Borrego Springs, California--Week Two

To begin our second week at Borrego Springs Bob and I walked toward Clark Dry Lake Bed near our camp site. 

 

Then it was back to the RV and into the car to go geocaching along County Road S22. After we found a few caches, we decided to drive to Font's Point. The road was quite sandy and rough in places. Actually, it wasn't a road, but a wash. At one point, we almost turned back, but we were only about a half mile from the viewpoint.

It was well worth the drive. I thought we were looking at the Badlands of South Dakota, but these are the Badlands of Borrego. The mounds of silt and rock were deposited by the Colorado River many years ago.

 It was quite a sight!

  We even found a rock to set the camera on so we could get a picture of both of us.

  

The next day we went hiking with Butch to another slot canyon. The hike started at Palm Wash. We followed the wash until we came to the slot canyon area. 

 

 This bird didn't seem to want us to hike in the area. He kept fluttering near us and then would land on a rock and just look at us. There must have been a nest nearby.

This was the beginning of the slot area. Unfortunately, when we got to the narrow part of the slot there was quite a climb up a narrow area to get through the slot. I didn't think I could make it and neither did Butch or Bob so we turned around and went exploring other slots in the area.

There were some very interesting slots and rock formations.

We enjoyed exploring the different washes with slots, but none were ones we could access.

Christmas Eve the weather in Borrego Springs was cloudy and windy so Bob and I decided to go across the mountains again to geocache. Bob found a forest service road with many, many caches along it. As we drove up the mountain we saw a complete rainbow.

 Well, once we found the road we discovered it had been closed for the season. We did  find a road a deputy sheriff told us about our first day geocaching (he stopped to talk to us because we had Florida tags and he wants to retire in Florida). The road goes down in a valley and in the middle of no where is a Buddhist Shrine.

There were quite a few statues and pagodas on the property.

After checking out the shrine, we kept driving and ended up in Temecula. It looked like a nice place to visit---any time but Christmas Eve. The traffic was horrendous. We finally got on the interstate heading south and got off on State Road 79 so we could make our way back toward Borrego Springs. Once again we came down Montezuma Valley Road. This time we stopped at the top to take a picture of Borrego Springs. It was dusty as the wind was still blowing pretty hard.

Christmas Day we talked to all our family and wished everyone Merry Christmas. Then Bob and I decided to invite Butch to go hiking again. This time to the other slot canyon near the trail to Calcite Mine. This slot canyon was accessible--barely! The rock formations were awesome as we made out way through the slot.

There was even one that looked like a small arch, but it was just a rock that had fallen over the trail.

We made our way into the slot and the going was pretty easy.

 It was easy until we came to a pile of rocks we had to climb over to continue on the trail.

 Then came the hard part. There was a climb with not much of a hand hold. Butch went up first, then Bob helped me up from below as Butch pulled me up. Whew--there are no pictures of that 'graceful' move! I landed on my stomach like a beached whale, but I made it up.

The hike was pretty much uneventful, but full of great sights until we came to another one of those big climbs. This one was easier than the first thank heavens. We continued on marveling at the way these small rocks looked like they were set in cement in the sides of the canyon walls.

 Getting down the rocks was much easier than climbing up them. Once again we had a great hike.

 That night we were treated to a fantastic sunset.

Wednesday Bob and I decided to drive back to Coachella, geocaching part of the way. We were going to collect our free buffet at the Spotlight 29 Casino.  It turns out that Wednesday was Mexican buffet. We ate more than we should have, but not as much as we used to eat at buffets. While we were in town, we stopped at a local grocery store to get a few items to hold us until we return to Yuma and make a commissary or Wal-Mart shopping trip.

Thursday we didn't do much as we found out that our son-in-law's mother lost her battle with cancer. She fought valiantly for over a year. I know she will be missed by all who knew her. 

Friday will be moving day. Our time at Borrego Springs is up, but it is on our list of places to return as there are twice as many more hikes waiting for us than what we have already done.