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dirt dame

Looking for the desert flowers 03/25/17

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I had heard that the bloom was exceptional this year for desert flowers, so I decided to have a peeky-see for myself.  Wanting to avoid the usual crowds that spill all over the easy pickings of lower Coyote Canyon out of Borrego Springs, I chose instead to head in from the north at Anza.  I pulled Bailey the KLX for this small journey, as we would be gracing Bailey's Cabin with our presence.  It's just a Bailey thing, I guess.

Anyway....I left the house about mid morning, wondering what the weather was going to do.  I didn't think that there would be much of a chance of rain that far east, but Anza can be cold and windy, even when the front doesn't move through the local area.  Sure enough, it was cold and windy when I pulled into the staging area (right next to Dairy Queen, of course), and prepared to head out.  A few clouds skittered across the sky, but it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day to drop into the desert.

Heading in!

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The route going down the mountain side was fairly decent, as it has been for many years, or at least since they closed the trail to through travel.  Before that, I remember the trail being about as rough as chopped up micro wave ovens as it descended to the desert floor.  I was hoping for some flowing water in the creek, but there was none to be found.  The sand was very soft for the first mile too, so for me, a short person on a heavy and underpowered bike, the struggle was real.  I was also nursing a somewhat wounded right forearm, that got a Manzanita branch stabbed into it a couple of weeks ago.  This was my first dirt ride since that happened.  Spent the first week after, closed up with steri strips, and the second week, just keeping it clean and covered.  It's still rather tender though.  Working the squirmy bike through the soft stuff really gave my arm (well, both of them) a work out.  After a while, the trail became more packed and easy to ride.

At Bailey's cabin.

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Custom built cardboard and barbed wire fly swatter.

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After a while, I heard a vehicle approaching and a big ol' jeep pulled up, outfitted to the max for some serious camping.  A nice couple hopped out, Andrea and Brian, and asked if I was camping there.  I told them that I wasn't and in fact was getting ready to depart for Alder canyon very soon.  Andrea remarked that it was fun to meet strangers out in the desert and I remarked that strangers are just friends that you haven't met yet.  Then we sat down and had a nice long chat while her husband set up camp.  After a while, Andrea volunteered to take a few pictures of me, and invited me to swing back by for dinner on my way out of the canyon.  I thanked her, but knew I would not make the stop on my way out.  I like to have a large daylight margin during my dirt travels, even more so when journeying solo. We'll soon be FB buddies though!

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So down the trail I went, and into Alder Canyon, where I poked around and enjoyed the solitude for a while.

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Sad to see that all the gourds had gone AWOL from the Owls Hollow tree since last season.

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There was running water in Alder Creek.

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I never did come across very many flowers out there, but it was still a spectacular (and fairly warm) day.

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Heading back up to Anza, the clouds began to roll in and the weather turned a wee tad bitter.

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Rolled back up to the Jeep at just after three, loaded up and hit the DQ before hitting the highway.  The sky opened up a bit with scattered showers on the way home, but nothing major.  Topped off my afternoon with an Italian sammich from Rock N Jenny's, then home for a nice ginger ale and bourbon on ice.  Perfect ending to my day.

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beautiful, haven't been up there in over 10 years, most of the flowers down here in Borrego are dead or near death, most good blooms are near the top of Montezuma grade right now.  Next time you want to ride down here let me know.

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