Topic: Anza Borrego - Wandering in the Desert - Borrego Mountain area - 19 Nov 2011

[FrankB]

The original plan for 19 Nov was Fish Creek and Sandstone Canyon, but since we had such a small group we decided to do something different.  Dan made the 4-hour drive down from the AV to join us, so I though we might check out some parts of Anza Borrego that he hadn't seen yet.  We even wandered through some parts I've never been to.

We started off by making a slight detour to check out the newest sculpture in Borrego Springs, a 350-foot long sea serpent. The artist that made these started off doing fairly accurate renditions of the prehistoric animals that lived in the area before global warming. With this last one I think he took a bit of artistic license.





The weather was perfect, except perhaps for the sometimes howling wind. There were only 3 Xterras (me, Dan and Hennie) and some friends of mine in a Jeep.

We started off by wandering through the Borrego Sink and eastward into the San Felipe valley south of the badlands, where we found this historical marker perched high up on a hill.





In the past I've used that twin beehive looking formation as a visual waypoint to confirm I was heading south in Borrego Mountain Wash.  I guess I should have chosen something a bit more permanent.





We drove up Borrego Mountain Wash to the point where it gets too narrow to drive in (which is also the downstream end of the The Slot hiking route) and had lunch.







The views from the area at the bottom of the Borrego Mountain Drop-Off were pretty nice.



This time we went for the boysenberry-apple pie. I probably don't even need to mention that it was very good.

[FrankB]

After lunch we took a walk a little ways up The Slot.  Looks like that leaning spire is still there.  I wonder for how long.









From Borrego Mountain Wash we backtracked into San Felipe and continued east to Blow Sand Canyon, and followed that up and over the Goat Trail back to Buttes Pass Road.  Lots of soft sand in Blow Sand Canyon, and some ruts on the Goat Trail, but nothing bad.





We lined up for a picture on Buttes Pass Road, then headed out Borrego Mountain Road to get a view down into The Slot to see the area we had been driving and walking in earlier.  The late afternoon sun made for some nice pictures.









Dan wanted to leave the area via S-22 down towards the Salton Sea, so we set off north towards the highway. We traveled over Buttes Pass Road back to San Felipe Wash, took that east to just the edge of the OHV area, and turned north into Military Wash.  We took Military Wash north to its end at Cut Across Wash, then east over to Fault Wash and continued north to Arroyo Salado, then east again for a short ways to Ella Wash, and north to S-22.  There is a lot of interesting scenery, and some interesting remnants of WWII-era history, along that route.

Buttes Pass Road is particularly nice in the late afternoon.

[FrankB]

The view out across the Badlands and to Fonts Point in the late afternoon light was great.



We stopped briefly to check out some of the artifacts in Military Wash, and by the time we got about 3/4 of the way up Ella Wash the sun was going down behind us.









The last bit of trail up to the highway got a little bumpy in spots.  Maybe I need to get a dash-mounted camera instead of trying to drive with one hand and shoot with the other.



Another great day in the desert.




There are a few more pictures here:
http://frankbaiamonte.smugmug.com/So-Cal-Club-Xterra-SCCX/Borrego-Mountain-111911/.

[Bobby B.]

Anza Borrego - Wandering in the Desert - Borrego Mountain area - 19 Nov 2011

That's not blurry, that's intentional.  There's a Bigfoot in this pic somewhere.  Mitch will find him.

[FrankB]

Here's a little before and after sort of thing:

I went back and dug out a picture from a trip to Borrego Mountain Wash taken in March of this year.  You can see the second beehive in this shot. It's the one on the left.



It's now in pieces, right about where Paul's truck was in the earlier picture.  That stuff's pretty solid too, it's not just soft dirt.



I wonder if that would have buffed out?
 

[MaxPower]

Come clean here.....which one of you backed into that beehive?

Those are some great looking pictures.  I really wanted to go on this trip as it would be my first to the area.....work got in the way. 

[Ghost65]

Loved the photo journal Frank.

Two things:

The last sunset shot is spectacular.

Showing a picture of he Boysenberry Apple Julian Pie is pure torture.  I know I can get one locally, but pie on the trail just tastes better!