Anza Borrego Oct 24-25

Opting for a quick and easy weekend escape, and getting excited for desert season to get started, we snagged a campsite at Agua Caliente and drove out to the desert mid-Saturday morning. Looking for leisure and not the usual rough and tumble badlands exploration hikes I do in the area, I identified a few moderately interesting sounding hikes in the general vicinity of Agua Caliente. As we crested the saddle out of Earthquake Valley we turned off the road in Blair Valley, the first of several strange broad hanging valleys where sediment fills to a saddle and then spills over, eventually reaching the lowlands of Carrizo Valley. The meadow was a bright green and the flanking road had some surprisingly deep mud pits to bypass. The rest of the road across Blair Valley was fairly deep sand and I appreciated the extra cohesion from the recent rains. We worked our way past and following many many campervans, assuming that everyone in San Diego owned or aspired to own one. It was a beautiful Fall day. 

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.

Petrified Forest NP July 20

 

We rounded out our Mesa Verde and Rio Chama trips with a brief stop at Petrified Forest NP. I had not been through the main park drive since 2008 so I did not mind a visit to break up our drive home. We entered the north entrance a few minutes after they opened then checked out the historic Painted Desert Inn, which had some interesting time period specific displays including the 1950s dining room and soda fountain bar (banana split 30¢, milk shake 20¢, etc.). This is where Heather and I started our day hike into the Painted Desert wilderness on our last visit.

Historic Painted Desert Inn (and below)

Painted Desert wilderness off to the north

After crossing the wash (with water and fresh signs of a flash flood the previous night), we stopped briefly at Puerco Pueblo. Though not much to see compared to Mesa Verde, it was nonetheless interesting to imagine how life must have been different between the two sites and the monumental effort in trading across the 200 miles between them. Along the south escarpment next to the pueblo ruins were several boulders with nicely constructed petroglyphs including a neat mazelike motif (below). Back at the car and a short distance further we detoured for the Newspaper Rock viewpoint. Unfortunately we could get nowhere near it and had to admire the hundreds of glyphs as best we could at a distance.

Newspaper Rock (one of them at least)

Next we turned off to do a short (but warm!) hike from the Blue Mesa trailhead. We started along the the paved loop trail as it followed the rim of the mesa and then dropped down into the colorful badlands. We then turned off these to follow the remnants of the old CCC-built Blue Forest Trail to some views of more striped badlands with petrified logs interspersed. Returning, we finished the Blue Mesa loop trail and I quickly downed the cold gatorade I had waiting in the cooler. The views were delightfully varied for such a short hike.

We made brief stops at Agate Bridge and Jasper Forest overlooks, then on to the very popular Crystal Forest Trail. Though not the largest or necessarily densest, this is undoubtedly the most colorful collection of petrified wood anywhere in the wild. I enjoyed photographing close-up textures, ringed rounds, and logs in various states of disaggregation. The frontispiece log reminiscent of a chopped vegetable being the most classic example of an eroding petrified log that I remembered from my previous visit. We exited the south entrance and then drove on to Flagstaff (hard to pass by Fratelli's without a slice!) and then home for unpacking and in short order packing again for our next trip. Thanks to Heather.

Mineral King June 23-26

Spending a few summer days at a rustic Silver City cabin in Mineral King is one of the more quintessential family traditions from my childhood. At the end of a long and very curvy road is Mineral King Valley. Once nearly a Disney ski resort, the valley instead is outpopulated by marmots and the occasional hiker willing to brave the drive over the nearby highway through the core of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The valley always fascinated me with its interesting metamorphic rocks, minerals, mining relics, caves, karst, and top notch trails. My parents, aunt, sister and her family rented a couple cabins. Heather, Claire, and I opted for the budget option of camping 5 minutes away at Atwell Mill, a fantastic spot among ferns, middle-aged Sequoias, and giant tree stumps of the big ancients that were logged. My most recent trip to Mineral King might have been 2015 so it was nice to have a family meet-up excuse to spend a few relaxing days.

Heather, Claire, and I stopped in Visalia for lunch then drove on past the park entry gate, stopping just beyond the Marble Fork for a couple hour detour to one of my favorite Sequoia swimming holes. Despite the low snow year, it was suitably early season that my favorite swimming hole, the "toilet bowl", was too rambunctious for swimming so we instead carefully clambered down to the calm pool below the gauge and low head dam. The water was cold, not quite frigid with a wetsuit top, refreshing for the heat of the day. We played in the small hydraulics, climbed slippery rocks, and snorkeled to check out all the fish. After we drove further to Hospital Rock to briefly check out the grinding stone platform and pictographs.

Despite recent improvements to the road, the road into Mineral King still took longer than I expected, as is typical. As we drove through chapparal,  oak woodlands, and burn scars, Claire became disillusioned as we promised trees and forest. It was not until we were nearly to the campsite that she finally became convinced, jumping out of the car the second we arrived to climb up the nearest large tree stump. We ended up having nearly the most idyllic campsite (#13), about as far from the road as we could get, overlooking a sloping meadow, tent site intimately surrounded by Sequoias, ample shade, and our own private tree stump to climb. As an unexpected bonus, the mosquitoes were nearly nonexistent. After setting camp we drove up the road to catch up with my family in the cabins. I enjoyed watching my niece and nephew instantly get wet and dirty in the small creek, followed by a nice family dinner on the patio and then a campfire complete with smores.

The plan for the first full day was a family hike 1.5 miles to the waterfall and bridge on the Atwell Hockett Trail starting a couple stone throws away from our campsite in Atwell Mill. This was every bit as slow as expected, finally starting the hike at 11am with the pace largely determined by upset kids with one-foot strides. A standout large Sequoia marked the first-third of the hike and the Deadwood Creek crossing marked the second-third. Eventually we arrived at the bridge. I set up my hammock to provide some entertainment for the youngsters and Claire bravely went for a brief dip in the frigid pool beneath the bridge. We made it back shortly before 4pm, then had a nice family dinner at the restaurant. After, the kids were excited to go fishing so we drove on to the roadend, every bit as picturesque as I remembered it. Somehow I got roped into helping kids fish and so soon was coated in worm guts, fish blood, and even had to wade into the creek to retrieve a stuck fishing line. The kids had a lot of fun though and Claire was eventually satisfied with the three fish she caught, only disappointed they were not large enough to keep and eat. It was late by the time we returned back to Silver City so the campfire activities were brief. 

East Fork Kaweah from the bridge

The picturesque roadend fishing spot

For the second (last) full day in the valley my dad and I got an 8am start on the 3 mile hike into the White Chief Valley, one of my favorites. The creek coming out of the Tufa Falls karst spring was roaring near the start of the trail. A little further on we saw a pair of deer, otherwise we had the entire approach to ourselves and appreciated the shade. Once we turned the corner into the hanging valley of White Chief, past the sentinels of gnarled foxtail pines, we spotted flowers everywhere. There were carpets unlike I had ever seen here of more than 20 varieties - paintbrushes, lupines, columbines, shooting stars, daisies, and many others I was previously unfamiliar with like sulphur buckwheat and mountain pride (bright pink in frontispiece). Past the meadows, I detoured off the trail to follow the Bogaz stream, the little creeklet that cuts through the marble half as a cave but mostly as a filled in slot canyon. The scalloped marble and crystal-clear waters were stunning in the filtered light. We clambered up a nearby scree slope then followed marble bands covered in yellow columbine over to the higher portion of the White Chief Mine area. Here we enjoyed checking out some of the green garnets, colorful metallic minerals, and sugary marble before continuing on to White Chief Cave.

I first led my dad down the nearby Shower Cave, which required downclimbing around a plug of remnant snow. Beyond, we enjoyed the cool shadows of the unique skylight chamber with dripping water.

Next we went in the main entrance of White Chief Cave as a curious marmot watched on. I led my dad into the standard tilted room I usually go into, but on the way out I decided to detour down towards the sound of rushing water. I came to a sizable room, then the creek, then spotted an additional nice walking passage and prompted my dad to follow me in further. We checked out a little more of the upstream portion of the creek then returned back to the entrance, happy to see a marmot had not snacked on my salty sweat-soaked hat. 

We stopped a little longer at some of the lower mine tailings, then began our hike back through the wildflower meadows and then down the side of the main valley. We were the only car in the parking lot not to be diapered up with a tarp to protect from marmots. A marmot popped out of underside of the car but thankfully we did not see any damage.

Back at Silver City we found everyone else on the restaurant deck and I got a slice of fruit of the forest pie with ice cream. After, Claire and Noelle were itching for some more fishing so we drove back down to the road end, this time fishing at the bridge. Claire again caught three fish (and many near-catches) before losing her hook and us calling it good. We at dinner at our campsite then returned to Silver City for a nice final campfire until quite late. We said our goodbyes, with the plan to break camp and head out fairly early instead of more family shenanigans. 

On the drive out we stopped at the historic East Fork Bridge and did a short detour up the slope to walk a short distance along the log flume. The rest of the drive was fairly unpleasant, detouring us through Tehachapi and then backroads behind the San Gabriels, around the Cajon Pass, and back down into our local smog. It was fun to spend time with kids, my aunt, and even get a hike in with my dad. Thanks to Heather for organizing our food and camping gear. Thanks to my dad for the hike and family meals.