2015 American Adventurist Desert Rendezvous

2015 Sees the American Adventurist Desert Rendezvous return to the BLM land east of Split Mountain Road, just outside Anza Borrego park boundaries.  This is a lovely area, and the silty washes were in better shape this year for our trip once we departed the pavement.  Kimberley was much less white-knuckled this year, for sure.

Per my usual habit, I somehow managed to pick a camp spot somewhat removed from the main center of mass for the party.  Not altogether terrible, but it left us with some walking to do when we paid others a visit.

We're definitely getting the hang of this whole desert camping thing, right?  Kimberley is getting good at helping with the awning setup and I know just how to rig the extra tarps to give us the shade we need.

I made quick work of all my Rendezvous Swap Meet plans and concluded two sales and one purchase within an hour of hitting camp.  Nice and tidy.  I hope the Coleman Camp Table and Kitchen serve their new owners well!

I really admire how well the American Adventurist team, and Dave Bennett (above right) in particular, work with the various agencies in our community.  For example, part of how we give back to the BLM (and ensure their continued support/tolerance for our usage of the land) is to do big trash cleanups during these outings.

Literally dozens of volunteers fanned out across the desert, mostly paralleling the railroad tracks, and collected all the trash we could manage.  Most folks were on foot, and a few guys ran their trucks up and down the line, collecting bags and big items from the walkers and porting it down to the dumpster the BLM had left near the road for us to fill.  There was some general refuse, but far and away the majority of what we picked up was shooter's trash.  It's really disappointing the way so many people come out to this area and leave such a godawful mess.  You hauled it out here to shoot holes in it.  Why not haul it back when you're done?  It would be impossible to clear even a small area of all the brass and shotgun cartridges, but that's very minor compared to the literal tons of stuff used as targets then left behind.  I personally picked up nearly a dozen 1lb propane canisters, two 20lb helium canisters, 1 forklift-sized propane tank, two sawhorses, all shot-to-hell, and four or five 30-gallon garbage bags full of miscellaneous refuse.

Photo courtesy of Dave Bennett

At the end of a long half-day, the American Adventurist volunteers had packed the skip with a measured 1.6 tons of garbage to be hauled away.  Good work, I guess, but the depressing part was how much more we had to leave behind.

With a solid bit of work behind us, it was time to get to the really important part of any rendezvous: Food.  I broke out  my chuckbox and set to work on taking another stab at my vegetarian Quinoa Adobo Chile. I broke with the usual custom and prepared most of the food at my site, rather than in the main area, but I just couldn't drag all my gear over there after spending all day walking the desert picking up crap.

I'm still quite pleased with the performance of my firepot tripod.  Nice comfortable working height for keeping an eye on food.

Unfortunately the pictures stop here, as did our rendezvous.  Not long after the potluck got rolling, the wind came up.  By the time we were done eating and had finished the traditional raffle, it was howling.  Remember how I'd said we'd been getting good at desert camping?  Well, we neglected to close up the van before the wind came and the interior was well-dusted in silt - like a powdered donut.  Several of our neighbors were losing their awnings (some with damage), so we started pulling stuff down.  Kimberley wasn't sure if we should stay, so we started packing up like we might leave, and just raced the setting sun to get as much stowed as possible.  Annika and Kimberley were mighty in their help.  What is normally a lengthy process for me to break camp solo while Kimberley keeps Annika entertained was transformed into a well directed (if somewhat frantic) team effort.  Now I know how much more I can lean on them in the future - it should enable us to do a lot more going forward!

We were packed and on our way not long after dark.  This was my first time driving off-pavement at night.  The trail was mostly easy, but even still, I can see why so many people emphasize good lighting.  We will probably need at least a light bar in the near future!