518 - Morton Peak
Some guy thought I robbed him. Here’s the story.
It all started near San Bernardino, California. I’d just finished filming a tutorial in the woods and I was on my way back to civilization. The only problem was that I couldn’t control myself.
The sun was starting to set, I was on a beautiful highway, and a composition was emerging before my very eyes. Powerlines. I skidded off to the shoulder, got out my telephoto, and snagged this baby:
“Power’s Out”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 70-200mm 2.8 GM
[ISO 125 ~ 118mm ~ f/3.5 ~ 1/1000s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
All in less than 3 minutes. Then the sun was gone. Just like that.
See, I told myself I wouldn’t focus on photography until my course was done, but this was an exception. Like my addiction to french fries, this was 100% necessary to my sanity.
My logic was that I needed to save my energy for developing the curriculum and editing videos, not taking, editing, and writing about photos.
But hey, sometimes a man’s gotta eat.
I then proceeded to get some of the best hummus of my life at some dumpy restaurant called Damasco Mediterranean Cuisine in Yucaipa. (Have fun entering that into your Google Maps.) An hour later, I was full as a cucumber and on my way to El Mirage, California.
Why was I heading here, might you ask? Good question.
El Mirage was a massive dried lake bed in the high desert near Victorville, California. It was sectioned off by the National Park Service, specifically reserved for off-roading vehicles.
Since I was officially halfway done filming the photography part of the course, I decided to break it up and film the #PriusLife portion here for a week. It consisted of 10 videos that I planned on filming and editing in a mere 5 days.
The lake bed was the perfect place to do it, because I could get shots of the Prius in an open desert setting. But as I pulled up to the lake (after a slow two hour drive,) my heart sank. A sign emerged in the distance that flashed a big red “CLOSED.”
Well, well, well. If it wasn’t karma catching up to me. (Don’t ask.)
I pulled over on the side of the road and weighed my options. I couldn’t exactly see what was what because of the darkness, so I decided to just sleep it off and make a decision in the morning.
(Insert night timelapse here.) (But not actually because I don’t have one.)
As I roused from my slumber, I looked out the window to take in my surroundings. One of the luxuries of living and traveling in a Prius is that oftentimes you wake up and have absolutely no idea where you are.
Such was the case today as I slowly remembered why I was in the middle of nowhere. Oh, yeah. I have a course to film. I drove up to the ranger window to see what this “CLOSED” sign was all about.
Turns out the lake was muddy from harsh rain the past couple weeks. This apparently presents a hazard for dune buggies traveling hundreds of miles per hour, oftentimes with drivers drunk out of their minds. Go figure.
I walked closer to the fine print, and learned that the campground, however, was still open. My heart began to sing. This meant I could drive around the nearly empty grounds and film! They were still off-roady enough for the videos.
BOOM. We're back in business, baby.
And thus, I proceeded to spend the next three days filming and editing like some kind of desert dwelling Prius animal. But there’s an important detail you need to know here.
I spent those three nights sleeping just outside the park on the side of the dirt road, because I’m a cheap bastard and I didn’t want to spend $10 a night to camp inside the park.
And I’m not gonna lie, it was actually very peaceful. Until the third night.
I was playing some Fall Guys online with my buddy, when all of a sudden a massive white pickup drove past me at full-speed with its high beams on. I didn’t think too much of it until it came back and did it again. Then again. And again. I began to get a little uneasy because I wasn’t exactly in the mood to fight some redneck hick. I was in the middle of a game.
I kept a side-eye on the truck, watching its headlights vanish behind some Joshua trees in the distance. It didn’t come back.
Sleep wasn’t the best that night, but I managed.
The next morning I woke up to the sound of another pickup truck driving up to my Prius. Two cholo looking dudes hopped out the car and started walking towards me. Uh oh.
I quickly woke up and greeted them outside the car. The guy, named Jeff, told me that someone had been walking around on his property last night, and was wondering if I had something to do with it.
He said he’d been watching me for the past three days, because his house was right across the way. That’s nice.
I gulped the biggest gulp of my life and introduced myself. Hopefully this dude believes me. I told him I was a photographer shooting the area for the week. I explained my course, my #PriusLife, and everything in-between.
He looked at me suspiciously, then proceeded to tell me how someone stole a bunch of stuff from his grounds last night. He threatened them with a gun (that was still on him,) and they ran off.
I told him about the white pickup truck I saw driving around last night, and his expression changed. “Yes! That was them!”
I think he finally started to realize it wasn’t me. Or he knew all along. I don’t know, I suck at reading people when my heart’s pounding a million miles an hour.
He then introduced himself, and told me that he wouldn’t recommend I sleep outside the park. He said, “I’ve lived out here for 14 years now. There’s a lot of scumbags in the area, no jobs, and everyone’s stealing shit from each other. You’d be much safer in the bounds of the lake.”
I took that advice to heart.
“If you see em’ around any more, don’t be afraid to give me a ‘holla. I got a reward in it for ya if you manage to capture ‘em.”
I took one look at my skinny ass body and told him “don’t worry, I’m a professional.”
He walked away and they drove off in a cloud of dust.
I’ve never felt like more of a cowboy in my life. Even though I hadn’t really done anything.
I didn’t end up sleeping there that night. I drove off to Victorville and slept like a baby in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn. Finished the course the next day, and was on my way back to San Francisco.
These deserts, man.
IntricateI’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
*Please note this page contains affiliate links.
