nice we do enjoy that area as well.

Beautiful place. :up: Nicely captured.

Thanks RVsolar and Ray.

I did a fantastic timelapse of the storm … looked great in the viewfinder … but the exposure was way off and couldn't be corrected, in the post editing. Totally disappointed b/c that would've been awesome to include in the video.

Organ Pipe during last January’s government shutdown was a joy! Although the sign said the campground was closed, there were a dozen brave souls who drove around the flimsy sign and had the run of the campground for the week.

The camp hosts were kind enough to leave the restrooms open and stocked. Thank you camp hosts! You do great work!!! And contrary to stories in the MSM, campers in the “closed” campground did a great job of policing their own trash and acting like adults.

The only thing that’s a bit unsettling are the signs posted on National Monument hiking trails warning about drug smugglers in the area.

Hi Willie, I was at Owl Canyon BLM (payment box blocked off) and two of the LTVAs during the shutdown (pre-paid before the shutdown). All of them had kept the facilities going and clean.

I was also at the south end of Joshua Tree NP, staying on BLM land, and went in for the day … no issues there other than the Visitor station was closed. Dump station was open, but Rangers had blocked off the payment box ($5.00 fee normally). Fortunately, this area did not experience the problems that the opposite side of the park did (vandalism, cutting down Joshua Trees and people going into prohibited areas on ATVs). I did see two Rangers out on patrol too (wasn't expecting that during the shutdown).

Those warning signs are all over the region (not just the National Monument). The Border Patrol presence was very noticeable. When boondocking at Gunsight Wash (near Why), quite a few helicopters were checking the area at 10:00 PM. The smugglers and illegal immigrants don't want to be anywhere near the campgrounds. The back country is very inhospitable and anyone trying to walk it is going to have a tough time (particularly as the temps rise).

Funny you should mention the USBP. We camped over by Canelo for a couple of days in January. In the AM we did a little hike and 100 yards from our boondock site was a very sophisticated and camouflaged USBP listening/observing point with a fancy FLIR on an expandable pole. I certainly felt safe!

Great place and fun video.