We started at the Marshal South Home Trailhead where I almost immediately spotted a tarantula cruising along. We worked our way up the trail climbing nearly 500ft over 0.6 miles. It was a beautiful Fall day with crisp blue skies, puffy clouds, and shadows shifting across the landscape. The desert plants, particularly the ocotillos, were looking healthy and happy after the recent rains and undoubtedly months of hardship. The trail ended at Yaquitepec, site of a bizarre experiment where an author and his family tried to live off the land on one of the most inhospitable, dry, wind-swept, sun-baked ridges I could imagine. There was little left to show other than a couple concrete water cisterns, a rusty bedframe, and fragments of adobe wall seemingly poorly made with the local grus. It was odd but the real star of the hike was the ever-changing light, choice desert vegetation along the way, and the view from Ghost Mountain over its mysterious landslides into Vallecito Valley to the south and Blair Valley to the north.
Back at the car we drove further east for a second short hike, this one about 1.3 miles over a saddle into another hanging valley, past a prominent pictograph rock, and to the dramatic dryfall of Smuggler Canyon draining into Carrizo Valley. Once again the clouds and shadows delighted. The pictographs were in interesting textile-like patterns in a red ochre and a more subtle yellow. Dstretch enhanced images did a good job revealing that there was much more than initially met the eye, including many glyphs nearly completely washed away by time. We turned around at the dryfall and worked our way back to the car and then the pavement to drive on to our campsite.
It was about 5pm when we got situated into our narrow campsite; thankfully our neighbors were minimally obnoxious. Funnily enough I realized that South Coast Geological Society was having their annual field trip here at the same time; I recognized some familiar faces but was not feeling altogether that social. We ate dinner, drank mini-canned margaritas, and sat out on the pool deck waiting for the indoor hot pool to reopen at 6pm. As we sat we got a nice silhouetted view of kids running up and down a ridge in the middle of the campground with sunset colors and a glowing moon beyond. We enjoyed an ample amount of soaking in the hot pool remarkably chill for a Saturday night, and left to get cozy at our campsite once a slightly louder crowd began appearing.
We had a leisurely morning and went for a brief soak before leaving the campground. We drove south just past the Arroyo Tapiado turnoff and took the short spur road west to the Mountain Palm Springs Trailhead. Here we did a neat 3 mile loop past several named palm groves - Pygmy Grove, Southwest Grove, Surprise Canyon Grove, Palm Bowl Grove, North Grove. Dry rocky washes were interspersed with stands of trees, wet sand and buzzing bees occasionally hinting at water just beneath the surface. It was calm. We had the whole hike to ourselves. The densest grove, Southwest Grove, was the only one where we actually saw a standing pool of water. Today was considerably warmer than the previous day so the shade of the palms was actually appreciated. From here we took the cross-country poled route over to the next wash to the north.
We walked through Surprise Canyon Grove and dodged thorny shrubs to gain the Palm Bowl Grove which stood the most separate from the rest. After a brief snack in the shade we hiked down the wash past North Grove and back to the car. It was a surprisingly pleasant hike overall with a nice variety of sights for such a short hike.
After our hike we stopped at Casa de Pico in Grossmont for my favorite mango avocado red pepper quesadillas, and then the road back home. Thanks to Heather for a nice mellow getaway with some new sights.
