Sunsets and Sauron at Panoche Hills BLM

After leaving Sacramento we found a lovely campsite at Panoche Hills in Fresno, California. This is BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land and it is free and open to the public. This is what your taxes are spent on. Panoche Hills is a popular shooting range. The rest area where we camped is just short of the actual camping spots that are farther down the loose, sandy, hilly road. After a few days of camping there the rangers came and told us that we were camped in the incorrect area, but they allowed us to stay there until the next day. The rangers can also issue a free fire permit. We didn't have a campfire while we were there, but it's important to get a permit if you do so that the rangers are aware of potential for wildfires. The few days we were there we probably saw ten or fifteen different groups of people hunting or having target practice. It was a bit nerve-wracking because I was concerned that the goat might be an accidental target, but luckily we were at the top of a hill instead of in the valley where the shooters were.

On the way to Panoche Hills BLM.

The road from Fresno had lots of Monsanto orange farms, and the surrounding area was very flat. The paved road was very narrow and full of holes. We arrived at the entrance to the BLM dirt road as the sun was setting, and suddenly had to go up and up and up the twisty rutted dirt road. When we got to the overlook and began to set up we saw what looked like a rocket high up in the atmosphere. A piece of it broke off and fell down, and it made us wonder if a spacecraft had been launched within a hundred miles or so and was dumping its boosters before heading out into space. On the opposite side of our site at the same moment a bloodred moon began to rise in between mountain peaks. It looked like the eye of Sauron, and it rose so fast we couldn't believe it. We looked at the moon on the edge of the skyline, looked back at the rocket for a few moments, and then when we looked at the moon again it was already a few finger-widths above the horizon. I tried to get a picture but it's impossible to capture the moon, especially with only an iPod to work with. 

It wasn't until morning that we understood the vast beauty of the area. I never thought that the desert would be my favorite environment. I was raised at the base of the Appalachian mountains with the wet, green trees and dark brown earth. Although the dirt in the Piedmont where I live is actually bright red moist clay. And not too far away, in Wilmington where I went to college, is the beach. I never was a fan of sand, but I see now that it's the combination of sand and water that makes it undesirable to me. Water makes sand stick. The windy sea air is humid and makes sand stick to my legs and arms and in my hair and on my glasses. The desert has no humidity, so the sand just sits there. It might be windy, but the sand doesn't stick, so it's ok with me!

The camper was situated on top of one of the magnificent hills. I could tell Rosie wanted to go gallivanting all over this jungle-gym, but with all the shooting and the threat of coyotes it was too dangerous to let her run around very much. I couldn't run and play with the animals due to severe knee injury. For those who don't know, I had knee surgery six years ago due to a knee cap that doesn't like to stay where it's supposed to be. Last year the dogs were playing and they ran into the back of my knee and ripped up everything that the first surgery had fixed. At the time of the trip, a second knee surgery was being planned for December 2015, and so I spent the whole trip hobbling around the best I could. Dan was not so handicapped, though. He had a great time chasing Rosie and Piper around. Juno doesn't listen and tries to run away whenever she's off leash, so she has lost her privileges.

The view back toward the road from our site.

It was amazing to wake up and see the view from the window.

Bartleby wants Dan to come back inside.

Shooting was happening down in the valley.

I can see so far!

There were lots of airplane trails all the time.

Rosie had to make friends with the fence she was tied to.

One of my favorite Rosie pictures.

Everywhere I went I was astounded by the sunsets. North Carolina sunsets are wonderful, but nothing like what they have out West. Here are my favorite sunset pictures from three nights at Panoche Hills. I probably took over 200 pictures of the sunset!

To my Pop-Up Portal forum friends;

if this isn't a great view, I don't know what is!

While we were in Panoche Hills we decided to drive the car on up the road to see what was there. We were happy that we didn't attempt to tow the camper past the parking lot; we surely would have gotten stuck. The hills became even more impressive as we continued along, and at the top was some sort of facility. These hills are massive. They look like sand dunes, but they are solid ground.

When we left Panoche Hills to go to Yosemite we stopped at a gas station and checked our tires as usual. That's when we discovered that we yet again needed to buy a new tire. It seems that the road to the Panoche Hill rest area had some sort of metal debris that sliced into our tire. We replaced it with our bald spare and went on toward Yosemite in search of another tire.

I believe by this point we've been through seven tires.

Stay tuned for an adventure in Yosemite National Park!