decided to venture out on another short trip to explore a place called China Ranch in California. It was near the town of Tecopa which is known for its hot springs. The town was fairly run down and we decided not to stop there this time.
We traveled along some desolate roads and finally came to the canyon road China Ranch is located on. Here is a photo of the entrance down into the canyon where the spring-fed oasis is located and where date palms are grown and harvested at the ranch. We wondered if we needed a 4-wheel drive to get back up!
The brochure looked much more expansive than the place really was! There were a few
interesting things to see, but the focus of the ranch (for tourists anyway) was the gift shop which had rocks, date shakes, packaged dates and nuts and "gifts". They had a courtyard, of sorts, where you can eat your shake and watch the hummingbirds flock to the feeders.
They also has a shop with cactus and various plants for sale. Of course we had to have a couple of date shakes! Enlarge the photos for a better look!
We walked along the stream that fed the oasis and kept the date palms supplied with precious water. One road led us to the date palm "orchard" and I took a photo of the palm trees with the area mountains in the background. It was pretty interesting. Desert all around us except for this small valley.
On our trip back to the campground, we saw an interesting outcropping of rock along highway 178. We pulled over to check it out and take this photo along with a physical sample of the black rock. You do see a lot of wonderful rock formations in this part of the country!
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