Saturday, November 13, 2010

Anza Borrego Desert, CA

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This is our home for a few nights. We are parked about 5 miles east of Borrego Springs, just outside Anza Borrego Desert State Park, in a popular boondocking area off Rockhouse Rd. There are quite a few other RV’s scattered about, but we have no close neighbors, so it is very quiet. The desert landscape is stark, but we are surrounded by scenic mountains. And we have a fairly good internet connection. We’re not sure who owns this land, but just as you turn off onto Rockhouse Rd, there is a no trespassing sign. I read about this on several blogs, and everyone said it’s not a problem. Let’s hope they’re right.
Yesterday we went into the State Park and hiked the Borrego Palm Canyon trail. It is a 1.5 mile trail to a native California palm oasis, our third attempt to actually make it to an oasis. We parked at the Visitor Center and saw a sign to the trail, but didn’t realize it was over a mile to the actual trail head, so our 3 mile hike turned into a 5 miler. Luckily it was a fairly level trail, except for some rocky areas and a bit of scrambling.

We came upon a small stream, and even a waterfall. There are supposed to be lots of bighorn sheep in the area, but we didn’t find them.

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Then we saw the oasis.

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And we finally made it all the way to the end of the trail.

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And got to explore around under the giant palms. It was a beautiful area. Too bad there were about a dozen kids who got there just after we did.

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While exploring Slab City a few days ago, we came across a solar panel dealer. Debbie had been thinking of adding a second panel, so before we left she stopped to see what he had. She got a great deal on a 90 watt panel, and today Jim is going to help her install it, since he was successful at doing ours last month. Let’s hope all goes well. I was wanting to do the Hellhole Canyon hike, so I think they schemed up this solar panel project to get out of another long hike!

2 comments:

  1. It is just amazing to me to see those California palms in the middle of nowhere.

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  2. That's a great hike - I've been on it many times. Glad you got to meet Solar Mike. Isn't he a great guy?

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