Hiking the wash with the My Bad Elf

Before we left our lovely campsite parked beside our friends home in Calico Basin, we did a last hike through the wash east of their property.

I used my Bad Elf to map our route.

We walked east past their home and over a hill toward the wash.

There is no trail so made our own meandering through this rocky desert.

Views of the red rocks..

I am always looking down…

I find a heart..

I don't know what type of cactus this is but it was a lovely shade of purple.

Here we are in the wash..

This area becomes a raging river after a big rain storm.

Polka dot boulders dot the sides of the wash..

Its been a dry winter here.

In the past we have seen this wash filled with water.

I love the colors here, reds, grays, orange, purples and the blue blue sky.

I found some chalk in the wash and gave it to Jeff to write our names on one of the rocks.

I think he must have dyslexia..

Oh well..

Its the thought that counts.  

More vibrant colors.

I love hiking the wash..

Its an easy hike for those days when you just don't feel like going uphill out of breath..

You can breathe easy here..

I like to stroll and see what I can find..

This little rock with the two eyes, reminded me of an owl.

I know..I am a Bird Brain…

A Brick red heart…

I found this strange mushroom that must have come up after some rain.

it was dried out and the stem felt like wood.

The wash changes shape and color…

A few more hearts..

This large boulder is taller than I am..

I went up to see why all the smaller rocks are stuck on the side.

Nature has cemented them on.

Jeff  ahead of me in the wash..

The tall red earth sides of the wash tower over him.

I look up and see a rock balancing on the hard red earth..

The red earth will erode away before the balanced rocks..

We reach the end of our trail.

This part of the wash ends abruptly

. We would have to climb about 11 feet over what would be a water fall area if there was water.

Instead we backtrack and head out of the wash and take another trail back to Homey.

We walk past beautiful barrel cactus..

Large boulders..

Did they fall from this rocky mountain?

We continue our walk west..

stopping to watch the rock climbers..

This is a very popular area for rock climbing and bouldering.

Lots of rocks to practice on..

The climbers come carrying their pads that are used to break their fall.

We call them Sponge Bobs, because of the square pads they carry ....

We continue our hike west..

Through the red sands…

  then head south..back to where we started.

Another terrific hike in Calico Basin.

Just a little over three miles..

I will miss our walks here….

 

Hiking with a Bad Elf

I have always wanted to be able to use my Ipod touch and Ipad as a GPS.

People who own the Ipad with 3G are able to because of a built in GPS chip.

I didn't buy an IPad with 3G because we own a Mifi device to pick up cell signals that allow us to go online with our devices.

So, to solve the issue I recently purchased a

 Bad Elf.

GPS Receiver & Datalogger
for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad.

   I can turn this on along with my mifi device and Ipad or Ipod and start GPS navigation.

I can also use the Bad Elf while hiking to log our trip.

I brought it out on a maiden voyage a few days ago.

It has a strap which can be attached to something or just worn around the neck.

I wore it around my neck for this hike.

We walked out the door of Homey and started hiking.

We hiked through Red Springs and up toward one of the rock climbing areas..

It was a beautiful sunny day, mid sixties.

Tee shirt hiking weather..

The climbers were out…we watched them..

Then continued our hike.

See the path on the right?

That is the path we followed down to the wash..then back up another hill, where I took this photo.

I followed a flock of birds with my bins and found them on the path.

Dark-eyed Juncos

At the top of the hill on the wires are two

Western Meadowlark

We follow the ridgeline for a bit..

Views toward smoggy Las Vegas.

Joshua tree

We had a nice hike and it was time to head back to Homey..

If you enlarge the photo below you can see Homey on the right side.

I took a few screen shots of our trip that was logged on The Bad Elf.

Using the Bad Elf app I downloaded the trip.

Here is an overview..

The map of our route.

The Details..

So far I am enjoying this little device.

 

My Ebird list for the day

Jan 10, 2014
Calico Basin
Traveling
4 miles
180 Minutes
Observers: 2
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: 
Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.7.1
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
hummingbird sp.
Western Scrub-Jay
Verdin
Rock Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Northern Mockingbird
Phainopepla
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
Western Meadowlark
House Sparrow