tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49390995923027301912011-11-27T15:32:17.895-08:00<b>Mojave Desert - True Facts, Legends, &amp; Lies</b> <br><br> <i>brought to you by;</i><br> <a href="http://mojavevisions.blogspot.com/">Mojave Visions</a> &amp; <a href="http://walterfeller.com/">WalterFeller.com</a>Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-58325198568537610722009-10-23T08:17:00.000-07:002009-10-23T08:20:50.717-07:00

Little Autumn by Walter Feller - to sit among the cottonwood trees and hear the crackle and clatter from the bright leaves from the bright leaves that is all that seems to matter in the autumn breeze -

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-2013477249475388572009-09-28T07:51:00.000-07:002009-10-31T12:13:57.817-07:00

Los Angeles, California, where the streets were paved with Gold! In 1896, Ezra Hamilton owned a brick factory in Los Angeles. He made brick pavers for the streets of the growing city. He began to notice flecks of gold in the clay and thought it worth checking out. He traveled to where the material was dug out of the ground and panned in the washes until he found some gold float. He followed the

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-62816379696926601922009-09-28T02:45:00.000-07:002009-09-28T02:49:38.422-07:00

Yeah, I know ... I haven’t paid too much attention to my little scurrying friends in the last couple years. But lately I found that if I move slow, and talk low, I can sit down right beside them and have a nice little one-sided chat. This first one is a common side-blotched lizard I became acquainted with during a hike to Keane Springs in Death Valley. Just behind the right front leg is the

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-11008343177019877692009-09-27T22:06:00.000-07:002009-09-27T22:12:43.573-07:00

Originally reported in an August, 1911 issue of the Inyo County Independent, by Phillip I. Earl Death Valley is perhaps the West’s most aptly named geographical feature and over the years it has taken the lives of countless thousands of travelers, prospectors, treasure hunters and others who have ventured into its tortured, arid wilderness. The circumstances of these deaths are roughly

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-16296790673985511932009-09-27T20:37:00.000-07:002009-09-27T20:44:31.482-07:00

Red Rock, Garlock & Lost Gold Red Rock Canyon is the result of the grinding together of two geomorphic regions, the Mojave Desert and Great Basin. This uplifting takes place along the Garlock fault, which is what is known as a left lateral strike-slip fault. This means that the far side of the shot is moving to the left, and the part I’m standing on is moving to the right (slowly ). I believe

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-33895875461462768332009-09-27T20:05:00.000-07:002009-09-27T22:14:43.519-07:00

About This Canyon Lone Pine Canyon is a young, or new, canyon formed by the San Andreas fault which separates the Southern California and Mojave Desert regions. The fault runs pretty much down the center of the long canyon, follows the edge of the foothills across the ridge in the distance and passes to the left of San Jacinto Mountain furthest away in the shot. At the base of San Jacinto

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-81157807765630049522009-09-27T08:54:00.000-07:002009-09-27T08:54:17.769-07:00

The Hottest Day by Walter Feller It was the morning of the hottest day the warm, thick air began to weigh heavy on God's creatures one and all and hugging the slight shadows however small they found a hole to scurry in before the hottest day would begin

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-80247149541085413972009-09-27T07:30:00.000-07:002009-09-27T08:04:24.587-07:00

Geo-Excitement & Thrills The well defined bench beyond the pistachio farm midshot was once a towering mountain sitting on top of the mine in the distance and Blackhawk Mountain to its right. One day 17,000-20,000 years ago, for cause not known to us now, the mountain collapsed, crumbled into dust and slid down the slope. Spreading two miles wide and five miles long the totality of the event

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-68969054411979581772009-09-26T13:06:00.000-07:002009-09-26T13:09:38.400-07:00

Camping by a Desert Spring by Walter Feller I like this spring, the one right here I'd like to spend the night right near There is no water not even a tree But this old bed spring is fine by me -

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-69973188415465672862009-09-26T12:11:00.000-07:002009-09-26T12:20:51.035-07:00

The screwbean mesquite -- properly prepared, these things will kill you Shoshone Bob was a Shoshone Indian who lived out near Beatty east of Death Valley. He fermented a concoction of mesquite beans, bottled up a few jars and passed them around. The wild-eyed drunk that the aged soup produced was nothing compared to the delirium and illness it also caused. Yet, in times of prohibition any

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-34002981666842667162009-09-26T11:50:00.000-07:002009-09-27T22:15:49.617-07:00

Tom Vincent was a hermit that lived on the side of Mt Baden-Powell for over 50 years. In those years he discovered a mine and sold it off and lived on the little he made from the sale over the years as well as hunting bighorn sheep, deer and an occasional bear. He was a recluse and unfriendly and would often take pot shots at folks he didn't know to keep them away from his mountain. His only

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-70672979059315116402009-09-26T10:52:00.000-07:002009-09-27T22:16:35.762-07:00

Mojave Rattlesnake Before I get into this, “Mojave Green”, is a slang name for the Mojave Rattlesnake. I didn’t know that until a couple years after I moved to the desert. Sometimes though, the facts are just plain boring and a bit of B.S. can brighten things up and even change our lives. One of the reasons I moved up here was that back in the olden days, one of my friend's Mother lived in a

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-45226066415803362162009-09-26T10:43:00.001-07:002009-09-26T11:25:09.182-07:00

They are big and they look mean, but the chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater), are harmless herbivores feeding on desert flowers, fruits and leaves. Young chuckwallas are known to try a grasshopper or two, but usually stick entirely to plants by the time they are a year old. Chuckwallas get all their water from the plants they eat and never drink, even when water is readily available. Instead of

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-54267692002433224542009-09-26T10:33:00.000-07:002009-10-08T05:41:39.508-07:00

Robber's Roost The banditos would hide their horses in the clefts in the formation, climb to the top, and keep a lookout- They could see for 20 miles in each direction. The stage would approach, and they would move dustlessly into a deep and shadowy arroyo, then lie in wait. Vasquez, the ‘Gentleman’, would politely rob them all. But one man refused to give up his watch, a gift from his since

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-34267758713082039722009-09-26T10:27:00.000-07:002009-09-26T11:41:38.271-07:00

I finally made it to Little Petroglyph Canyon! Such a beautiful place. It’s easy to see why it would have been sacred to the early people. There are thousands of carvings throughout the canyon. No one knows what they mean or why they are there. This is what I like about them. The Koso (Timbisha Shoshoni) say they were made by their ancestors. That’s good for me. The estimated age range is so

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-67529775244978250992009-09-26T10:17:00.000-07:002009-09-26T12:34:41.492-07:00

Mt. Charleston, Nevada ... When Coyote lifted the lid of the basket to see inside, all of the people jumped out and ran in the four directions. At the bottom of the basket there were people that were smashed and broken. Coyote quickly put the lid back on the basket. Brother Wolf was smarter than Coyote, so Coyote took the broken people to him on the top of the mountain where Wolf lived.

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-12589386630840546012009-09-26T09:51:00.000-07:002009-09-26T12:54:19.053-07:00

Kelso Dunes The sand in this photo is made up of granuals of rose quartz. The source of this quartz is nowhere to be found in the Mojave. Some scientists hypothisize that since this source is not to be found, and there is no increase in other minerals gathering in the area, that these dunes are no longer being replenished. Over time and as the wind blows they will ultimately disappear and no

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-24372521899695656072009-09-26T09:28:00.000-07:002009-09-27T05:43:32.051-07:00

Back in the beginning of time the Lord was living here with all the people. He was the one who asked the people whether they would turn into deer. He wanted to transform them. And they obeyed Him and were transformed. And so they were transformed. That's what He (their Lord) said. And so the deer would sing. And then the people would dance the deer dance. They would sing the deer songs. It (the

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-13754063264506169072009-09-26T09:23:00.001-07:002009-09-27T05:49:22.934-07:00

For hundreds if not thousands of years, the Yharetum, the People of the Pines, would sort their way through the thick hardwood forest of the mountain highlands to gather acorns and pine nuts. While the men would hunt deer, the woman would take their bounty and pound it into meal within the deep holes embedded in the boulders. The People are gone now, and the metate these women used sit lonely in

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-68516955262480777742009-09-26T09:11:00.000-07:002009-09-26T09:12:54.891-07:00

"When from the lips of Truth one mighty breath Shall, like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze The whole dark pile of human miseries, Then shall the reign of mind commence on earth And, starting forth as from a second birth, Man, in the sunrise of the world's new spring, Shall walk transparent like some holy thing." from ~ Lallah Rookh - by Thomas Moore -

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-87215447053898586802009-09-26T08:52:00.000-07:002009-09-26T09:14:46.641-07:00

Ute, Paiute, Mojave, and Shoshone inhabit its frontiers, and as far into the heart of it as a man dare go. Not the law, but the land sets the limit. Desert is the name it wears upon the maps, but the Indian's is the better word. Desert is a loose term to indicate land that supports no man; whether the land can be bitted and broken to that purpose is not proven. Void of life it never is, however

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939099592302730191.post-55456672365599471002009-09-26T08:09:00.000-07:002009-09-26T09:54:48.366-07:00

As the first group of Mormon pioneers made their way across the Mojave in 1849, two of them looking for a water source for their livestock explored a canyon and found streaks of gold in the rock. They moved on to Southern California, purchased supplies and equipment, and immediately returned to develop the prospect. In 1852 the house was first built to provide a permanent shelter and

Walter Fellernoreply@blogger.com