The group started arriving Saturday morning (except for one hardy soul who came the night before). We selected a campsite away from other campers and took off exploring. On the opposite bank of the wash near our campsite we found an old adobe igloo-like structure built into the wall of the canyon. We dubbed this structure the "Star Wars Hut" for obvious reasons. It was large enough inside for 4-6 people to stand upright in and had a fireplace as well as carpeting on the floor. It was quite an impressive engineering feat.

By Saturday afternoon, most of the group finally arrived and we took a drive to the Salton Sea to look for a hot spring that was on our maps but found only an old resort that was shut down. As dark approached we built a campfire, cooked our dinners, and told stories until late in the evening. Two of our ranks from the Palm Springs area decided to leave for the warmth of their homes while 2 more of our group arrived just as the fire was dying out.

On Sunday, we awoke and made breakfast and relaxed around camp. A few of us did some more exploring while another went for a ride on his mountain bike. By noon, we broke camp and headed out with our GPS devices in hand to find the mud volcanoes on the opposite side of the Salton Sea. It didn't take us long to find the first (and most impressive) set of mud volcanoes. At the intersection of two dirt roads in the middle of farming fields, we spotted them. Due to their proximity to civilization, we couldn't get naked though. We trudged across the muddy field to get a closer look. There were several sets of mud volcanoes and mud pots strewn throughout the field. They were bubbling and gurgling and spewing little jets of mud. This is definitely one of those "You had to be there" moments! While none of them were very hot (they are mostly caused by carbon dioxide gas escaping from deep underground), they still were very fascinating!

After investigating all there was to see at the first location, we went in search of others. However, we found none as impressive as the first set. We ended our day with a short hike along a nature trail in the bird sanctuary where we hoped to find more mud volcanoes, but only found a very large mud pot that had been fenced and set aside by the sanctuary as a tourist attraction. As the sun started setting, we bid a fond farewell and headed home awaiting our next adventure...