We’ve been having a blast the last several weekends exploring different parts of our desert. Weekend before last we went to Mule Canyon, near Calico Ghost Town. We had a great time exploring the rainbow colored mountains.

For Memorial Day weekend we decided to go camping at Opal Mountain. Trip got off to a rough start as we realized my directions were not very clear, and we had no cell service so couldn’t pull up Google Earth. We continued on however, and found a nice spot to camp next to a canyon, that at one point long ago had a raging river running through it.

Aside from the fact that it was incredibly windy on Saturday, and realizing we’d setup camp next to a bee hive (with quite a swarm of bees)… we settled in and began exploring. We found lots of interesting rocks and possibly some opal. We took several hikes, at one point hiking up to an ancient waterfall (of course dry now). I photographed what I believe to be old petroglyphs from when the Indians lived in these parts.

Listening to the coyotes at night was a bit un-nerving – but the kids luckily slept like logs. We did encounter the tarantula wasp — which apparently has one of the worst stings… but luckily we avoiding finding out just how bad they are.

We enjoyed hiking the canyons and are looking forward to to the next time we get to go out. Check out the pictures here.