Eric Harmon January 20, 2012
I like holes. Specifically, I like holes in the ground, and the deeper into our earth the better. As a young lad I spent many weekends as a rock hound. Rock hounds like rocks. I wasn’t educated in separating mineral types, but I knew the pretty ones and the pretty ones were most often buried. I suppose this is where my curiosity about holes and my love for rocks became intertwined. Many adventures that rock hounds make include abandoned town sites. I like to refer to them as ghost towns. Sometimes structures still rise wholly or partially, and often only a slab of concrete or the obvious human intervention of carefully placed stone mark the spot of a former home or business. Since many of these former towns were constructed to support the excavation and mining operation of gold or other precious metals, holes such as tunnels were a common find.
My brother and I often ventured into these tunnels. I admit that the adults in our rock club had given us kids’ strict instruction to stay away from these death traps. Some things never change over time. Kids are kids. Always were a curious lot and always will be, I imagine. Telling a kid to stay out of a mine, especially one who loved holes and rocks was like saying “they are pretty cool”. My ma would say “the mine will cave in and it will kill you”. My pa would say, “You shouldn’t go in there, but if you do watch out for rattlesnakes, bats and shafts which have no bottom”. There was the fear of the unknown within the darkness and my dad always knew the right thing to say which translated to danger with an exclamation point. I have to admit that the fear of the unknown kept me near the mouth of most mines, and I ventured no more than about 50 feet into the rest. The treasures I usually found were old kerosene lanterns, rusty tin cans, broken bottles and sections of narrow gauge rail. Sometimes I ran in to an old ore cart. And gold that I did extract with my trusted rock hammer always turned out to be iron pyrite; fool’s gold.
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Bob Gibson glides through the streets of Sun City Shadow Hills on his favorite transport, “The Gofer”.  A seven-speed bike, with a battery powered motor; Bob can easily switch from exercise to sit-back-and-relax at the push of a thumb.  It is a Hybrid transporter, taking the average electric golf cart to the next level of Green.

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With the Salton Sea slowly decaying, I seldom venture further east than Indio in the Coachella Valley except to make an annual Native American contribution at the Spotlight 29 Casino. That was until I heard about Mystery Canyons, located in the Mecca Hills.

The tour is on the Desert Adventures menu, listed as extreme. I’ve waited to visit this area of twisted, painted earth for the past few years. With my friend and senior guide Jim Viglione at the helm of the famous Red Jeep, fellow guides Aaron and Mike joined me for the popular tour.

We departed from the “TA” auto center, located on Dillon Road and the 86 Expressway in the city of Coachella. We traveled down an old asphalt road to Tyler Street, made a right turn, past the Corona Yacht Club (largest dry dock in the Coachella Valley – and big party spot) and progressed to one of America’s most valued farm belts. The sight of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, peppers, and pomegranate and egg plants surrounded us. Jim told us that pepper seeds cost $10,000 a pound, but could be planted over three acres, yielding $23,000 each acre. Arrow weed grew like short wind breaks around several crops indicated we were within an ancient lake bed, and driving over a water table that extended up, within 10 feet of our Jeep’s tires.

The August Sun barely cracks the earth’s eastern horizon and the desert heat erupts, relentless. Wildlife moves slowly through concealing shadows, beginning the new day’s search for food, water, safety and comfort in random order. In the southwestern corner of the United States sits the most arid of America’s deserts, the Colorado-Sonoran. That a human would consider the perilous climate of the forbidding desert as a destination is a perplexing thought. The American Native Cahuilla referred to this vast parched valley as the “hollow of God’s palm”. What better place could there be within the four corners of America for a notorious gangster to hide, especially if he is from Chicago?

Hidden within columns of California Fan Palms in the far northwestern corner of the Colorado Desert a small rock dwelling sits. It is within this home that Al Capone found a sanctuary dating back some eighty years ago. It would be decades after Al’s death that the secret of his western hideaway would be revealed.

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I came across an interesting book written by Ruth Pittman on “Roadside History of California”. It is a library book so I must return it to Rancho Mirage so that others can enjoy her research. I picked out a few stories that complement the work of Desert Adventure Guides, especially as we pan for gold in our old mining camp, visit our telegraph office, and tell the history of the great state of California.

Roadside History of California
Ruth Pittman – 1995 Mountain Press Publishing Company

Coloma: Where it All Began

About seven miles from Placerville is Coloma, the place where all the shouting started. The area was originally the home of the peaceful Maidu, who called it Collomah, “beautiful valley”, from which comes today’s name. And beautiful it was, with fine stands of trees and a swiftly flowing river.

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STORIES FROM WEIRD CALIFORNIA
By Greg Bishop, Joe Oesterle, and Mike Marinacci 2006
Transcribed by Songkeeper 2011

Large Lost Ships in viagra Desert Sea by Robert Larson and Greg Bishop

The more one looks at the Salton Sea, the more remarkable it becomes. It is an incongruously large body of salty water, landlocked in a barren desert mere miles from the Mexican border and growing ever saltier. It should have dried up long ago, but it live son, with a history of recurring inundations and dry spells going back hundreds, even thousands, of years. Read the rest of this entry »

By Songkeeper
June 14, 2011

Interstate 10 - Westbound, between Washington and Cook

At first glance, the cracked gray mass appeared as an abandoned WWII runway. The brown desert fauna that long since fought the losing battle to retain its precious moisture lay in erratic lines along the fractured pavement. Read the rest of this entry »

Memorial Day, 2011; by Songkeeper

A lady of grand, yet oh-so-feminine proportions watches over Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. I’m not certain of her name, but I was in love at first sight.

Stopping at the island was impulsive. With my Stepmother Lusi, Brother Gregg and my son, Mark, I drove over the Oakland Bay Bridge with San Francisco’s Warf as my destination. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I knew the city skyline would give us a magnificent photo opportunity. It did not disappoint. Read the rest of this entry »

Songkeeper – The best tour company in the desert; Desert Adventures 2011

Nestled in the San Andreas Faultline "anticlines"

Desert Adventures is a brand name that sufficiently defines its product. It is a eco-company that provides a distinctive adventure within the Colorado/Sonoran Desert; unique because each tour is different, affected by the personalities of the guide and tourists, climate, season and the unexpected, but highly anticipated creatures of nature, the color of the fauna and magnificent geology that rises from the desert floor.

Arguably, the most popular nature-adventure in the Coachella Valley, it is a guided tour within the San Andreas Fault-line. Desert Adventures has an exclusive lease on nearly 1000 acres of land, owned by the pioneer Wilhelm family, located directly on top of one of the many earthquake faults that make up the famous San Andreas Fault line system. Not only do guests get the low-down on earthquakes, faults and plate tectonics, Desert Adventure guides share amazing stories, details and earthquake history while leading a nature hike through the fractured and broken uplifts of the valley floor.

The 1980-era Red Jeeps provide a slow and easy transportation over washes and desert terrain, giving the rider time to ingest the visual views of fauna, insects, lizards, snakes, coyotes, wildcats, and birds, or whatever wildlife that decides to appear at any moment. Wildlife does not always avail itself, but there are always colorful and drought deciduous plants along with amazing geology. There is an oasis with water percolating at its core, a reconstructed Indian village and wonderful replica of an old western mining town. Kids can stay clean or get dirty, hike and climb, smell the many different aromas, find a hidden obsidian arrowhead and pan for gold and other colorful minerals. The guides will make the trip fascinating and always look for a challenge to answer the most obscure questions.

The Desert Adventure tour is one of those activities that keep the guests talking, and referring to their snapshots, capturing their experiences, and a life time of memories. Red-jeep.com; live the desert.