Tuesday morning and our last day in the park. Miraculously, no chairs took flight and flew across the desert during the gale force gusts. Somehow they were neatly folded up in the sand right below where they previously stood.
The small wall behind our camp was covered in all kinds of wildflowers.
Apricot mallows...
This area also had more spiny dangers than any other place we'd visited thus far. Just look at all of those jumping chollas! 
Other cactus plants were plentiful as well.
King of the hill! 
I was too afraid to go up there. It was literally a maze of hazards, so I just walked around the wall to find beautiful ocotillos....
Dozens of buds soon to open....
Hedgehog cactus near and far...
After breakfast, we packed up and decided to check out a short Narrows Earth loop followed by a longer hike up to the Maidenhair Falls before starting the long drive back home. I was so relieved to have survived another camping trip. One of my best friends joked that I had better remember what to do this time because I could no longer fall back on being a newbie. I still couldn't remember what to do, but luckily I didn't get in trouble for it.
Before we left the Mine Wash area, we stopped at a Kumeyaay Village. 
A couple RVs had camped there the night before, letting off fireworks which we could see and hear from our camp up the road. Probably not the smartest thing to do in the desert. Luckily all this took place before the winds kicked up. They were fast asleep while we explored the village area.
In addition to the wildflowers, there were lots of morteros to find and caves to explore, but we didn't actually go in.
This little area was a great place to photograph the different varieties of cactus because the path was well worn and relatively wide. The worst thing you can do is back into one cactus while trying to photograph another.
Check out this round monster:
Lots of cactus in bloom:
Our next stop was just a little east of the Mine Wash area for a short geological walk named Narrows Earth. Here you can see a fault....
...and here are some of the oldest rocks in the area...
Wildflowers were abound here as well.
Our next stop took us back up north in the park to the visitor center for a quick stop to pack our lunches and then on to the trailhead for Hellhole Canyon. With a name like that, you wouldn't expect anything inviting, but the reward of the 20 foot Maidenhair Waterfall brings lots of visitors to this area.
The first part of the hike climbs gently up a gradual incline passing blooming barrels, beaver tails, and hedgehogs, along with various other wildflowers like apricot mallows, brittle bush, chia, fiddlenecks, chickory, and several others. The final stretch of the hike to the waterfall includes several creek crossings and bolder hopping to get around various sections. After passing a few smaller waterfalls, Maidenhair Falls comes into view and can be recognized by it's size and adjacent wall of maidenhair fern. I would guess that the falls are more like 15 feet tall, but all guide books suggest 20 feet.
The extra water up here supports a few palm oasis and trees that seem giant after spending so much time with low growing cacti. Not too far from the start of the trail, we came across three piles of rocks without any markers. I took a few photos on our way out.
A mystery I'd like to find information about:
I took very few photos on the way up to the falls because the trail was hot and exposed for most of the way, but for wildflower viewing, this was a great hike. I love the apricot mallows and we came across several big bushes in full bloom. Luckily it was a bit windy providing some relief from the heat, while at the same time requiring more effort to make it up the canyon. Coming down was a breeze, no pun intended.
After one last stop at the visitor center to throw out some trash and rinse off under an available spigot, it was time to head home. It seemed like the longest drive ever, but we did pass some Happy Holsteins hanging out in fields of yellow flowers.
After a stop at REI and BJ's for dinner in Arcadia, we finally made it home late Tuesday night. Hooray for a hot shower! Between the two of us, I'm sure there were over 1,000 photographs taken. I took nearly 500 myself. If you're thinking about checking out the desert wildflowers, now is definitely the time to go!
Sunday night in Anza-Borrego was incredibly quiet and still, and when the sun came up on Monday we got an early start to beat the heat. We had our very own ocotillo plant right on the edge of our camp, along with desert lilies, blooming beaver tails, creosote bush, along with several others. Everything around was remarkably green.
Because the road was just a little too crazy, we didn't drive all the way up to the calcite mine area the night before, but we were close and Sean mapped out a 5 mile loop for us to hike which included a trek through a cool slot canyon. Here's the first view of the canyon from the road above, and there are actually two canyons to explore:
Once we dropped down into the slot canyon, we found some desert lupine along with a few other flowers (names I forget!).
It was so much cooler down there. The perfect place for a desert hike!
Apparently there is a really skinny area that was once known as "Fat man's misery" but since the canyon is always evolving, it's hard to pinpoint exactly where this super skinny place might be. Sean and I passed through the whole canyon without any trouble. Of course, neither of us are fat men. In any case, we did see quite a few flowers in the canyon that we couldn't find anywhere else. 
Once out of the canyon, we hiked up the road to the old calcite mines. Along the way we found these two giant boulders that looked like desert watchers. They were home to lots of little birds.
We also saw lots of lizards, but this guy was particularly energetic. We caught him doing push ups. I should have tried to get a video:
The second slot canyon was a lot wider with a few open areas where you could find enormous boulders that had fallen from the cliff walls.
Here's a perfect example of why a DEM is only 2.5D:
The road we drove on is probably right along this area. Luckily we didn't have to scale up that wall to get back to the car. A few feet ahead we found a jeep road to get us back up out of the canyon. After such a long way without any sign of civilization, it was weird to come around a bend and see something metal.
During our entire time in the Calcite Mine area, we only saw a few other people.
We hopped in the truck and headed west to visit Fonts Point. It was quite a view, but lots of giant flying ants chased us away. We saw so many desert lilies in the Calcite Mine area and also around Fonts Point, but none of my desert lily pictures are in focus for these two locations.
After Fonts Point, we headed north up through the small town of Borrego Springs on our way to a little place called Desert Gardens, but not before stopping for some grapefruit and tangerines. Yum. We should have bought a whole bag.
We stopped at the Desert Gardens which consisted of two picnic tables and ate our lunch under the shade of an ocotillo. This was the first place we saw indigo, and I think the first blue flower all together.
Blooming beaver tails were easy to find here too.
There were loads of people out towards Desert Gardens. Part of the area is accessible by a paved rode, and the rest is bumpy and dirt yet we saw so many cars trying to make their way up the road. We made it through two river crossings, but the third was completely flooded out. You can see the road going off into this brush area with the 3rd crossing sign off to the right.
We drove back out and headed towards the Anza-Borrego visitor center. Along the way we saw elephants in the field. 
Turns out the elephants were just the beginning of iron grandeur. We can all thank Dennis Avery for the curiosities all located on his Galleta Valley Estate.
The Anza-Borrego visitor center was closed by the time we arrived, but the parking lot was still mostly full. Lots of people were walking around the property taking pictures.
The name plates next the the plants were very helpful and they had really cool profile maps out to help visitors identify the peaks.
From the visitor center, we headed south to the Mine Wash turnout to find a place to camp for the night. Here we saw a few jack rabbits fly across the road in front of us, and loads of wildflowers everywhere. It was too dark to get many photos when we finally got settled, but I knew the next morning would be perfect.
It was definitely colder and the wind really began to tear through the canyon during the wee hours. I thought for sure I'd find my chair half a mile away tangled up in an impossible tussle with a jumping cholla. Between the super bright moon and the howling winds, I hardly slept. 
This area also had more spiny dangers than any other place we'd visited thus far. Just look at all of those jumping chollas! 
Other cactus plants were plentiful as well.
King of the hill! 
I was too afraid to go up there. It was literally a maze of hazards, so I just walked around the wall to find beautiful ocotillos....
Dozens of buds soon to open....
Hedgehog cactus near and far...
After breakfast, we packed up and decided to check out a short Narrows Earth loop followed by a longer hike up to the Maidenhair Falls before starting the long drive back home. I was so relieved to have survived another camping trip. One of my best friends joked that I had better remember what to do this time because I could no longer fall back on being a newbie. I still couldn't remember what to do, but luckily I didn't get in trouble for it.
A couple RVs had camped there the night before, letting off fireworks which we could see and hear from our camp up the road. Probably not the smartest thing to do in the desert. Luckily all this took place before the winds kicked up. They were fast asleep while we explored the village area.
This little area was a great place to photograph the different varieties of cactus because the path was well worn and relatively wide. The worst thing you can do is back into one cactus while trying to photograph another.
Check out this round monster:
Lots of cactus in bloom:
Our next stop was just a little east of the Mine Wash area for a short geological walk named Narrows Earth. Here you can see a fault....
...and here are some of the oldest rocks in the area...
Wildflowers were abound here as well.
Our next stop took us back up north in the park to the visitor center for a quick stop to pack our lunches and then on to the trailhead for Hellhole Canyon. With a name like that, you wouldn't expect anything inviting, but the reward of the 20 foot Maidenhair Waterfall brings lots of visitors to this area.
The extra water up here supports a few palm oasis and trees that seem giant after spending so much time with low growing cacti. Not too far from the start of the trail, we came across three piles of rocks without any markers. I took a few photos on our way out.
I took very few photos on the way up to the falls because the trail was hot and exposed for most of the way, but for wildflower viewing, this was a great hike. I love the apricot mallows and we came across several big bushes in full bloom. Luckily it was a bit windy providing some relief from the heat, while at the same time requiring more effort to make it up the canyon. Coming down was a breeze, no pun intended.
After a stop at REI and BJ's for dinner in Arcadia, we finally made it home late Tuesday night. Hooray for a hot shower! Between the two of us, I'm sure there were over 1,000 photographs taken. I took nearly 500 myself. If you're thinking about checking out the desert wildflowers, now is definitely the time to go!
