I was born and raised in Texas where we had hurricane and tornado season. Non-Californians regularly make light of California earthquakes, but we don’t prepare for earthquakes each year like we prepared for hurricanes in Texas. Fire season preparation here is more like preparing for hurricane season in Texas to ensure that we have survival food and gear in our homes and cars, and are ready to evacuate on short notice.
Just east of me burns the Lyons Fire. It has burned 450 acres and, courtesy of a huge fog bank yesterday night, containment increased from 10% to about 80% now. Just one more night of fog and it will probably be under control, or out.
I’m extremely familiar with the area since I used to live out that way. Yesterday morning I drove along Lyons Valley Road to where the fire had burned. Once I got to the burned area, I turned around and came back since I had no desire to possibly interfere with fire fighting heroes.
Following are some scenes from the boondocks along Lyons Valley Road.
Strong evidence that we had arrived in the boondocks:
Land is inexpensive out in the boondocks and you can see forever from the tops of mountains. However, getting to the tops of mountains can be tedious. I searched and searched for a way to get up to the top of the mountain in the following picture and came to the conclusion that it can only be done by foot or horseback. I could not find even a private, gated road that might lead up to that house!
The house doesn’t look like it’s inhabited anymore but looks can be deceiving. If it’s not inhabited, that might explain why I couldn’t find a way up there. Maybe the old road is overgrown with native vegetation.
Fire danger was still very high where I was going.
In many rural areas you will find roadside stands selling fruits and vegetables; rattlesnake, ostrich, and emu eggs; and souvenirs of the boondocks. Where I was going, no such roadside stands were allowed simply because there isn’t room. The roads are winding and narrow, usually two lanes but sometimes 1½ lanes, no shoulders, and a speed limit somewhere between 15 mph and 40 mph. Makes for a long, slow, leisurely drive.
Rural areas are popular trash dumping sites for city folks since the dumps charge outrageous fees for taking trash directly to the dumps. Don’t even think about taking home appliances to the city dumps; they don’t take them at all. Thus the city folks often load up old refrigerators, washers, dryers, dishwashers, televisions, and computers, drive out to the boondocks at 2:00 in the morning, and dump them off the side of the road into the many canyons. Take a helicopter flight over the boondocks and you’ll see rivers of appliances in many of the inaccessible canyons. So sad.
There is a different type of beauty out in the boondocks, which is why people live out there.
During my two-hour drive, I saw only three other cars on Lyons Valley Road and only one person, a fire fighter whom you might be able to see in the very last picture. I did see evidence of people, though.
Horses are very popular in the boondocks. Some properties even have their own playgrounds for the horseys.
Evidence of fire at the intersection of Lyons Valley Road and Skyline Truck Trail, my turning around point.
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Russel Ray Photos 
This reminds me a little bit of our Australian outback.
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Very much so. We often get compared to Australia, especially since we imported the ubiquitous eucalyptus from there to here back in the 1850s. The eucalyptus loves it here but some areas are now eradicating it with preference for native vegetation. If they ever get rid of all of it — unlikely — I will miss it. I love those trees.
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Do you know the name of the park some where in the east county area that has Dinasours ? There was a pool and were we took swimming lessons. That was a long time ago.
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The only dinosaurs in East County are way out on a private ranch: http://www.desertusa.com/borrego/Borrego-metal-sculptures.html
There are some up in Riverside. I did a blog post on them back in July: http://russelrayphotos2.com/2013/07/23/dinosaurs-in-southern-california/
Neither of them have pools and such, though.
You have me intrigued, though. I’ll have to see what I can find.
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Ah-ha! To our rescue comes a book in my library: “San Diego Trivia 2” by Evelyn Cooperman. It looks like it was in Mission Valley at Mission Valley Center from 1961 to 1974. It was removed to build a two-story Charlotte Russe store there.
That’s not East County but Mission Valley certainly was rural until Mission Valley Center and Fashion Valley Center malls were built in the late ’50s and early ’60s.
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I’ve left a message with small brother. will see what he says. Thanks.
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http://joeorman.shutterace.com/Bizarre/Bizarre_Dinosaurland.html
try this link
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Interesting. I love Alpine, but books about Alpine’s history seem to be rare, and I haven’t explored it as much as I would like to. Every time I go out there I seem to wind up at the Viejas Outlet Center. It’s a huge yet relaxing place because of all the water: http://russelrayphotos2.com/2012/12/29/water-water-everywhere/
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I thoroughly enjoyed both the info and tone of this post. I sense a bit of wistfulness which is unusual for you.
re: appliance dumping…we see a lot of that out west of here and I always wondered why! I’ve only been in FL for 3.5 yrs, so haven’t had a washer or refrig crap out on me yet…I just assumed if one did, I’d put it out for “white pick up day” like I did in MA. ( Once a month there was a designated day for “white pick up” aka dead appliances of any color.) It was part of our regular trash pick-up and didn’t cost extra, prob because it was Taxachusetts!)
Anyway, great post!
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Yes, a bit of wistfulness. I love the boondocks and would love to live there. However, when one is married, there are compromises involved. Jim’s a city boy so the best I can get him to do is where we are right now, a semi-rural, semi-city area. It’s close enough to the boondocks so that I can go out for a visit, and close enough to the city so that Jim can do all he likes to do. I do all the city stuff with him, but I can’t get him to do the boondocks stuff with me, so when I go, I go alone……………….
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Well I guess if you love horses and land is cheap that makes a lot of sense. There should be a giant fine for dumping, that’s just terrible. We have what they call ‘Large item Pickup’ twice a year and you’re allowed to leave that kind of thing curb side. It’s shockingly dry there. We tend to get most of our rain in June and July and this year we got drenched. Currently we’re getting really hot weather which is unusual and it drys out fast. It’s surprising how fast after all this rain.
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There is a giant fine for dumping. The fine is much bigger than the fee at the city dumps, but the public is not educated about that. The other problem is that it’s often closer to drive to a canyon at 2:00 in the morning than it is to drive to a city dump during business hours. Of course, appliances are not taken at the city dumps anyway. Until we can find a financial resolution, the dumping will continue.
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Russel, these are beautiful photos. I think you did a good job capturing the beauty of the place. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a “squatter” living up in the cabin. The appliance thing is awful, but I think it happens even in more populated areas. It is the result of our “throwaway” society.
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Love where the Wild West begins 🙂
Wonderful photos – so clear, and all interesting. I just love that cabin! Could write a book up there.
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Great post! It looks a lot like where I live, except for the mountains. Just rocky cliffs here. But sadly, just as dry. Thanks for sharing!
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I like the dry. When I came here in April 1993, I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay. Then, on April 30, the weather people on TV announced that for the third consecutive month there had not been even a trace of rain. I decided to stay………..lol
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Dry here means no river. And I DO love my river!!
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We have rivers here because we also have mountains with snow and precipitation. Yes, rivers are good……….lol
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