What is it?

After Joshua Tree I wanted to get someplace a little warmer and much less crowded. So I ended up about an hour and a half to the east, between Vidal Junction CA and Parker AZ. I had seen RVs camped in the area the times I had come this way, and there were some there this time. The question was how to access it. I saw an unpaved road and turned off the highway.

The road had been graded sometime in recent history, and the berms the grader had left along the shoulders limited where I could turn off. About two miles along I saw an opening to a patch with a fire ring. It wasn’t the greatest spot, but it would do. And the nearest neighbors were about a quarter mile away.

My old body was tired from hiking and driving, so I settled into the Rolling Steel Tent, made some dinner, and called it a day.

This morning I strolled around the area to see exactly where I was and what it was like. That’s when I found this:

Some strange geologic something-or-other? Perhaps the peak of an ancient upthrust uncovered by erosion? Nah, a pile of tarpaper and shingles someone had dumped. Because, you know, the desert is just a useless wasteland, right? Well, at least this pile sort of blended in, unlike beer cans, old appliances, mattresses, burned and/or shot up vehicles, or smashed RVs with strips of insulation and tin siding flapping in the breeze.

I’ll finish the weekend here while I’m deciding where to go to next.