Balancing rocks- El Paso Mountains

Along BLM Route EP 15, El Paso Mountains.  Photo by Scott Schwartz

Badlands-California's El Paso Mountains...

                                           Photo by Scott Schwartz.

El Paso Mountains....

                                            Along BLM trail EP-15.  Photo by Scott Schwartz.

Black Mountain...Mysterious lights were seen at the top...

.....of the mountain by prospectors, during the late 1800's.  This is just a local legend, of course.

Nevertheless, pictographs and other archaeological evidence found at the top of the mountain has led to speculation that Native Americans held ceremonies and traded with each other here.

I'm hoping to hike to the summit sometime next month.

                                           Photo by Scott Schwartz

Rough Country: California's El Paso Mountains...

There's no doubt about it.  Despite the myriad of trails and its relative closeness (30 miles, or so) to the city of Ridgecrest, the El Paso Mountain Range is rugged country.  It is very unforgiving toward those who enter it unprepared.

Even during the cooler months, you should have at lease one other vehicle accompany you, make sure that your  own vehicle is in good mechanical condition, bring plenty of food, and bring plenty of water.

Even for day trips, I carry 6 gallons of water in a military surplus water jug.  That might seem like a lot of water, but I'd rather have too much than too little.

Summertime temperatures can soar well over one hundred degrees in the El Paso's.  You can almost feel the heat emanating from the rocks in the photograph below.

This was taken during one of my summer trips into the El Paso Mountains.  The temperature was roughly one hundred, ten degrees Fahrenheit that day.  Photo by Scott Schwartz

Abandoned mine; one of many that pock-mark hills in the El Paso's.  

Photo by Scott Schwartz.

Winter in the El Paso Mountains...

Hello desert lovers:

I'm home today with a sore throat, but I'm well enough to be sifting through some of my older photos.  I took this one just before Christmas in 2008.  

It was a cold, misty day.  I'd made the trip by myself.  Normally, one can hear the buzz of motorcycles being ridden somewhere in the distance.  But not on that day, however.  

Utterly alone.

If swallowed whole, I'd remain unknown.

Photo by Scott Schwartz