Sunday, January 26, 2014

Slot Canyon

Sunday, January 26, 2014

I still wake up at 6:30 in the morning; however, that is 4:30 Pacific time.  Luckily, it is so early, I go back to sleep for a couple of hours before finally getting up for the day.  Dolly was tired this morning, so after my two cups of coffee, I fixed cereal which is something I can do because it takes no cooking.

Dolly was up by 9:30 and had her coffee while I made the bed and then I sat outside in the zero gravity lounger watching the Fergie wander around looking for coyote droppings to sniff.

I had picked up pamphlets at the Chamber of Commerce the other day and I found one that had a map of twenty places to see and visit around Borrego Springs area.  I went through that looking for somewhere interesting to go for the day and Dolly and I decided on Slot Canyon.

I checked the fresh water tank this morning to visually see how much we had and was surprised to find it was down to about 10 gallons.  The tank holds 35 gallons, but a lot sloshes out the overflow as I go down the road so not sure how much I had when we got here a couple days ago. 

At least I now know which of our tanks needs attention first while boondocking.  The grey and black tanks are still in good shape and the propane never seems to go down which is great because our refrigerator uses that when we are not hooked up to electricity or have the generator going.

Wasn’t sure what to do about getting water into the tank to fill it.  My search on the internet this morning only shows the RV parks as having water.  The cheapest place at $35 a night is the Borrego Springs State Park.  That would be more convenient than driving the motorhome all the way to Truckhaven to get water.  That is 50 miles round trip at eight miles to the gallon.  Gas is $4 a gallon here.

Thought about going to the True Value hardware store in town and see if they had a pump I could buy and then I would pump bottled water into the tank.  Oh well, I will worry about it later.  I will ask at the gas station as we go through town on our way to Slot Canyon if someone sells fresh tap water in town.

About noon, we headed out.  Noticed that our perfectly sunny day was starting to cloud up over the western mountains.  I think the rain that San Diego is hoping to get is giving us a few clouds.

Stopped at the local gas station and asked about fresh water and he said they had a spigot in back I could use.  $5.00 to fill my tank.  That solved that problem.

To get to Butte Pass Road that takes us into the canyon, we had to go through town and out the south side on S3 to highway 78.  As we drove down S3 just outside of town we ran into a bunch more of the metal sculptures and of course we had to get pictures of those.
 
Fighting horses  Foal drinking from mare
Fighting horses                                               Foal suckling and Dolly bravely sneaking up for picture
Momma mammoth and young one
Momma mammoth and young one

Turned east on highway 78 toward Ocotillo Wells for about 10 miles through the Texas DipTexas Dip and up the other side and made a left on the Butte Pass Road.  Butte Pass Road  Not 4-wheel drive but pretty sandy.  Went about a mile into the desert and the road came to an end at the canyon.
Whoa!  I think we're there.
Whoa!  I think we’re there. 
Wouldn’t know it was there if the road didn’t take a sharp turn.   We stopped and walked a short distance to the slippery edge and scooted down into the slot.
Scooted down the hill
Almost to the bottom Slot CanyonSlot Canyon
Almost down to the bottom
Really a slot.  Very narrow.
 Slot Canyon Slot Canyon

Narrow here.

 Hope it doesn't fall! Slot Canyon 
Hope it doesn’t fall!                  Widening back out
 
It was about four in the afternoon when we got home to rest and have dinner.  This evening the wind is picking up rocking the motorhome just a bit.  Hope the Santa Anna winds are not coming.
Sunset

See you later.

6 comments:

  1. Beautiful canyon!!! That is on our bucket list for next time!

    I was going to suggest asking at a gas station, but you beat me to it! Good deal! We carry a 6 gal blue jug we fill if we know water might be short, so if we have to, that extra 6 gallons comes in handy! Plus a few gallon jugs of bought of new drinking water from WalMart still sealed stay in our Tracker. Just in case....

    You guys sure are having fun and living the high life!!!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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  2. Oh, I almost forgot!!! Last year I bought us a 40 gallon collapsible water bladder to haul water to us if we are parked somewhere. Its like a quarter size of a waterbed mattress. Steve bought us a more powerful water pump, and saved our first smaller one to use with the bladder. He added a cord and plug end to run it off a 12volt receptacle he wired in near our water bay.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I am going to have to look into how to get additional water into my fresh water tank. Maybe my water system is already set-up to suck in water from a bucket with the pump I have. Will have to read the manual. Otherwise, I will do what you and Steve have done. Set up a pump I can hook to a battery pack and buy a large inflatable water container and keep it in the jeep.
      It is fun finding out our needs as we go into this boondocking full blast. May never go back to an RV park. Realistically, I know there are areas that don't allow parking outside of the RV parks. Can't just live at Walmart parking lots.

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    2. Glad to see that boondocking is growing on you. You can see why I we avoid RV Parks. We did that Slot Canyon back in 08 & just loved it.

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  3. Yup...the Walmart lots are good on our trip down or back...especially if no boondocking or even nat.forest or corps of eng parks open. ... But free in BLM land is the best on our budget...and all so peaceful and nice! Rows and rows if sardine cans with umbilical cords tied to a post isn't our thing!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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  4. Watch out for flash floods in those canyons. Beautiful area.

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