Day 12: (04/16) : to 144 :: 12.4 miles

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Today was hot and we admired different patches of shade as we went along, discussing their potential for providing a refreshing rest break. We walked mostly through brush and cactus gardens with little shade. We were fortunate to reach a spring water source for lunch time. Leading up to it, we admired the lush green of cottonwood trees in a valley below us and longed for their shade and were delighted that the side trail to the spring led us right to the shade. It wasn’t quite the oasis we had hoped for, but it was good enough. The water came out of a pipe and into our kitchen sink and was then filtered. We refilled our kitchen sink for a refreshing “sponge” bath. 

We hiked above the civilized valley of the community of Anza. Noticing many large green houses in the area, which we learned are marijuana greenhouses. We could also see scattered houses throughout the area. If we had a place right on the PCT through one of these dry desert areas, we’d start some kind of lucrative hiker business. We spend countless hours walking and looking at houses and thinking about this.

In the late afternoon as we were meandering along, a super hiker caught up to us, an older guy decked out in the full through hiker swag, hyper lite mountain gear back pack, shorts, altra tennis shoes, dirty girl gaiters....He wanted to know what every hiker you encounter wants to know where we’d come from and where we were going, so they could compare themselves to you. He was going to the same campsite as us, and he was hiking fast 20+ miles a day! Our campsite was in a boulder field overlooking the Anza Valley, which was strikingly similar you the valley by Warner Springs and Lake Henshaw. It was a great view for sunset and our campsite had a built in lounge chair. We were able to set up our tent far enough way from the other hiker that it was like he wasn’t even there.


Funny dried yucca flower stalks.

The “oasis” of shade in the valley bottom that we longed for!

Tule Spring water comes out of this pipe that is connected to a big concrete cistern 

Our kitchen sink!

The “oasis” at Tule Spring 

Cholla cactus 

A funny looking yucca flower stalk

Flowering lemonade berry 

A cistern in the desert, glad we didn’t need water from it!

Flowering beaver tail cactus 

A fine desert view down the Coyote Canyon toward the Salton Sea and Anza Borrego Desert.

Natural lounge chair in our campsite 

Comments

  1. JGJune 4, 2020 at 12:17 PM

    Does Coyote Canyon go down to Borrego Springs, or are you well past that?

    ReplyDelete

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