2018-01-24 Afternoon Road Trip to Imperial, California with Return Via Plaster City, Borrego Springs and JTNP
Miles: 375 Start Time 11:15 AM End Time: 7:45 PM For several weeks I have had the desire to visit the town of Imperial where I lived for 4 years as a youngster. I finally got up early enough to execute such an excursion mostly in daylight. I left home at 11:15 planning to drive through JTNP to get to the low desert rather than dealing with the main highways. It was a good decision. The traffic was basically non-existent and it was a beautiful sunny and cool winter morning. My first stop was at one of the "exhibits" along the road through the park between 29 Palms and the I-10 freeway. At this point the road is skirting the south edge of the large and desolate Pinto Basin below 2,000 feet ASL after climbing from 1800' at my home over a 4000' range to get into the basin. The Sheephole Mountains are visible in the center distance. The Sheepholes are a quite beautiful set of craggy peaks probably only suitable for mountain sheep. Across Pinto Basin to th...