The Deceptive Cajon Pass...

   Looks can deceive.  To us, the modern travelers, who ride in climate-controlled vehicles on paved roads, this is a beautiful scene.  This photo was taken near Hwy. 138 in the Cajon Pass.

For those who were struggling to get through this area during the horse-drawn wagon era, however, the Cajon Pass was a treacherous obstacle - fraught with hazards even after the construction of the toll road.  

El Paso Mountains...

Canyon near the Dutch Cleanser Mine.  Looking at places like this reminds me of photos taken on Mars.  Some of the rock formations look like artificial constructs when seen from a distance. Many times during my desert travels, I've seen things that look man-made until I got close to them.  Most of the time, these things turned out to be rock-formations that the light was hitting just right.

This is why,  besides the lack of scientific evidence (conspiracy theories aside), I don't believe that any of the purported photos of "Martian ruins" are anything but natural rock formations and geological features.

                                     Another view of the same canyon.

 

Spectacular View In the El Paso Mountains...

 I shot this from a vantage point near The Old Dutch Cleanser Mine, which is off Sierra View Rd.  This is the view looking south.  The hills way in the distance are the Rand Mountains.

This past Saturday, the winds were howling.  Fearing that a sudden gust would blow me over the ledge, I had to maintain a safe distance from it.  Using a tripod was out of the question, so I shot this hand-held with my Nikon D7200.

Lonely Outpost: Cabins Near Burro Schmidt's Tunnel...

 Until her death in 2003, Evelyn Tonie Seger lived in one of these cabins, near the entrance to Burro Schmidt's Tunnel.  Seger had been living here since 1963, when she and her husband bought the property from someone else, who'd purchased the property from Schmidt himself.  

I met Ms. Seger  during the late 1990's, when I interviewed her for an article that I was writing for the Mojave Desert News.  

Poking around the hills above Lytle Creek On President's Day...

In case any of you wonder what kind of vehicle I explore in, here is a photo.  It's a 2020 Subaru Forester.  

                                       This is the trail, looking back toward Lytle Creek.  

Deep Colors In The Calico Mountains...

 

Every time someone asks me why I spend so much time in the "barren" desert, I think of this image.  

Ruins: El Paso Mountains...

 

When ever I come across ruins like these, I wonder what went through the minds of those who built them.  

Did it occur to them that, in the distant future, the crumbling remnants of their workmanship would be mere curiosities to those passing through?

A "Peak" At A Mormon Rock...

                                         Drone flight over one of the formations at Mormon Rocks.

Old Toll Road...

 This is a segment of the old John Brown Toll Road, which was hand-excavated in 1861.  Brown was an entrepreneur who wanted to make a profit by collecting tolls from people traveling through the Cajon Pass.  

Now, the road is just another trail in the desert.

Mormon Rocks...

 So named, for the Mormon pioneers (mostly former members of the Mormon Battalion-volunteers who'd fought in the Mexican-American War) who camped here in 1851, the Mormon Rocks are a short drive from my home.  What must these settlers have thought of these huge rock formations?