California Superbloom in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Spring 2019

Blog Resurrection ...

I haven't updated this Blog in seven years, and we have been to so many NEW places in these past years that it seems prudent to do so now.

We have spent time in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Borrego Springs in January 2013, but in the Fall of 2018, we had a lot of rain, a conditions were just right for a spring superbloom. Here is the desert full of wildflowers in the Spring of 2019.

Bloom of an Agave

Apricot Mallow

Arizona Lupine

Bloom of a Beavertail Cactus

Desert Chicory

Desert Dandelion

Desert Five Spot

Desert Lily

Desert Sunflower

Bloom of a Fishhook Barrel Cactus

Ghost Flower

Pink Evening Primrose or Pinklady

Blooms on an Ocotillo

Sand Blazing Star

Sand Verbena

Sand Wild Canterbury Bells

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - Mountain Palm Springs, CA

The last area of the park where we will spend a few days hiking is at Mountain Palm Springs in the southern region of the park.  Here there is another free park campground - we can see the palm trees up the canyons from our site.  We are practically in a bowl, surrounded by rocky grey-white hills (the rock is called pegmatite for you geology enthusiasts, probably white fledspar with black tourmaline or horneblend in it) with a few desert plants on them.  We are in a parking area between two sandy washes which Grady loves to walk in.  Cats and loose sand - what could be better?  Even though we get two straight days of rain while here (it's rained about every 3 or 4 days while we are in California!), we get no flash floods and the washes beside us don't flow.

Marilyn in Mary's Grove

The two washes beside us lead up two separate canyons.  We hike up these canyons to the grove of palms we see from our trailer on two separate days.  The first one becomes a bit of a rocky scramble, but after some of the hikes we've done during these past four months, it's like walking up steps.  The first grove is North Grove, and a bit further beyond that is Mary's Grove, a large flat area with several groups of palms growing.  There are also large boulders and smoke trees here, giving the area a true oasis feel.  We follow some cairns and a faint footpath that goes up and over a rocky ridge, then down into the adjacent canyon where we find Surprise Grove with a fairly large number of palms growing together.  A wide, sandy path leads up the canyon to Palm Bowl Grove where about 60 trees are growing on the side of the rocky hill.  This is a large bowl surrounded by these rocky slopes except for the outlet of the wash we just walked up.  On another day, we hike the other canyon to find Pygmy Grove (a small group of shorter palms) and further up in Torote Bowl is a large grove of about 100 palms overlooking the Carrizo Valley with amazing views.

Marilyn in Torote Bowl
Note burnt trunks

All of the palm groves show evidence of fire.  Trunks are blackened and their skirts (the dead palm leaves that lay against the trunks) are gone.  Apparently, in the wild, the skirt is important to the palm, shading the trunk which absorbs water when it's available, and preventing over-heating and allowing the moisture to evaporate.  The skirt also helps to protect the trunk against predators like a certain beetle which can bore two-inch holes into the bark.  But yet these groves have survived throughout thousands of years, showing early native settlers where to find water.  Given this rugged, arid landscape, finding these palm trees is like stumbling across a treasure.

Brad at Big Mud Cave - entrance to a long tunnel

The Mud Caves are about a 5-mile drive through a sandy, washboard wash into the Carrizo Badlands.  These clay hills are mostly tan and grey with some hues of green and pink.  The hardened layers often angle at about 45 degrees, evidence of geological plate movement common in this area.  Along the way, we talk to a couple from San Diego who tell us that someone died here last year during a flash flood - on an overcast day like it is today.  Whenever rain is possible, even in the mountains 50 or more miles away, people are warned not to travel into the canyons.  Accumulated rainfall in the mountains rushes down through these canyons like a freight train.  We probably shouldn't be in the canyon today, but naively continue on.  Obviously, we make it out unharmed and no rains falls today.  The caves are eroded holes in the mud hills; some are actual caves, others are really a slot canyon with tunnels and overhead bridges or arches.  There are two caves where we park at an obvious, large hole in the side wall.  A narrow entrance takes us into Plunge Pool Cave, flashlights blazing in the blackness.  This is a very narrow, winding slot which ends at a 50-foot dry waterfall after about 100 feet.  You would not want to be in here when a flash flood arrives!  Back in the wash, the large opening takes us through Big Mud Cave, which is really a slot canyon that continues for about half a mile or more.  We follow one opening in the side that takes us into a narrow, winding cave for several hundred yards before it becomes a very small tunnel which Brad explores for several yards on his hands and knees.  Me?  No thanks.  I prefer to walk upright!  The caves are interesting and fun to follow, but not terribly photogenic.

And so ends our California journey after about 5 weeks.  It is the last week of January, and we will start heading east (boo hoo!).  (I'm posting this blog late due to lack of internet signal!)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - Blair Valley, CA

Blair Valley's elevation is over 2,000 feet and therefore cold at night - down to about 25F (umm, -4 or -5 C?), but daytime highs are in the 70s and sunny, so we're back in shorts and tank tops.  We camp in a primitive state park campground, which means there are no hookups, but there are pit toilets, all of which we don't need anyway - but it's FREE.  The campground is beside a dry lake, and the vegetation here is much more lush than in Borrego Springs where the elevation was around 800 feet.  Again, mountains (with peaks around 5,000 feet) surround us.  Grady likes his walks here amongst the bushes.

Yaquitepec ruins - the water cistern with homestead wall behind me

Ghost Mountain and Yaquitepec - this is the primitive experimental homesite of Marshal and Tanya South who raised three children here from 1933 to 1946 without any "comforts of home" as we know them - no electricity, nearby grocery stores, etc.  They had to search for sources of water, food and fuel.  The remains of their adobe home and water cistern remain.  The views of the valleys to the east and west are stunning, although I expect that, after a few years living atop this mountain desert wilderness, you wouldn't be so excited by it.

The view southeast from Ghost Mountain

The Narrows Earth Trail - a very short, interpretive trail explaining some of the geology of the area.  The trail is along a fault line and the fault cracks and different types of rock on either side of the fault are easily seen.  We took no photos here because they're just, well, more rocks.

Marilyn climbing down a dry waterfall

Rainbow Canyon - so far the best hike in this park yet.  As its name implies, it is somewhat colourful (although, again, compared to Utah it's drab).  We find rocks that are grey and brown, but also white (quartz and feldspar), black (mica and tourmaline), red, greenish and bluish.  The canyon walls are high and close together, so it is like hiking through a wide slot canyon with several (about 8 or 9) dry waterfalls that we have to scramble up (and then down on our way back).  In total, we climb about 500 feet in elevation from the road to where the canyon widens out at about 1.6 miles in.  The vegetation is very lush here with many plants - ocotillo (awk-oh-tee'-oh), cholla (choy'-ya), barrel cactus, agave (ah-gah'-vay), beavertail cactus, and many others I can't begin to name.  The cholla are starting to flower - they get tough, yellow buds at their ends which will bloom soon I expect.  I would love to see the ocotillo in full bloom - their flowers are scarlet.

A new barrel cactus

A Teddybear Cholla with buds

Desert flora - barrel cactus on left, teddybear cholla with an ocotillo sprayed behind them

We also see some wildlife in the area.  There are roadrunners near our camp and we often see them scooting across the road, and we see a few Anna's hummingbirds on separate occasions.  The Chihuahuan Ravens are a constant on the desert landscape.  There is evidence of nocturnal species like coyotes (there is scat everywhere!).  What's scary are the holes in the desert sand, usually under bushes - I read that tarantulas and scorpions hibernate underground during the winter and Grady likes to stick his arm down these holes during his walks.  A warning from us makes him pull back.  However, the poor guy does get stung by a bee - inside the trailer.  Bees surround the trailer.  They are not at all agressive, but we can't leave our door open and just the screen door closed.  There are about two dozen bees buzzing at the screen the day we arrive and we have the door open because it's hot.  Well, I guess a bee got inside but we didn't see him.  In the evening while we are watching TV, Grady starts sniffing something on the carpet.  I don't see anything there but then he suddenly jumps straight up, then jumps up and to the side again.  Then he starts licking and shaking his head.  Brad catches on right away.  "He's been stung by a bee!"  I turn on the overhead lights and look around the carpet and sure enough, I find a bee with the stinger just pulled out lying dead.  Poor Grady licks his chops for half an hour, but he is otherwise fine.

Tomorrow we head further south in the park to Mountain Palm Canyon where we will stay for a few days and explore the southwest section.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - Split Mountain and the Badlands, CA

The weather is finally a lot warmer - over 70F and a LOT hotter than that in the sun, which is out all day thanks to cloudless skies.  Nights are no longer below freezing, but Grady is still snuggling under the covers with me.  I guess he's decided he likes it.

Marilyn in The Slot

We spend a day at Split Mountain, about 25 miles from where we are camped.  First, we hike "The Slot", a slot canyon which is very narrow in spots but not colourful.  The walls are a drab grey and brown, with small rocks to small boulders cemented into the sand/clay conglomerate - these are called concretions.  But it has the typical shape of a slot, snaking back and forth like the track of a serpent.  It narrows several times so that I have to turn sideways and position my bum-pack (not my big bum, but a pack to carry water and emergency gear belted around my hips) at the widest point to get through.  It's fun squeezing in and out of the waves.  Once it opens up into a wider wash, we turn around and head back the way we came.  In the parking lot when we arrive, we meet a couple from Newmarket, Ontario (near Toronto).  They are here only for a two-week vacation and we chat about the various places we have visited

View of folds and mountains; Fish Creek Wash snaking through

The drive along Fish Creek Wash takes us through a dry wash of a very deep canyon.  The sandstone walls tower above us over 500 feet high.  We have to avoid some large boulders in the sandy road.  At one point, we reach "The Anticline", a rock fold that looks as if Popeye bent a straight pipe until the ends meet.  The stone layers form several semicircles radiating out from the centre.  More forces of nature - this desert park sits on several fault lines where the northward-moving Pacific Plate meets the southward-moving North American Plate, just like along the San Andreas Fault.  We do not get an earthquake during our stay.

Brad (beside the white dot) having a nap on the Wind Cave rocks

Our destination is the Wind Caves trail, which climbs very steeply to these sandstone formations.  The holes in the rocks have been eroded by wind and blowing sand, not water.  We feel like we are in Bedrock and Fred and Barney will emerge from one of the stone houses at any time.  The view is actually the most spectacular thing here.  From the Wind Caves, we have a view of the Elephants Knees: sandstone cliffs eroded into peaks and valleys that actually resemble the legs and knees of elephants.  Unfortunately, they are to the south and directly into the sun, so the photos don't do them justice.  We can see other valleys, washes and mountains all around us, in the typical golden California colours.

The Elephants Knees

Inspiration Wash in the Badlands

And today (yes, really today as in the date this was posted), we drive up to Inspiration Point in the Badlands.  Another rugged road, another fabulous view of the Badlands, the valley with the town of Borrego Springs and mountains.  In fact, we can see our trailer from here (with binoculars).  We intend to also visit Fonts Point (another overlook of the Badlands) and drive through Short Wash, but decide we've seen what there is to see and return home for a lazy afternoon in the sun instead.  Tomorrow, we will move to Blair Valley, another region of this park and explore the canyons and mountains there.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - The Calcite Mine, CA

Borrego Springs is a really cool, little town nestled in this desert valley surrounded by mountains.  There are no franchises in town - no Walmart, no MacDonalds: all restaurants and stores are independent - a refreshing change which reminds us of southern Utah.  It seems many people have retired here and several RVers winter here.  At the northeast edge of town are hundreds of acres of citrus trees bearing grapefruits, oranges and lemons.  We purchase a bag of grapefruits for $3!!! for 14 huge Ruby Reds direct from the orchard.  We pay a buck a piece for these at home.  For another $3, we buy a large bag of tangelos - a cross between an orange and a tangerine.  The fruit is very sweet and juicy and picked just the day before!  Yum!

Between Borrego Springs and Salton City to the east is an old calcite mine which was activated after the bombing of Pearl Harbour as the government wanted the calcite crystals for the manufacture by Polaroid of optical ringsights for weaponry.  The road to the mine is a very technical, 4x4 road from the area where we park (.7 mile in from the highway) with its rock base frighteningly narrow, steep and uneven but still scarred with black rubber from the high-clearance vehicles that dare to make this trek.  The road is difficult for us to walk, let alone drive, and I can't imagine being a passenger.

At the Calcite Mine, Salton Sea in the background

At the mine site, we are standing close to the peaks of the Santa Rosa mountains (highest peak is around 3,500 feet, we are probably around 1,500 feet here) with views of the Salton Sea to the east, the valley to the west and mountains all around us.  We can see the Algodones or Imperial Sand Dunes (with binoculars) some 60 miles southeast.  Mexico (the Baja region) is about 50 miles south, San Diego about 60 miles southwest.  All "as the crow flies" miles.  The air is fairly clear and there is not a cloud in the sky.  Today is the first day it is warm enough to hike in t-shirts.

We can see where the calcite was mined from notched cuts that were made in the rock ridges, wide enough for a person to sling a sledgehammer; some only 10 feet high, others up to 100 feet high; most seem to be about 20 feet deep.  The veins of calcite are still visible in the rock cuts, and the ground all around the site sparkles with the crystal shards.  None of the buildings or equipment from the mining operations remain.

Yeah, I'm not climbing up that!

On our way back down the mining road (we climbed up a heart-pumping, steep incline to get here), we cross a dry creek bed which our guide book tells us becomes a slot canyon both up and down canyon and meets the main wash which will lead us back to where we are parked.  We decide to go up the canyon, which does quickly narrow into a slot.  But these canyon walls are a grey mix of clay and sand with small boulders cemented into it, called conglomerate.  The rocks and canyon walls are not very interesting, unlike those in Utah.  We have to scramble up a few boulder jams, one as high as 6 feet, and the accomplishment of the challenge is a bit of a rush.  But, when we reach the 12-foot high waterfall, we are done and return the way we came, then head down-canyon from the mining road.  Going this way, no challenges higher than a few feet interrupt our descent through the sandy wash.  Using our GPS, we find the road that will take us up and out of the canyon to the mine road, and we (almost surprisingly) emerge at the top 50 feet away from our truck.  Part luck, part skill.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

After such a long, harrowing drive to get here, we are excited to be back in the southern desert where the clear, blue skies and golden California mountains dominate the scenery.  The park is named for Captain Juan Bautista de Anza who led an expedition of soldiers and settlers through this land in 1775; and Borrego is the Spanish word for lamb or sheep as in the bighorn sheep which call this park home.

Marilyn in Borrego Palm Canyon
the large grove of palms is just further up-canyon

At 9am, we are ready to hike the Borrego Palm Canyon Trail, the only trail for which there is a fee.  However, since we are camped in the campground where the trail begins, we "get in free".  And we have to be out of our campsite by noon so we hustle to do the 3-mile round-trip hike.  We climb up the canyon, sometimes through the dry wash bed.  We pass many desert plants - desert lavender (with some scented, purple blooms still on them), cholla (choy'-ya) and ocotillo (o-co-tee'-yo) which are now dormant for the winter.  The area must be gorgeous when the cacti bloom.  Suddenly, a small creek emerges, with grasses and small palms alongside it, and a few waterfalls as we progress up the canyon.  Then the grove of about 75 huge fan palms (California's only native palm tree) standing about 50 feet tall appears over the rocky, bubbling creek which is really a spring that surfaces just above the palms and disappears underground again a little further downstream, perhaps 1/4 of a mile.  It surfaces again in the valley and feeds the aquafer that is the water life-line of the town of Borrego Springs.  An oasis not only in the desert, but in this canyon which climbs thousands of feet.

At the Visitor Center, we learn that a flood (specifically a wall of debris) in 2004 swept away a couple of hundred palms from Borrego Palm Canyon, devastating the trees and part of the campground at the end of the canyon.  The Center is also full of very informative and passionate volunteers and staff who share our disbelief at the lack of popularity of this amazing desert park, except in late February and March when the wildflowers bloom.  Then, extra staff are posted in the Visitor Center parking lot and there is a "wildflower hotline" that people can call, similar to our Muskoka fall leaves hotline, to learn when the peak is.

Marilyn at Maidenhair Falls (the fern on the left)

Hellhole Canyon is another hike amongst various desert flora to a palm grove and just beyond to Maidenhair Falls which is currently only seeping, but the Maidenhair Fern is beautiful and lush along the rock wall.  The view of the valley and Borrego Springs far below (900 feet from the falls) is quite a site.  During our lunch stop on the rocks above the palm grove, a medium-size bird of prey glides in and lands on a rock only about 30 feet from us.  He perches for several minutes and poses for a photo.  I think it is a falcon at first (they have some here), but looking in my bird guide later I discover it is a Northern Harrier.  Other tiny birds I think are wrens also swoop around us and hide under the palm skirts on the trees probably picking out small insects.  They are quite noisy and very tiny, about 4 inches high.

Norther Harrier in Hellhole Canyon

Second Crossing in Coyote Canyon - it's deep but we're not stuck!

A trip up Coyote Canyon proves to be disappointing.  This is a 4x4 road that crosses the creek several times, but the road becomes more and more rough with large rocks pointing up out of the sand.  We drive as far as the Third Crossing, several miles shy of our intended destination of Salvador Canyon (where there are more palm groves), have lunch and return to town.  Here, we auto tour the Sky Art metal sculptures: horses, dinosaurs, birds, farmers, and my favourite the serpent.  These were created by artist Richard Breceda at the request of Borrego Springs' great philanthropist, Dennis Avery (his father invented the self-stick "Avery Labels").  Avery lived here from 1990 until 2001; he passed away last year.  He had purchased several parcels of land on which the 131 sculptures sit throughout 28 different sites, called it Galleta Meadows Estate, and invited the public to visit, even camp, on the property.  What a unique and interesting man and place.

Marilyn with the serpent Sky Art metal sculpture

More on Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to come in future posts...