March 22, 2015
We made it to our 1st objective – the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
The past 2 days have been … eventful. Due to some technical difficulties we didn’t get too far after Santa Nella. We made it as far as Mojave where we stayed at a nice RV park (only $23!) and just laid low for the day.
We had planned on taking the ‘long route’ down through Hemet and Palm Springs but opted to just get to the desert as the ‘long route’ put an extra 200 miles (somehow) on the trip. This entailed driving interstates and one of the worst and busiest roads we’ve ever been on … the I-215 around San Bernardino. Talk about white knuckles! The people there drive like absolute maniacs! Five lanes of imminent carnage and mayhem for miles and miles. I can say with absolute certainty that I never want to do that again. I can’t imagine how people drive this every day!
We stopped for gas and found a fellow selling bags of giant avocados so I bought a bag for $5! There is 7 of them in the bag!! They’re a type I haven’t seen before … the skin is very thin … we have to peel it with a vegetable peeler! But the flesh is very creamy and delicious! A good buy!
Giant Avocado!
Anyway … we made it through and finally off on some smaller, quieter roads. And finally … Anza-Borrego Desert State Park!
Lots of cactus in bloom
The park is HUGE. Lots and lots of camping opportunities, park, private, primitive and off-road. As we don’t really have off-road capabilities, we’ll stick to places we can easily get to. Ahem. Except for yesterday … we found a primitive campsite on the map (Yaqui Well) that said ‘2-wd vehicles ok’ … but oh my! A one-lane sand road marked ‘4-wd only’. Oh well … we’re here now … let’s go for it. It’s definitely tricky, we’ve already seen on guy being pulled out by a tow truck! … but we got to the spot with no mishaps and while it may not be the most beautiful spot … it’s free and there’s no one else around.
Our campsite in the Anza-Borrego Desert
It’s pretty warm (high of 29C/85F) yesterday) but VERY windy here. Very difficult to capture the amazing array of cactus flowers that are in bloom as they’re constantly being blown in the wind. But it does help in the heat!
Barrel Cactus
Look way up – Yucca in Bloom!
Teddy Bear Cholla
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
No wildlife so far … although we did see a little lizard yesterday.
Chicken enchiladas for supper (along with the requisite Margaritas!) and an early bed time.
March 23, 2015
We were thinking of going to find another campsite today … one that has a bit more places nearby to walk/hike … and we did find one (Yaqui Pass) not too far from here but we decided to stay put for one more day and just recuperate.
Bruce got our new refrigerator fan installed … pretty neat … the cover sits on top of the RV where the old fridge cover was … it has a solar panel for power … and then a fan is installed inside the fridge vent cover on the side. You simply turn it on when it gets really hot … we’ve found that some times the fridge really labours in the heat and can’t keep cold. We’ll see if this helps!
We did get out for a bit of a walk today … there’s a hiking trail right across the road from us that goes for quite a ways. Lots of cactus and leading to a well (hence the ‘Yaqui Well’) on one side and a spring on the other side. We didn’t go too far as we didn’t take water with us and it was mid-day making it quite hot even with the wind.
Hiking to the Yaqui Well – Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
More Cactus!
Yes, the wind. It is pretty constant and quite strong. Not sure how I’ll stand up to it …. It makes everything that much more complicated.
Right now we’re thinking we’ll stay in this spot for another night and tomorrow do some day-trips in the car. There are no shortage of places to explore, and it just depends on how far afield we want to go!
March 24, 2015
The wind is a constant. It makes every activity a bit more complicated. Even trying to sit outside and read is problematic as the wind is always blowing things away, hats go spinning off, and my hair finding little tendrils to tickle me with even when it’s tied back.
Bruce figures it’s blowing at around 20knots +/- and there never seems to be a time when it’s calm for more than 20 seconds. It certainly makes photography of small flowers very difficult!
We were up early and off on a trail not far from where we’re camped. It’s only about 1 ½ miles one-way so it didn’t take long. We met a couple on the trail who’d just seen a rattlesnake (and the woman was freaking out!) but we never could find it when we looked. Drat. We always seem to be the 2nd ones on the trail/road just after a cool sighting! Well, eyes open … you never know when you’ll be the 1st one to see the next cool thing!
Photo opportunities abound!
Ocotillo in bloom
I think we’ll head out to Borrego Springs and see if we can find a coffee shop somewhere and check out the ‘town’ sights including the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Centre.
Anza-Borrego State Park Visitor Centre
Anza-Borrego State Park Visitor Centre
Later …
We really need to get some kind of 4-WD type of vehicle! We were on roads that a car really shouldn’t be on! We drove out to the ‘Flower Fields’ that were shown on the map. Meh. Perhaps at different times of the year? We had more flowering cactus etc. around our campsite! We also drove a rather long and winding road/sand track into the desert to find the ‘Desert Gardens’ which we never did find. They have some interesting ways of putting things on maps which aren’t there!
Exploring some of the 2WD accessible roads
Back to camp where we drank Margaritas and played ‘bean bag bocci ball’ till supper.
After that we sat out till it was quite dark … finally the wind had died off enough to get out the ‘Campfire in a Can’ and let us enjoy the beautiful night sky. Truly amazing.
March 25, 2015
Up early and packed up … time to head out and do some cleaning – personal and RV-wise!
After a neat drive through some beautiful country, we made it to Agua Caliente County Park which has a large campground/RV park. It’s a beautiful park, very clean and neat, with lots of RV spaces and tent spaces. And of course, a mineral spring! It was really too hot to lay around in the heated pool, but a good chance to take a much-needed shower and hit the ‘cool pool’. Back to the RV and some housekeeping, some reading and relaxing. It’s VERY hot today … 29C/84F but with the breeze is quite pleasant under our awning.
Camping at Agua Caliente County Park
After checking out their ‘general store’ and finding a few cans of soup, a lemon, beer and ice cream, we relaxed most of the afternoon. When evening comes and it cools down a bit there are some trails around we might check out.
Evening Hike around Agua Caliente County Park
Hiking around Agua Caliente County Park
Hiking around Agua Caliente County Park
March 26, 2015
Took a nice hike in the desert last night, very beautiful. We heard coyotes howling in the wee hours this morning but couldn’t spot any. Was up early, I headed to the mineral springs for a shower and we were off.
Note on Agua Caliente … There is a nice campground, and the mineral springs are ok. The trouble is … when it’s 90F out we didn’t really feel like lounging in a hot pool! There was also a ‘cool’ pool which we hopped into for a while, but the sun was still too hot. Very quiet though and a good place to overnight.
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