8 1/2 MILES OF THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL

Last week Thursday, we joined a group of our friends here in Borrego Springs on an 8 1/2 mile hike along a section of the Pacific Coast Trail.  This is the second section of the trail Marlene and I have done.  The first being a very short section between Timothy Lake and Little Crater Lake near Mt. Hood in Oregon.

We started at Barrel Springs and walked to Warner Springs.  There were 8 of us and we used 3 vehicles.  We dropped the group at Barrel Springs and ferried two of the vehicles to the end of the hike so we would have transportation when we finished the hike.

This is an easy hike from the standpoint of elevation gain and loss, but it is strenuous in that you have to keep going for 8.5 miles.  We took one short break to have lunch, but the whole process took a little less than 4 hours.

          

The trail cut across the foot hills of the San Ysidro Mountains starting in Montezuma Valley.

     

We came to and stopped to admire “EAGLES NEST”.

    

And finished following a stream bed through a magnificent grove  of Live Oak trees.  Here we saw Red Tail Hawks, Blue birds and Stellar Jays.

     

We also came across Winnie the Po’s, Bee Tree.

 

We ended at the road leading to the Warner Spring’s Post Office.

TWO JEEPS AND MISC DESERT SCENES

Our neighbor, Bill, is here in Borrego Springs in his Air Stream trailer and the other day we took a ride to show him some of the metal sculptures.  Here’s a few of the views.
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The “Serpent” is amazing.  It actually crosses the road.  It is one of the whimsical sculptures, not based on actual creatures that were here in the valley.

   
Here are some others that are interesting.  The detail of these is incredible.
 
Here’s one that blew over in a recent strong wind.  Notice how the inner structure is built from scrap steel.
  
The scorpion attacking the grasshopper is very realistic.  Marlene lends a perspective of the size of these.
 
The weather is changeable here.  The other day a storm came through, left some snow in the higher elevations and a rainbow here in Borrego Springs.
 
And as usual, we took another hike.  This one to White Rock Canyon.  There is no trail.  You start out picking a route across the desert and then you enter a small canyon, the one in the middle of the picture.  And pick your way up the bottom till you come to an old dry waterfall.

  
I learned a lesson on this trip.  Never hike a rugged undeveloped trail while wearing shorts.

The other night we gathered at the Holliday Homes RV park to participate in a sing along with Nancy.  She is a professional, retired, singer, from Baker City, Oregon, who travels with her husband Mike.  She has a beautiful voice and leads us through many of the old favorites.
  This morning at the feeder, we had two Morning Doves, a couple of ground squirrels, and several Finches.   Never a dull moment. 
Coming soon, an eight and a half mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail.

A Busy Day

We woke this morning to the birds feeding on our thistle sack.

In addition to the gold finches we have purple finches, ground squirrels, jack rabbits, and coyotes come to visit.  After doing our strength and stretching exercise, we decided to take a hike up to the Panoramic Overlook.    In the trail guide book we use, this was classified as “1 mile and strenuous”.  It turned out to be a continuous uphill climb, but the trail was smooth and not much scrambling. 

  We were climbing to the top of the hill you see in the foreground.  The trail had several switchbacks, but we were rewarded at the top with views of the entire valley. 

  

The State Park campground and visitors center were below us.

   

I tried to build a balancing cairn while on top, but failed.

Back at camp, after lunch, we spent an hour making a wheel cover out of a $4 plastic tarp we bought at Quartzsite the last time we were there.  I made a design, transferred it to the fabric, cut it out, and Marlene sewed it together.

  

It worked as designed.  Now, the tires will be protected from UV sun rays which is a problem when you park long term in the same orientation on the desert.