Day Ten - UMMM MUD?

After checking in late at the campground last night, we awoke this morning with a lack of knowledge about our surroundings. It was dark when we rolled in so we couldn’t really take note of where things were in the campground. After wandering around to find the bath house and showers we discovered that they had a punch-code lock on the door. So we went towards the office to see if it was written anywhere for night registration, and found an envelope with our name on it, well close, “Larry McWhirt”. Of course the bathroom code wasn’t in there so we wandered around a bit more and eventually I found another box with some night check-in details and on these were the code to the bathroom. Problem solved, sort of…

Upon returning proudly to the bathrooms with our codes we found obstacle number two, a coin operated shower. We again headed back, this time to scrounge around the truck for quarters. Finally some time later we got our showers and were ready to hit the road.

We met up with Jack, Jarret , and Uwe & Srisuda from 4wdtrips.net at Anza Borrego Desert State park to do some exploring in the desert. The temperature quickly surpassed 100*F but it was not at all unbearable, just had to be sure to consume plenty of water. It really is true what they say about a “dry” heat out west. We started off by heading up Coyote Canyon. While not particularly scenic it did quickly orient us to our desert surrounding and made for a fun drive. We also saw the only standing water of the day when we made a couple of creek crossings and one interesting narrow passage through a spring.




Afterwards we headed towards Font’s point. Font’s point is an overlook for the badlands of Anza-Borrego. The scenery here is much like some that we saw in the painted desert though not quite as colorful. We’re told that it’s absolutely amazing at sunset. It was also at Font’s point that we met a nice French girl named Madeline who was traveling solo around the west coast and came to spend the day in Anza Borrego as well. Since she was also planning to visit the next site we were going to and happened to be driving a rental Jeep Grand Cherokee, we invited her to follow along. She seemed to really enjoy tagging along with us, and it certainly gave her the change to take a lot of pictures. She even took a picture of my liscense plate - MMMM MUD. For some reason that has been a good point of conversation and entertaining to lots of people we've met.

Along the way we made a detour to see the area known as “17 Palms”. Its name derives from the number of palm trees that once marked this site, near a spring, where travelers and stage coaches would stop for water and relay messages. Today there’s a box still there where visitors can leave messages and sign the guestbook.



Continuing on we arrived at one of our primary destinations of the day, the “Pumpkin Patch”. Looking at the photos it’s easy to see where this name came from. The area was littered with several spherical shaped rocks that have been eroded away by the winds. The area used to be much fuller, but like many interesting geological sites in the west, many have been carried away.

It was here that Uwe and our new friend had to turn back, and Jack and I set off for the highway near Ocotillo Wells and the road to our campsite for the night. After navigating many different washes we arrived at the highway right on schedule and proceeded further south. Fish Creek, now a dried up wash, provided an access to Sandstone Canyon. Sandstone Canyon, one of the sites that I desired most to see, was more than I could’ve imagined. The narrow passages eroded away through the soft sand stone made for a spectacular setting. Eventually we came to a blocked portion of the trail. There was a detour but the sun would be setting soon so we headed back out to setup camp.


After finding a nice clear flat area away from the foot of the cliffs we made camp. The Four Wheel Camper’s advantages here were easily visible as we quickly popped the top and were soon fixing dinner, while Jack was still setting up his tent-cot. We enjoyed some Chili and Peas and sat around and talked for a while underneath the clear night sky as we watched the stars steadily become more visible. It’s so peaceful out here with a near-full moon illuminating the desert terrain.





Uwe and Srisuda also uploaded some photos from the first part of the trip here: http://www.whitethaiger.net/albums/ab052707/