Heat Waves: Reflections on the Desert, Part II

All this talk of another Eviliz Tour has got Patty's mojo ticklin at her to finish her reflections on tour version 1.0.

In Little Paul's book (which you can read over at The Colonel's pad), he describes some of the landscape on the way up Goler Wash as looking like mounds of "melting ice cream":

Patty thinks he must have meant this spot. To her, they also look like reclining, nude bodies that Charlie himself might have choreographed. Geologically speaking, this spot is one where four different systems collide in the same place! It's otherworldly, and a good example of how the desert can trip you out just by virtue of being in it. On acid? I don't know for sure, but all Patty can imagine is, "holy crap!"

Speaking of "holy crap!" That is what Patty had said out loud when she saw The Grump from Pahrump's book collection. Check it out:

He had this cool poster too:

And he was an amazing host. But, Patty digresses: back to the desert. Death Valley is usually beyond dry. But when it gets wet, the water shoots right over and through it, and VIOLENTLY. In some parts of Goler Wash, you can really graphically see the scale of how and where this happens:

So, if Sergeant Dostie says that there's eight feel of dirt over some bodies at the top of the wash, and another 40 feet over some more bodies at the bottom of it, then as a matter of fact YES, Patty DOES believe him.

And speaing of bodies, here's a shot midway up the foot path beween Barker's and Myers' ranches. This is a spot where yet another body is supposed to be: a girl who "got homesick" is said to have been slain here. The image gives a good perspective on how close the two ranches really are: next door neighbors of a sort.

The next closest neighbor is Newman's, which is about a mile down the wash from Barker's. Newman's Cabin is what the Family called the "Halfway House." Patty was more than a little surprised to see his business card still there, because it's amazing that no one has swiped it yet. Don't get any ideas, either. And if you call the number on the card, you have to tell Patty about who answered and what they said, okay? Come on now, pinkie promise.

Well, that's all she's got for now. Nice to see y'all, it's been a while. Let's not go much longer than, say, April 2013 before we do it again, okay?

Cheers!

Heat Waves: Reflections on The Desert, Part I

Patty was reminiscing the other day with Matt about our Eviliz Tour 2012. He did some awesome posts on it, which you can browse to review in the late April and Early May entries to Eviliz.com on the right sidebar. Anyway, Matt's posts were, as Patty was saying, awesome. But there are some scenes that he left out that Patty wants to share with you now. Behold "Heat Waves: Reflections on the Desert:" Eviliz Tour 2012 outtakes. Ahhhh. Patty wishes that you had been there.

Above: behold, La Vagine. Aka, Devil's Hole. Do you think that's a coincidence? That the devil's hole looks like a Georgia O'Keefe painting? G'ah.

Above: that crazy Haboob that Patty had as her icon for a while. This photo was taken of Death Valley, proper, from Crowley Point. Patty was not familiar with the term "haboob" until Grump told her wht it was: a thick, nasty desert storm! The eviliz tour drove right through this on our way to Olancha.

Above: Evil Liz speaking tenderly to Grump's dog Apollo.

Above: the nicest view of Trona, CA that exists. It's awful, but it's home.

Above: What is left of TJ and Ansom's house. RIP, Wallemans. See you in Fernley sometime.

Above: Bobby's truck. His f***ing truck, man! Oooooooh.

Above: Props to Seldom Seen Slim. He saw 'em come and he saw 'em go. And he's still there watching over the citizens of Ballarat from his view to the southeast.

Above: Matt, stacking rocks at the waterfall in Goler Wash. Paul Dostie tells us the road has been re-graded recently so Matt will not have to do this again any time soon. Not that he would mind, he's the freaking Energizer Bunny. On wheat grass.

Above: the last thing I thought I'd ever see in The Goler Wash: a couple of HARDCORE bicyclists. It was HOT out there, these guys were amazing. As always, click on any of the above to get a closer look, But, wait! There's more!

Funny Shit From The Tour

Buster having his way with Apollo

 

Sign in the Ballarat Store men's room 

Sign in ladies room at the restaurant in Panamint Springs

 

Sign-in book in the bunk house at Barker's

 

Message on wall in the bunk house at Barker's

Eviliz Tour 2012 - Day 5

DAY 5

A Little bit of lower Topanga

The Malibu Feed Bin at the base of Topanga Canyon

Liz, Patty & I briefly ventured into the Snake Pit.

It was creepy. First a pentagram drawn into the sand and some menacing parrots.

We got the hell out of there.

Spahn Ranch

A few shots of where the actual ranch buildings were:

The Cave at Spahn Ranch:

A lot of sediment has built up on the floor of the cave since this photo in 1970. There are 9 of them in there. I know I'm taller than most but I'm fairly agile. I couldn't fit in there. You can really see the difference by comparing then to now.

Matt, Patty & Liz at the cave

Our terrific tour guide, Summer.

Notice the aura?

Charlie's rock

 

His initials are still visible

Bruce's Car and the beautiful trail that leads to it

Bruces's car

The trail just before the descent to where the car is located

From there you can see downtown LA

Yes, that is a very large rattlesnake.

Summer & I startled it and a second later it curled-up & rattled like... well, a startled rattlesnake!

It made the hair on our necks stand up!

That made two rattlesnakes spotted in one day. Summer says she normally encounters one or two a year, so it is likely to be a big rattlesnake year. Watch where you step!

Fountain of the World

THE END OF EVILIZ TOUR 2012!!!

Eviliz Tour 2012 - Day 4

DAY 4

El Coyote

Today was a travel & rest day.

We drove from Ridgecrest to LA, then mostly chilled out 

before having the obligatory dinner at El Coyote.

Eviliz and Panamint Patty had "a few" cocktails...

We were joined by several Eviliz readers.

Pictured are Jiri (Mrs. Matt really liked him), 

The Matts, Panamint Patty, Stacey L, Summer and Eviliz.

TOMORROW: SPAHN!!!

Eviliz Tour 2012 - Day 3

DAY 3

TRONA

First stop on the way to Ballarat was the former home of TJ Walleman in Trona.

(photo taken at Marc's request. lol.)

BALLARAT

Next stop, Ballarat.

This is the Ballarat General Store

This is Rocky the caretaker and Grump

We gave Liz some private time with Bobby's Power Wagon

Patty, Matt & Liz in front of the Power Wagon

Close by is a cemetery for old miners.

Seen here is Seldom Seen Slim.

Shortly after after our arrival we were met by Sgt. Paul Dostie

Sgt. Dostie and Buster

At the Ballarat cemetery Sgt Dostie demonstrated for us how Buster finds graves. 

Buster chose the two spots that had the highest composition of "Volatile Organic Compounds" (VOC's) which are produced by human bone decomposition. 

ON TO GOLER WASH

The mouth of Goler Wash

The only really difficult spot to pass is a spot called "the waterfall". It was mostly dry on this morning but it's no easy task to get even a four wheel drive over it. We had three!

We helped get some dune buggies over the waterfall by moving around some rocks, etc. They then in turn helped us get the first of our three vehicles across. Funny story: Later on in the day these folks in the buggies arrived at Barker's and listened to the stories with great interest. Long story made short, we have some enthusiastic new readers!

The Newman Cabin. Located about half way up Goler. 

It was frequently used by the Family.

BARKER RANCH

A few shots of our inspection of the main house:

THE SUSPECTED GRAVE SITES

Sgt Dostie, Buster and others have identified five possible VOC "alert sites" around Barker Ranch. They are referred to as: Buster 1, Buster 3, Buster 4 and Ness 1.

Four of them are believed to be grave sites, the other (Buster 2) is believed to be a "scent pool" since it is located just downhill from Buster 3.

Sgt Dostie with Mr. Patty at VOC site "Buster 1"

Sgt Dostie with Mr. Patty at VOC site "Buster 3"

Sgt Dostie with Mr. Patty at VOC site "Ness 1"

Sgt Dostie explains VOC site "Buster 4". It is located close to the front porch of the ranch. This one is particularly strong. It is speculated that it contains two young men killed with swords by two male family members. This may be why Robert Hendrickson said he could smell death while at the front door!

A bit of explanation is in order. Excavations on Barker's Ranch have come up "empty" by the authorities. The problem is this:

Desert flash floods are caused by rainfall having nowhere to go after being deposited. Most people think of the desert as being sandy and very absorbent; which it largely is. However, when water is deposited in desert elevation, it wants to take the path of least resistance to a low point and often that path is not soil percolation. The surface water accumulates in low volume streams that act as tributaries to larger creeks which act as tributaries to washes which funnel all of the water. This water evacuates from the higher elevation at a great volume and velocity and picks up sand, rocks, boulders, vehicles, houses, busses, helter skelter trucks, trees, brush, old wash deposits in its path; as much as the water volume can sustain. This water is ejected out of the wash and the deposits fall out of the water as the water velocity slows; depositing the heavier objects, first. Washes can be large enough to build homes in or small enough to walk across in a few footsteps. As the water continues its journey, the deposits left behind create alluvial fans. These fans shift and move with each incident of water evacuation and the subsequent debris left behind.

The point is, that the 3- 3 1/2 feet that was excavated only reached down to where the topsoil was in 1969! Charlie learned early on in prison that cops will only dig 6 feet. He has admitted in recorded telephone conversations that the Family buried these people at least 8 feet to avoid detection by police digs. With the alluvial deposits described above, law enforcement would have needed to dig 11 feet to find these remains. They stopped at less than 4 feet!

The "Helter Skelter Truck" located in a gully behind Barker Ranch.

It is also a Dodge Power Wagon.

The group with the Helter Skelter Truck

Curiously, somebody moved the Helter Skelter Truck. It used to be in a mostly buried state here, where you see the tire.  Someone (fairly recently) dragged it down to where you see it farther down the hill.

MYERS RANCH

Myers ranch is is nicely maintained. The pool looks usable and irrigation hoses feed young trees and shrubs around the house that will eventually become great shade.

The main house

The Myers Ranch pool

The Myers Ranch pool and a side building