if you already live here. Bert Gildart’s varied careers in Montana (Bus driver on an Indian reservation, a teacher, backcountry ranger, as well as a newspaper reporter, and photographer) have given him a special view of Montana, which he shares in this book. Share the view; click here.
$16.95 + Autographed Copy
What makes Glacier, Glacier?
Glacier Icons: 50 Classic Views of the Crown of the Continent
Glacier Icons: What makes Glacier Park so special? In this book you can discover the story behind fifty of this park’s most amazing features. With this entertaining collection of photos, anecdotes and little known facts, Bert Gildart will be your backcountry guide. A former Glacier backcountry ranger turned writer/photographer, his hundreds of stories and images have appeared in literally dozens of periodicals including Time/Life, Smithsonian, and Field & Stream. Take a look at Glacier Icons
$16.95 + Autographed Copy
February 5th, 2014 at 1:46 pm
Glad to see you guys boondocking in Pegleg!! I wish our time in the area overlapped.
February 13th, 2014 at 9:13 am
[...] to a stone snake in the hills. It’s made of many small stones to create quite the mosaic. To read about the snake and see some photos, pop over to Bert’s blog and see for yourself. That snake in the desert inspired Mike to do something different on his vacation. He started [...]
April 14th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
[...] and Janie drove down from their campsite at Pegleg for a day of feasting and [...]