On Wednesday it was time to head out into the desert. Before I left we decided to check out one last spot in San Diego, a popular spot called Pacific Beach.

It was a hot day and the beach was full of people. There were also hundreds of surfers out trying to catch the waves. Pacific beach is on a peninsula with the sea on both sides. The beach is long and straight with white sand. We walked for about half an hour in each direction. Interestingly there was a New Zealand themed burger restaurant right next to where be parked the car. Apparently it was inspired by Fergburger in Queenstown. Looking at the menu they seemed to have confused some Australian lingo like shelia.

Pacific Beach

After Pacific Beach it was time to leave San Diego before the dreaded rush hour(s) started (3pm to 6pm). I have to say a big thank you to the O’Brien’s who have hosted me for the last three nights. It was so nice to stay in a house and feel like a part of the family. It was also good to see San Diego with a local perspective. I had a really good time here and I’m sure I’ll be back before long.

I was heading a date farm out near the Salton Sea in the Colorado Desert where I am WWOOFing for the next four days. My route would travel east on the I-8 interstate over the Cuyamaca Mountains into the Imperial Valley and then North on CA-111 through Niland. The drive was around 3 hours and 170 miles (~270 km) in distance.

Driving up and over the mountains was an experience. The land gains elevation quite quickly up until the summit. From there it is a long downhill through the increasingly desert-like landscape. The road is so steep in parts that there was a runaway truck lane. The idea is that if a truck can’t slow down it drives onto a side road where the surface is a very rough gravel that the truck slows and stops the truck. Another interesting feature of the landscape was the many windfarms I drove past. There was also a huge area where solar panels were being constructed.

 

My route took me very close to the Mexican border and at times I could see the huge fences. This area is a popular route for illegal immigrants due to its remoteness and there was a large Border Protection Agency presence. I had to pass through a customs checkpoint but I must have looked suitably white so I was waved through.

It had been around 24 degrees Celsius when I left San Diego which to me felt fairly warm. When I got out of the car for the first time after reaching the desert the temperature was 46 degrees Celsius. I’m not going to do any justice to just how weird this feels. The strangest thing I’ve noticed is just how hot things are in the shade here. Metal objects are hot to touch, as are rocks and tiles. Your clothes feel hot as if they’ve just come out of the drier.

The main reason that I’ve come out here is to do some work on a date farm. This is basically WWOOFing where I work a few hours a day in exchange for food and accommodation. All of the work is done early in the morning before the heat becomes too oppressive. We start at around 5.30am and end between 7am or 8am. The work so far has been quite varied, from helping to install an air conditioning unit (much needed), to thining the date crop, and trimming the sparse desert grass. Even that early in the morning it is still around 30 degrees.

Behind the farm is a huge area used by the military

After the work is done I’m free to do what I want. Yesterday I decided to go and do a hike that my host suggested in Andreas Canyon near Palm Springs. It is approaching the height of summer and after four years of drought there is almost no fresh water around. Andreas Canyon however has natural spring from which a good sized stream flows from. This water supports plants and animals and really stands out from the dry surrounds. Temperatures were once again in the mid-40s and I was glad the walk was fairly short, only around 20 minutes. The canyon is on an Indian Reservation so I had to pay an entry fee to get it. Luckily this was half price for the summer season.

Andreas Canyon

After doing the walk I decided to visit Palm Springs. I’m not sure if I was in the wrong place but this would have to be the least interesting place I’ve seen so far. I parked right in the middle of the city centre and there was really nothing at all apart from restaurants. It was so hot that I could only manage about half an hour of exploring before returning to my car.

During the day I have noticed what looked to be a heavy smoke cloud hanging to the north. This increased in size throughout the day and I eventually heard that it was from a huge forest fire in the San Bernardino National Forest. The fire is in an area of old growth forest that is not recorded as having burnt any time in the last hundred years. As I write this the first continues to burn and covers an area of 11,000 acres. By this morning the smoke had drifted south towards where I’m staying causing the sun rise to be an eerie blood red.

The smoke cloud above Joshua Tree National Park

On my drive home from Palm Springs I passed another fire burning in what looked to be a palm grove. The flames where towering tens of metres into the sky and the smoke could be seen for miles. The first was right next to the highway so I got a good view of it as I drove past. It was the strangest feeling driving into the shadow of the smoke cloud. For about ten seconds the light from the sun turned a dark orange.

Today I’m having a bit of a lazy day and catching up on dealing with all of the video that I’ve taken. Tomorrow I think I’ll check out some of the attractions nearby (there’s not many). On Sunday I’ll be heading north to Joshua Tree National Park for two nights.