I went up to the Little Palace this past weekend. Just me and my dog, Jorgy (forgive my vernacular use of the English language.) I had been keeping an eye daily on the webcam pointed toward the area. There had been a couple storms, I had seen snow on Mount Breckenridge and things looked a little greener. We're at 20% rainfall this year with no storms forecast for the rest of March; a first in recorded history. Anyway, I was excited about seeing the Super Secret Place in the Spring.
I drove up and got to the gateway to the SSP, passed the train tracks,
and it looked like this:
Looks purty, huh? I'm not a Native but I admit that Southern Cal is incredibly beautiful.
We got to the place after driving the beautiful Lion's Trail. The whole family had gone up in February and the place looked like this:
A few drops of rain and it looked like this:
Goes to show you what a few drops of rain can do. Mother Nature rules.
I set up camp: gas tanks in place, check. Bed made, check. Generator hooked up, check. CD player loaded with the Stragglers, check. Open-tuning resonator guitar ready to play, check. Jaw harps ready to Boing! check. Water bowl for Jorgy, check. Airstream windows open for ventilation, check, Food and beer in the fridge, check. A bottle of Bordeaux ready to be opened, check. Chairs out, check. BBQ ready to light, check. OK, all systems go, R & R time.
I spent the day playing music, listening to music, reading and just enjoying life. I ate early as I wanted to be done with dinner before sundown. After dinner, Jorgy and I went for a walk around the lake. There's a tiny lake about 1/2 mile from the property. It was almost dusk and we heard many noises. There is so much wildlife by the water: all kinds of birds, bunnies and I saw a few wild beast tracks. No Yeti tracks though. Silly me. I forgot the camera but here's a picture of Jorgy. Isn't he handsome?
He had a good time with all the smells and made sure to leave his scent on every bush. He likes taking walks there because the soil is mostly decomposed granit, very sandy and the roads are soft dirt. Nothing is paved over there. Many folks have horses and I'm sure the horses like it that way. Speaking of which, after we got back, Jorgy saw his first horse up close and he didn't know what to make of it.
We went to bed early, I tried to read a little, Jorgy got on top of my bed and we fell asleep with an interesting chorus of frog vocalizations coming from our creek.
The next day I wanted to check out Lake Isabella so we got in the car and drove north. We passed Havilah, gateway to Sequoia National Park.
There's a lot of history that way, as illustrated by this 1860s courthouse. I love it. The road is very pretty and we got to a point where we could see the lake in the distance from a high vantage point. I was very careful driving down; it's probably a drop of over a thousand feet and the road has no guard rails.
The town itself is somewhat stuck in time; I'm just not sure what time. Folks there seem quite nice though, based on the few folks I talked to at the gas station. Never judge a book by its cover. We first went on the southeast side of the lake. It's quite dry but looks pretty nice with the boulders.
Few folks were camping, others boating, a peaceful, sunny place.
I was curious to go up to Kernville to see the river. It turns out it's only ten minutes north of the lake. On the way there I stopped to check out Tillie Creek Campground, near Wofford Heights. The west side of the lake is more wooded for some reason. I love proximity to a body of water but I need shade so I liked this place.
Kernville is a tiny, Western-style town with a few cafes, the river and the Kern River Brewing Company.
It may not be the great Mississippi but don't let this river fool you, people die rafting it every year. Like Ali G would say: "Respek." We walked around, sat by the river for a while watching people fishing, we ate lunch and took off. I saw a bit of interesting architecture in the town of Lake Isabella driving back.
Back at the SSP, we hiked around for a while and I took a few photos of the black oaks that are on the property and the occasional "street" sign.
And of course, the Palace:
A weekend is only two days, a pitance. It was time to pack and go back to LA. I took some photos as the sun was setting of more oaks and the Tehachapi Mountains.
That's it, a beautiful and peaceful weekend like we all need.
Peace to all, and don't forget: Respek to Mother Nature and all the living creatures she sustains.
