Parking at Salt Creek and crossing it before heading south:
View over the Salt Creek hills toward distant Tucki Mountain:
Following a drainage at the base of the Salt Creek hills for a while:
Right side of Tucki Mountain (northeast corner) from the crossover point in the Salt Creek hills:
And the left side (southeast corner) of Tucki Mountain from the same spot:
Finally connecting with the old closed road which used to go out to West Side Borax Camp:
Looking up toward the long alluvial fan of Trellis Canyon:
Large block of salt out on Cottonball Basin:
Panoramic of Cottonball Basin and Tucki Mountain:
Trying our best to follow the old closed road as it wraps around to the base of Tucki Mountain and follows some utility poles:
West Side Borax Camp site is at the base of this small hill:
The old closed road continues around the base of the hill:
First appearance of water as a spring emerges from underneath the rocky salt formations:
The first spring gives life to the greenery and small streams:
Looking out onto Cottonball Basin from the first spring:
From this spot we could see the first marshy pond while standing at West Side Borax Camp:
So we followed the road a little farther to the south and then cut cross-country to reach it:
Here we are walking across some jagged rocky salt formations to reach the first pond:
Steve standing at the first pond of Cottonball Marsh. This pond is very close to West Side Borax Camp and there were no pupfish to be found:
Panoramic of the first marshy pond of Cottonball Marsh:
Beautiful reflection in another nearby pond showing Tucki Mountain:
Looking out across Cottonball Marsh, you can see that small ponds (or pools of water) are visible all over the place:
While walking through Cottonball Marsh, it is necessary to carefully navigate around the fragile and mucky areas:
The next two pictures show areas of black algae that we came across:
After quite some time and distance, we came across the first of the pupfish pools. If you follow the picture across from my knee, you will see a school of pupfish:
Zooming in on a Cottonball Marsh pupfish swimming by:
This area is a perfect little ecosystem, with a channel of water down the middle, salt and mud walls to each side, and a hiding spot for the pupfish near the top of the channel. We took our steps very carefully in this area so as to leave no impact:
The pupfish had long channels to swim through which split and went in different directions:
Two pictures of the pupfish swimming in a channel of the pool:
Zooming in on their hiding spot where they could swim under the salt formations and be protected:
Four more pictures of the pupfish and some of their hiding spots:
Very carefully getting a picture next to a heart-shaped pupfish pool. Notice that my hiking boots have taken a beating and been consumed by muck:
Such a beautiful pool for the pupfish to swim in. Note the small opening that pupfish can swim through at the top of the heart-shaped pool:
Another long channel for the pupfish to swim through:
This pupfish (like many others we saw) kept playing around in the dirt at the bottom of the pool:
These pupfish ponds were pristine and amazing to behold. If you are ever in the area, please be extra careful in walking around them. Don't walk through any of the channels that the pupfish swim through or any of the areas where they live. And don't get too close to the edges so that they don't collapse into the pools:
Two more pictures of the pupfish ponds. Note how there are little islands out in the middle of the ponds:
Such pretty designs to the edges of the pools. No backyard pond can compare in beauty to what is found here:
Pupfish swimming through their pond in the middle of the picture:
In the next six pictures, you can see some more small islands, pond edges, and pupfish swimming:
Yet another pupfish pool that we found. Notice here that there are pupfish swimming in both the channel and on the shallow surface above the channel to the right:
Watching the pupfish as they swim farther up the channel:
A school of pupfish swimming above the channel in the shallows:
Literally hundreds of Cottonball Marsh pupfish can be seen in this picture. Try to count them if you can:
Pupfish swimming up the channel and out of our walking range. It took some extra time, but we carefully exited this area in a way that left no impact. As you can see, the pupfish areas are fragile and thus we have left directions to find them out of this report:
