Desert Survivors Current Events 2005
Older Current Events have been moved to: Current Events 2003 Current Events 2004
This page will generally have the latest information complete with links to any new updates as they are posted on the website. If you are a frequent Desert Survivors website visitor, this page should be your first page to visit. I suggest you bookmark it for easy return.
If you are interested in getting onto the Desert Survivors mailing list please click here for additional information.
Posted Wednesday 21 December 2005
The Desert Survivors Annual Ground Hog Day Party will be on Saturday 04 February 2006 in San Francisco. Click on the link for all the details.
Posted Wednesday 30 November 2005
The Desert Survivors annual holiday party is scheduled for Saturday December 17 at 6:00 PM. Follow the link for additional information.
Posted Sunday 30 October 2005
The Winter 2005/2006 Trip Schedule has been posted on our website. Ten trips to choose from starting December 23 through February 22. Call your trip leader early to reserve your spot.
Posted Saturday 29 October 2005
Benton Artists Carcamp 2005. Wonderful pictures courtesy of Nick J.
Images from the Benton Artists Carcamp Oct 14-16 2005 are up and available from the following link:
Other DS'ers are encouraged to share their trips also.
Posted Friday 28 October 2005
White Mountain to the bottom of Death Valley in one 24 hour period. Pictures
by Nick J.
I am pleased to present images and a tale nearly unbelievable: a ride mostly
*off road* from the top of White Mountain to the bottom of Death Valley in one
24 hour period - on the hottest day they could find (August 1999). Over 160
miles were covered, some in temp of 118 degrees F. The ringleader was one Ted
Lenzie, Sacramento Sierra Club Leader, marathon runner, mountaineer, and
all-around hard-body. (I met him on a recent SClub desert trip to Lava Beds
National Monument)
Ted's feat is similar to some rides conducted by Survivors including Paul M - I
am thinking of Paul's ascent, then tire-popping descent of White Mtn with Bob
trailer as documented in The Survivor. So I trust subscribers to this list would
enjoy Ted's tale as well.
White Mountain trip Jul 2-5 2005 & other images. Photo link by Nick J.
I am pleased to present images of a fun
and memorable carcamp and series of dayhikes, coordinated by the intrepid "Queen
of White", Lucy D. These include excellent images of Desert Sheep and Lawrence
courting Marmots. They include no embarrassing images of flat tires (for those,
contact Andrea Young <andrea-young(at)sbcglobal.net> ).
Posted Thursday 06 October 2005
The Annual General Meeting is planned for Sunday 23 October 1:00 PM at:
Harrison Center, Lincoln Park
1450 High Street (at Santa Clara), Alameda, California
Hope to see you all there! Click on the blue link for all the details.
Posted Monday 15 August 2005
The Fall 2005 Trip schedule is posted here on the website. Start making your plans now. Fall brings cooler temperatures and better hiking conditions. A few trips to Death Valley, a hot springs visit and even a "biking man trip". Something for everybody.
Posted Sunday 14 August 2005
After a very long absence from the website I am finally back and will start posting items again. First up these great photo links from Dave Oline.
Survivors
-I have finally gotten around to working with some of my photos from some recent trips that I wanted to share. The first is from the Box Canyon segment of the Desert Trail relay:
http://www.sou.edu/~olined/boxcanyon
It was a beautiful spring out there this year, as those of you who made it out to some of the relay segments already know. I had intended to post this page awhile ago while the bloom in Death Valley was going on and people were posting flower pictures:
http://www.sou.edu/~olined/salinevalley
The other side of this spring was the succession of storms that brought it all on. It was a very interesting time to be in the area, with the unusual cold, wind, and rain - to my mind just as unique and memorable as the flowers.
- Dave Oline
Posted Friday 20 May 2005
Dispatches from the 2005 NV Desert Trail Relay (click here)
The first dispatches from segments Q, R. and S are now posted (use above link). This should get your hear pumping in anticipation of reading about (if not participating in) future segments leading up to the End-Of-Relay Celebration June 17-19. Click here for additional information.
Posted Saturday 07 May 2005
The Desert Trail for 2005 kicks of this weekend May 07! For the next 6 weeks DS'ers will be hiking the Nevada Desert Trail from Carson Sink all the way to the Oregon Border in a series of legs. Some slots are still available. The end of trail meet and greet party will be on the weekend of June 17-19. Join us for this great weekend celebration. Click here for additional information.
Posted Saturday 16April 2005
More wonderful desert wildflowers photos sent by DS member David Raich with photo credits to Sonia Melnikova. This is certainly the year for wildflowers. There is still time to get out there and see them for yourself.
Photo notes:
IMG_2064:
Poppies and goldfields, Antelope Valley
IMG_2093:
Penstemon, Red Rock Canyon
IMG_2102:
An iconic photo: Joshua trees at Red Rock Canyon
The remaining photos are from Golden Valley:
IMG_2127:
Thistle sage
IMG_2140:
This one comes with a question. Anyone have some idea of what created this
irregular ring of more exposed rocky soil in front of the creosote bush? (Also
note that at this date, the goldfield bloom in Golden Valley proper was mostly
over, leaving filaree as the dominant ground cover. The goldfield shots
below were taken at higher elevation.)
IMG_2144:
Goldfields and phacelia.
IMG_2145: A
river of goldfields.
Posted Saturday 02 April 2005
Remember to "Spring" your clocks forward tonight. :-)
Spring is busting out all over with fabulous displays of wildflowers. Check out this link from Bob Davis for pictures of the desert in bloom.
http://homepage.mac.com/drrcdavis/PhotoAlbum2.html
Posted Friday 18 March 2005
Desert Survivors:
The 2005 Nevada Desert Trail Relay begins on May 7. So far, sign-ups have been
spotty, probably because members are preoccupied with the amazing desert
wildflower show going on right now in the south. Every day another member tells
me of another trip they did or are going to do down there. Death Valley flowers
even got a write-up in the New York Times, which usually reserves space in its
pages for terrorist attacks, Washington snipers, George Bush and Michael
Jackson.
But DON'T FORGET THE RELAY. We need good participation this year, as we had
last year. This year's relay visits some amazing places: the high cool ridges
of the Sahwave, Black Mountain, Kumiva and the Selenites, the Black Rock Desert
and Pahute Peak, and the Sheldon Refuge. Only one of the trips is full. Call a leader now to get on one of the trips. We'll have a great celebration carcamp
on the final trip, June 17-19 near the Oregon border.
Steve Tabor, President
Desert Survivors
Posted Wednesday 16 March 2005
This year is proving to be a fantastic one for desert wildflowers. A few member reports...
From: Nicholas George
Death Valley Flowers in Owls Head Mountains
I am posting from Hwy 395 after 4 glorious days in Death Valley. Washes to West of Harry Wade Road in the OwlsHead range are ... awash (sorry) in color. Blooms so dense it is not possible to avoid stepping on them. Drove from Death Valley's Warm Springs Road over Mengle Pass, and out Goler Wash into Panamint Valley on 2005-03-14. East of the pass had nice flowers, less so West of the pass. Surprise Cyn out of Ballarat had some nice hints of color as well. Couldn't make it all the way dayhiking into Panamint City due to brush thrash in Surprise Cyn. Creek is flowing maybe 1 cfs today.
Nick-o-the-Lone-Pine-resupply-stop
From: Neil
I went to Death Valley last weekend. There were acres of tall yellow flowers at the south end near 500 ft elevation. Around 2000 ft elevation a different more diverse set of flowers was blooming, but not as densely. Overall, impressive because these blooms are so unusual rather than because they are inherently impressive. OK, so I have high standards for being impressed.
Some of the Joshua trees in Joshua Tree are blooming. The Poppy Preserve area near Lancaster was actually stunning. Hills covered with orange poppies, or yellow little flowers. Thousands of people taking pictures.
Neil
Posted Friday 11 March 2005
Posted Saturday 26 February 2005
Desert Trail 2005 is approaching and the web page now has some pictures of each link. I will be adding additional photos as each segment is completed.
Posted Friday 25 February 2005
With many thanks to Karen Felker, an old pdf copy of The Survivor Winter 2001 has been located. Click the link to read about what was going on way back then in 2001. If any members have a pdf file of The Survivor that are not on the website please let me know. I will get them posted.
Posted Monday 14 February 2005
A few pictures of Pierson's Milkvetch have been posted on the website to enable you to identify this rare desert plant.
Posted Friday 04 February 2005
The Desert Survivors Spring 2005 Trip Schedule has been posted on the Trip Schedule Page. Also included are the 2005 Nevada Desert Trail trips. By now you should have received your lime green paper copy in the mail too.
Posted Tuesday 01 February 2005
A message from DS* Member Paul Menkes.
Just got back from a week in the Bristol Mountains in the Mojave and Sombrero Peak in Anza-Borrego. Experienced dew every single night! The flowers in Anza-Borrego are already going bonkers. The desert lilies there should be blooming in about 2-3 weeks. Paul
Posted Saturday 22 January 2005
A few different versions and sizes of the NV Desert Trail 2005 have been posted on the Desert Trail 2005 Page. This will help those of you who are still on dial-up for internet service. Within the next few weeks a few of these maps will have the approximate trail mapped out on them. Keep checking back to see the updates.
Posted Friday 21 January 2005
The very popular Steve Tabor @ REI slideshows are again being
presented by Steve at numerous REI stores in the San Francisco Bay Area starting
late January through March 2005.
Click Here for this
years schedule.
Steve Tabor will show slides of desert parks at seven REI stores in the San Francisco Bay Area in January, February and March, 2005. The stores are in Berkeley, Saratoga, San Carlos, Santa Rosa, Corte Madera, San Francisco and Fremont. There will also be a show in Roseville, California (near Sacramento) on February 8. Slides will portray dayhikes in California desert parks: Anza-Borrego, Joshua Tree, the Mojave Preserve and Death Valley. Each show will include information on desert hiking and where to obtain maps and guidebooks. Here's your chance to witness the beauty and complexity of California Desert, and to find out more about desert hiking. Check the REI website (<www.REI.com/stores>) for detailed directions to the stores.
Posted Tuesday 18 January 2005
BMP and National Geographic TOPO! Maps of the upcoming 2005 Nevada Desert Trail have been added to the Nevada Desert Trail 2005 page. This years Nevada Desert Trail starts May 7 and runs through June 19. Make your reservations early!
Posted Sunday 09 January 2005
The Spring 2005 Trip Schedule is complete! Watch for the direct mailing to your home soon. A fantastic lineup this Spring with a total of 24 trips to choose from including numerous legs from our Nevada Desert Relay 2005.
Posted Saturday 08 January 2005
Desert Survivors Earth Day Party 2005 date has been set for;
April 23 Saturday,
Earth Day Party
This party celebrates both the spring season and our activist program. Early in
the day, we'll attend the Berkeley Earth Day Celebration, staffing our outreach
table and displaying our Desert Survivors rattlesnake. In the evening, we'll
gather at a member's house for a potluck meal and party, to meet, greet, and
show slides after sundown. This event is a great opportunity to meet new
friends and get involved in Desert Survivors activities and networks. A separate
flyer will be sent to members before the event, with details and location.
For more information, call: Steve Tabor (510) 769-1706
Posted Tuesday 04 January 2005
Happy New Year!
For those of you who need to plan their vacations and time off for The 2005 Nevada Desert Relay, we have set the dates. The Starting Day will be Saturday May 07, 2005 and run continuously through Sunday June 19, 2005. The format will be the same as 2004. Numerous legs of varying days and difficulties and you may pick and choose your legs as you wish. The fun filled, End of Relay Carcamp, will be Friday - Sunday June 17-19 at a location with Hot Springs! What a great idea!! Make your plans now to be part of the 2005 trips. Detailed information will be available on the website as the dates get closer. You can read all about 2004 Desert Trail Relay by looking at the Current Events 2004 page for April 13. Last years end of relay Carcamp was a great time, you can count on me being there again this year. Hope to see you there!