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Desert News Feed
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This site copyright 2008 Christian Probasco
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Stumble It!Throughout history, desert
travelers have returned with tall
tales of fabulous and bizarre
sights that they invariably can’t
quite remember how to get back to.
When subsequent explorers fail to
verify the claims, they are
usually written off as mirages or
hallucinations of fevered brains
suffering from dehydration.
However, some stories, though
lacking hard evidence, won’t be
put to rest. This is the case with
the “lost ship” of the southern
California desert. Although there
are variations of it, the usual
version of the legend has a
wanderer spotting the remains of a
Spanish galleon--loaded with
pearl, no less--half-buried in the
sand, many miles from the ocean.
Over the years, different
renditions of this yarn pop up and
then fade again, just like
something buried in shifting
desert sands. Is there any truth
to it? Since sifting through
every inch of that sand would be
an impossible task, sifting
through the historical,
geological, and geographical
facts, and folk tales would be a
better place to try answering the
question. MORE
travelers have returned with tall
tales of fabulous and bizarre
sights that they invariably can’t
quite remember how to get back to.
When subsequent explorers fail to
verify the claims, they are
usually written off as mirages or
hallucinations of fevered brains
suffering from dehydration.
However, some stories, though
lacking hard evidence, won’t be
put to rest. This is the case with
the “lost ship” of the southern
California desert. Although there
are variations of it, the usual
version of the legend has a
wanderer spotting the remains of a
Spanish galleon--loaded with
pearl, no less--half-buried in the
sand, many miles from the ocean.
Over the years, different
renditions of this yarn pop up and
then fade again, just like
something buried in shifting
desert sands. Is there any truth
to it? Since sifting through
every inch of that sand would be
an impossible task, sifting
through the historical,
geological, and geographical
facts, and folk tales would be a
better place to try answering the
question. MORE
CALIFORNIA’S LOST PEARL SHIP
By Robert G. Larson
By Robert G. Larson
We were welcomed to
the Playa with a dust
storm that lasted
nine hours long, the
harshest first day
that many had ever
seen. Rumors spread
that it would get
worse all week. I
crossed my fingers
and prayed that I had
not come all the way
out here to sit
inside a tent and
wait out the
whiteouts. Further,
the Playa was
unusually loose –
instead of the
cracked, flat earth
from years past,
there were dunes that
made biking a
difficult task.
MORE
the Playa with a dust
storm that lasted
nine hours long, the
harshest first day
that many had ever
seen. Rumors spread
that it would get
worse all week. I
crossed my fingers
and prayed that I had
not come all the way
out here to sit
inside a tent and
wait out the
whiteouts. Further,
the Playa was
unusually loose –
instead of the
cracked, flat earth
from years past,
there were dunes that
made biking a
difficult task.
MORE
THE REAL THING--BURNING MAN 2008
Story by Brittany Vargas, photos by Brittany Vargas and Patrick Lohse
Story by Brittany Vargas, photos by Brittany Vargas and Patrick Lohse
