A few of us from the San Diego photo club that I hang out with decided to go do a bit of exploring and photography out in Anza Borrego yesterday. We started off with the oases up by Arroyo Salado - 17 Palms and 5 Palms, then went over to the Pumpkin Patch in the OHV area. From there we traveled back west on Cut Across Trail over to Military Wash, and took that down to San Felipe Wash. We went up Blow Sand Canyon and over the Goat Trail, ending up at Buttes Pass Road just in time to catch the sunset. The temperature was pretty much perfect, and no wind at all. We didn't get much in the way of vast sweeping landscape shots though, as there was a huge cloud of dust all across the Park coming from the OHV area.
I've got so many blue sky shots of the oases that I thought I might try something different this time - these are done in the camera using a filter effect that (sort of) mimics infrared film. It has a somewhat grainy texture, and blue skies go black.
I've never seen this many people out at the Pumpkin Patch. It had a sort of festive Mad Max feel to it, except that everyone was having a good time and no one was getting their fingers chopped off by sharpened boomerangs. By the way, that's dust and sand in the air, not just grainy texture from the camera.
Some of the quads looked like they'd be a blast to ride.
We took a section of the Cut Across Trail that I had not been on before - it goes through some of the most barren badlands I've seen in Anza Borrego. You had to look really close to see any signs of life.
Nice views from up on the Goat Trail in the late afternoon.
On Buttes Pass Road right at sunset, waiting for some color in the sky. Mark's Frontier, Rae's Jeep, and my X.
Just a bit of color in the sky.
One last shot, then it's time to air up and head for home. The last shot on the last trail on the last day of the year. Happy New Year everyone. Now it's time for more trails and adventures in 2012.
