Category: Videos

Mae Wang Bike & Trek Day 1

Mae Wang Bike & Trek Day 1

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Tour company: Green Trails    Guide: Tui   My rating: Excellent, highly recommend

After lunch, we drove another hour climbing steadily North alongside a river and happy Songkran celebrants young and old. (Thai New Year Festival is April 13-15.)  Songkran traditions include visiting local temples and offering food to the Buddhist monks and drizzling water on Buddha statues. This water ritual symbolizes the cleansing of one’s sins and bad luck. Paying reverence to ancestors and returning home are also an important part of the Songkran tradition.

The holiday is perhaps best known for its water festival, which is mostly celebrated by the young and young at heart. Basically, it’s a countrywide, good natured water fight.

Traveling in the back of a tourist transport truck we were sitting ducks for playful ambush by hoses, buckets and hopped up water guns from both sides of the road and passing trucks. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pics of this as I didn’t have a waterproof case for my camera. (I do have one for my cell phone so I will try to capture some of the fun  upon return to Chiang Mai.)

We started trekking in the heat of the day. (About 103 F.) My travel buddy Walter and I were on a “join in” tour, but no one else joined so it was our private tour. We didn’t see any other foreigners until the end of the last day.

Trek Geeks
Starting the climb out of the valley

It was a hot, dry, upward slog. Far drier and a bit scrappier of a trail than I’d imagined. Of course,  April is the hottest and driest month of the year. How hot was it? So hot there were no mosquitoes even along the stream that we followed up to a waterfall. Ahh, what a refreshing reward at the halfway point and an our first  introduction to a couple of Karen tribesmen.

As my Dad used to say, “How refreshing!”

Some of my favorite pics of today’s trek are these of a local at the waterfall and a farmer and his ranch. The crop is peanuts, rotating from rice. I’m using my new Nikkon D3400 for most of these. (My first “real” camera.) Can you tell the difference?

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What an incredible experience this is! Up a hill and around the corner, an unexpected surprise…to be continued…

Cheers to “Alcoholic Pass” Hike, Anza Borrego, CA

Cheers to “Alcoholic Pass” Hike, Anza Borrego, CA

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Scenery: Desert delight

Distance: You decide – up to 4.8 miles out & back

Difficulty: Moderate

This lovely little hike, was especially magical during the current wildflower super bloom. It entails some switch backs and a moderate climb (approximately 833 feet in .8 mile.) You can sign in at the top and keep going down the other side or turn around.

It was near the top when I captured a video of a bird greeting me with its morning song.

I’ve never experienced the desert quite like this – the morning light waking the shadows on the rocky ridges, the citrus wildflower breeze – oh my! Wish I’d camped at the top, it would have been fantastic to wake up to breathtaking solitude. Instead, I was running around getting wildflower pictures at dawn. (Post to come.)

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Local lore

The Cahuilla Indians originally used this route as a short cut between Coyote Canyon and Clark Valley. Subsequently early settlers also used the trail to cut off the 6 miles it takes to go around Coyote Mountain to get to Clark Valley. Some say it might have gotten it’s name from the drinking habits of the cattlemen and settlers who frequented Borrego Springs’ “watering” holes. Other say it’s just the winding trail that gives it it’s name. All this talk and typing is making me thirsty for a quenching margie and I know just the spot – the Ram’s Head Bar and Grill. (Post to come,)

Getting there: From Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs, drive east on Hwy S-22 and turn left (north) on DiGiorgio Road toward Coyote Canyon. You find the trailhead on the right, 2.4 miles past the paved road on an easily traversed dirt road. Desert Garden is just past Alcoholic’s Pass, you  can take an easy stroll in a concentrated area of cactus and other native plant life if you’re short on time or prefer not to hike up Alcoholic Pass.

Nature Meditation: “Ocotillo forest”, Anza Borrego, CA

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The hike up “Alcoholic’s Pass” begins here in what I’m calling an octillo forest. Ah, the sweet breeze, sprinkles of wildflowers, waving ocotillo, vast mountain vistas and morning light…Truly a magical desert experience – perhaps my most memorable yet. Perhaps even better than the superbloom areas with their boastful beauty. You had to be there. I’ll post more video so you can get a better feel for it in the Alcoholic Pass hike post to come.

Nature Meditation: Super bloom Dawn @Henderson Canyon, Anza Borrego, CA

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I thought these video were worth sharing despite my novice camera skills. Learning as I go, thanks for bearing with me. : ) Super bloom post with some fantastic still photos and more videos to come.

 

And from the moon and mountain’s perspective: