Anza-Borrego Desert State Park & Borrego Springs, California, March 2014: Borrego Springs Night Sky Photos, Wind Caves, Ghost Mountain, Blair Valley
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19 March 2014, continued: ~~~~~~ And it's not just astronomers who are irked by light pollution. Ken Lee, a San Fernando Valley-based photographer with a penchant for capturing the night sky, said that the act of photographing forces him to connect with the world. "When you make four-hour exposures in the middle of the night, you inevitably slow down and begin to observe and appreciate more what's going on around you. In our fast-paced, modern world, it's a luxury to be able to watch the stars move across the sky," he said. "We have become increasingly distanced from the night sky in a way that didn't exist 100 years ago, or even 50 or 60 years ago," said Lee, who prefers to travel to locales like Borrego Springs, the Mojave Desert, or the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in Eastern California to capture his night shots. "People stay up late, watch TV, stay on their computer...cities are becoming more populated, and with that comes more activity, and therefore, more light. The dark sky is disappearing, and with it, our appreciation and perspective of the night sky. It's not only damaging from a research point of view, but perhaps for much of humankind." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sure, it's a little silly...but when should that ever stop us? |
21 March 2014 - Wind Caves:We woke up and decided to go to the Wind Caves, up a long dirt road called Fish Creek Wash (map -- this is not exactly where the trailhead for the Wind Caves is, although it's extremely close; look for signs and a lot of parked cars) |
Elephant Knees, to the left and up near the horizon, located near the Wind Caves along Fish Creek Wash in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. |
 The interior of the wind caves in Anza-Borrego. |
 The Wind Caves seemed like a place one might find on Tatooine. |
 Beautiful view, with part of the Elephant Knees on the left, facing away from the Wind Caves. |
 22 March 2014 - Blair Valley, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park:Atop Ghost Mountain, a family from San Diego made their home atop a remote, waterless windblown peak as an experiment. Marshall South was a widely published writer, and wrote an extensive journal about the trials and tribulations of living such a harsh, difficult existence, which has been published in a book. This is a sundial. This is the location of the area. |
 Most of the house, called Yaquitepec has been worn down by nature, scant ruins. When you explore the mountaintop settlement, you can see its crumbling adobe walls, the frame for an arched doorway, a rusted bed frame, and a rather elaborate cement and barrel cisterns once used to catch seasonal rainfall. |
 A one-mile trail at the foot of Ghost Mountain in Blair Valley, off Highway S-2, climbs 1200 feet to the site. The Souths had named the mountain for the “thin, ghostly trails” that led to the obscure ridge where they built their home. Here is the door frame to what was once the South residence. |
 Also in Blair Valley, the Pictograph Trail lies nearby, a short walk to the pictographs. It was very nice of one of the hikers to pose by the pictographs. |
 Nearby is the fascinating Morteros Trail. Morteros are mills, or grinding bowls, carved into large boulders, and can be found along the trail, sometimes a bit hidden from immediate view. These were created by the Kumeyaay, Native Americans who created and used the circular morteros over 2,000 years ago to grind local nuts and seeds into meal. This was a guided tour that we caught a little after noon, and was an interesting tour. |
 A heart-shaped rock along the Morteros Trail. And no, this is not Photoshopped. I don't think I would know how to do this in Photoshop anyway. |
 Morteros pictographs that have been painted over by 1940s scientists in a misguided attempt to reveal what was there. |
 This is the St. Richard Church in Borrego Springs. |
~~~~ Title: Slow Star Trails
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Anza-Borrego Desert State Park & Borrego Springs, California, March 2014
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Los Angeles and Miscellaneous Photos Page
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Contact photographer/musician Ken Lee
The previous evening, I had wanted to photograph the borregos, or bighorn sheep. Alas, there were people camping, partying, and firing off guns on the Avery's Galleta Meadows property, so I avoided them and instead quietly took photos of this prehistoric tortoise.
