A Marsh and Gen. George Patton

UPDATE: CA fire territory is so goddamn volatile. thinking of you, Morongo Valley.

sometimes ghost town trolling adventures don't turn out the way you've planned, but it's usually still possible to salvage your excursion if you maneuver your day just right.

to anyone planning a ghost town excursion in riverside county, california (since i know there are so many of you): the ghost towning here is even more meager than what you might read on the web -- except for ruins in joshua tree national park, which, though i haven't seen them YET, are purportedly plentiful. but if you're planning on doing a car (as opposed to hiking) trip, be prepared for disappointment. i was planning to check out this place called Eagle Mountain, which was at various points a jail, a town, and other stuff. now apparently it's a sort of military training facility and you need special access to get in. berdoo camp was inaccessible without a 4 wheel drive, and both are far the f--- away. booooooo.

going that far though does have its rewards. for example, did you know that there is a george s. patton museum near the california-arizona border that along with patton -- lovingly remembered as Old Blood and Guts -- commemorates the WWII Desert Training Maneuver Area, the largest military training ground that has ever existed, and which covered 18,000 square miles and at which over one million soldiers were trained? me neither. it was very surreal visiting this place in 100+ temperatures, with memorial plaques and tanks just plopped down in the wavy heat in the middle of nowhere. made me think of the fabled militant training camps of afghanistan (except that at the patton museum there are christian and church-type commemorative things). the california-arizona border is an eh... inhospitable area.

also, did you know that morongo valley -- most widely known, at least among my relatives, for casino morongo -- is the location of a marsh preserve where over 300 species of birds live, including the endangered vermillion flycatcher? me neither. how can there be a marsh in some of the most godforsakenly dry desert in the world? in june of last year, a fire just above the marsh called the Paradise Fire took out a bunch of trees and 7 homes (which apparently is a happily small number), so now there is this unbelievable contrast between the marshland plants, which are as green as plants get, and the charred trees all around. i don't know if the plants were burned and if they regenerated in that time, but it was astounding to see. and though i didn't get a picture of them, i saw two vermillion flycatchers, and they are the most brilliantly colored bird. people come from all over the world to morongo valley just to catch a glimpse of these guys! and lastly, this place in MV, called The Happy Cooker, makes incredible chocolate shakes.

so in summary, riverside county -- weak on ghost towns, strong on other stuff.