Anza Borrego Desert

After several scorching days of hot weather, a slight cool down prompted a trip back down to the Anza Borrego desert. The first half of the day was rough. We drove all the way down into the southern Anza Borrego desert 25 miles from one small store that we seen and about 6 1/2 miles out into the desert on a dirt road. Our battery died at the trailhead to the mudcaves. Luckily a group of four whell drives came along and gave us a jump. We got lucky and made it 40 some miles to Borrego Springs and found a battery for the truck. We decided to go to the Calcite mine area. I was recently here but instead of hiking the dirt roads this time we hiked the washes and slot canyons all the way up to the min and the climbed a small peaklet above the mine area. Really fun hike. The first pic below is of Lake Henshaw on our way out to the desert.

Kaddodyville Canyon

I went on an evening hike for some further exploration of Kaddodyville Canyon. What's cool about this place is that it's about 5 minutes from my house. Some internet research has taught me that these Cliffs were under the ocean millions of years ago and that some of the ancient megaladon and whale bones and teeth that can be found here are potentially many millions of years old. I actually found some sea shells embedded into the walls of the cliffs. This is a really nice area with dark, green, shaded meadows, rolling hills of sage scrub, oak woodlands, grasslands and sandstone formations and small slot canyons.

Daley Ranch - Boulder Loop

I spent the afternoon hiking the boulder loop at Daley Ranch open space preserve. It was an extremely beautiful day with perfect hiking weather after the drizzle and most of the clouds had cleared out. The grasses are green and the flowers are still in peak bloom right now. There were very few people in the areas where I was hiking so I peace and meditation at one of the mountain peaks with great views and giant boulders. I have been taking advantage of the cool weather lately to do some desert and foothill hiking where it gets baking hot in summer. Soon the summer heat will drive me to hike at either above 5000 feet or in some of the canyons with plenty of flowing water and swimming holes to cool off in.