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A Birthday
We resupplied with groceries in Bishop along with doing laundry. We were able to reach a favorite spot to overnight at the ghost town of Candelaria.
Pretty much assured we’d be all alone up here, we had a wonderful quiet night.
As we prepared for this trip the Lady asked several times, “Do you think we could find time to look for ‘Little Pecker Boy’ again. I bet he’s up canyon as the text suggests.”
We have visited this rock art site two times. Our second time was in May of this year and we included Steve & Deb in the search for “Little Pecker Boy.”
This petroglyph is distinctive, is pictured in the old textbook, but we could not find it. The boulder in the textbook’s photo looked too large to have been carted away.
So where was he? We returned, with the Lady’s insistence, to search once again.
As the Lady said, the textbook stated there was one boulder with petroglyphs over a mile up the canyon from the main site. We’d not yet ventured up there. This is what triggered the Lady’s hope we’d have success. We reached the open canyon that our topo map indicated.
The topo map had a bench mark close by so we found it.
We found the petroglyph boulder.
There were petroglyphs but no “Little Pecker Boy.” he remains “bashful,” the word the Lady used as our search was again unsuccessful. His whereabouts will remain a mystery until we turn up new clues.
Our hike back down canyon to our truck was fun and returning to this special place was delightful.
It was mid afternoon when we reached the truck. A couple hours of daylight remained to find a spot for the night. The stunning colors of sunset found us above Walker Lake.
The next morning was cold and clear.
Our coffee walk took us to one of our favorite pictograph panels.
DStretch helps bring out the details.
The Lady remembered the Sagebrush Reconnoiterer had suggested another treasure hunt when we were in the Mono Lake area. “Let’s look for the Reconnoiterer’s boat!” the Lady exclaimed as the vast waters of Mono Lake came into view.
Years ago the Sagebrush Reconnoiterer wrote an article about the Venita, a 35 foot boat that once plied the salty waters of Mono. It had been pulled out of the lake decades ago and was slowly decaying in place. Sagebrush was concerned it may have burned in last May’s Inn Fire. We stopped and scanned the northwest corner of Mono Lake.
The Lady initiated a text message conversation with Sagebrush. He supplied a series of photos of the Venita from over the years. We used those photos to try and pinpoint where the boat’s final resting spot was, with matching elements in the photos to the real world. The property below us is marked as private, so we did not do a ground search. It is not definitive, but there’s a good probability that the Venita is no more.
Our next stop as we traveled south on 395 was the Inyo Craters.
A few months ago we’d driven by a spot we thought would make a great place to spend a night. It would do nicely for this night. The views were outstanding as the day ended.
The coming dawn illuminated the landscape around us with color.
I woke this birthday morning happy and with a big grin on my face. I turned to the Lady and started to say ……. “I know, I know,” she stopped me. “This is the first time in my life I’ve woke up in bed with a 73 year old man!”
“Yes!” I answered. “Is it still fun?”
Her smile said yes.
With our Peets Coffee ready, the Lady said, “I want to go up there.” We walked up the primitive road across from us and looked back at camp.
I realized my mistake when the Lady said, “No, I want to go up there,” and pointed to the top of the hill that loomed high above us. “Let’s see how a 73 year old man can do. You game?”
The truck looked much much smaller from the top. And it was a great place to relax and finish our mugs of coffee.
We had two nights booked at Benton Hot Springs, an annual event to celebrate my continuing orbits of the sun. We settled in.
We did not drive the next day. We left the camper set up and relaxed. And, of course, that met going on a long hike. We’ve done a lot of exploring in the hills above the hot springs. This time we headed more to the north and took in the board vistas.
We saw a route that could take us to the top of the ridge.
Turning a corner to climb to a saddle in the ridge line, we found an old trail bed.
The old trail put us at a wonderful over look of Black Lake and Adobe Valley beyond. We celebrated with a nice lunch up here.
But, as you can imagine, that healing, restorative, exquisite hot spring water was calling us. We headed back.
And after just a hop, skip, and a jump, we returned to another quiet evening and our own private hot tub.
Thanks to Donna, Steve & Deb for your friendship and hospitality! And thanks to our friend the Sagebrush Reconnoiterer for the treasure hunts!
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