We took a quick overnight trip out to Anza Borrego to hike the tracks a bit and explore the Indian Hill area. I had not been out to the southern Anza Borrego desert since they started construction of the Ocotillo Express wind farm and was saddened to see the damage. Where once stood large forests of Ocotillo, now resembled something out of an apocalyptic nightmare. The monstrous wind towers dwarfed anything around them and along with the huge SDG&E switchyard and imposing Sunrise Powerlink transmission towers have forever industrialized the tranquil desert around Ocotillo. Ironic isn’t it, that something marketed as "Green" has d... [More]

Jon Grasson has done an excellent job of putting together an awesome resource for Desert lovers everywhere. Dezert Magazine, an online periodical, is reminiscent of the printed Desert Magazine that ceased publication in 1985 after 40 + years of circulation . I was honored when John asked to include one of our blog entries in the first issue. Check it out if you have a chance.   Best, Bob

Not that I am terribly surprised, but I was hopeful that Forest Supervisor Metz would show some backbone and stand up to SDG&E / Sempra. Unfortunately this was not the case and Supervisor Metz caved to political and corporate pressure and agreed to let SDG&E route the Sunrise Powerlink through the Cleveland National Forest. This is a sad day for San Diego and anyone who likes to get out and enjoy nature with out the tell-tale signs of man. The character of the Cleveland National Forest will be forever changed due to corporate greed, deceitful tactics and the unwillingness of the US Forest Service to put their foot down and say "No"... [More]

April 04, 2010 The girls over at DzrtGrls.com forwarded me some great pictures from  the recent 7.2 earthquake. The quake itself occured just over the border in Mexicali on April 4, 2010 and apparently shook things up pretty well in Anza Borrego. These pictures are from the Fishcreek / Sandstone Canyon area and are from a post on the Ford Truck Enthusiast forum. We missed this by one day on our recent trip to the Arroyo Tapiado Mud Caves. What you should take away from these pictures is that camping in a narrow canyon is a very bad idea. There are more pictures and a trail report over at the Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

04/04/2010 Tucked away in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park is a place that seems to have more similarities with moon, or at least what I would imagine the moon to look like. Arroyo Tapiado or "Mud Wall Wash" is an area of southern Anza Borrego that has some of the most extensive mud caves in the world. A few of the dark, twisting passages can be hundreds of feet long ending in rooms with two story ceilings, while other areas require you to suck in your gut and crawl on all fours. Archaeological excavations have uncovered fossils of mammoths, sabre-tooth tigers and other animals dating back millions of years which adds to the otherworld... [More]

What I love about living in San Diego is that within two hours you can leave the coast, drive over the mountains and then drop down into the desert. Incredible diversity in my opinion.  With that in mind, I decided to take the day off work and check on the wildflowers out in the Anza Borrego desert. My preferred area of Borrego is the southern section where you can get away from the crowds, hike up a trail and be completely immersed in the solitude of the Desert.   Driving up the S2 I knew I was in for a great show. The road was lined with Desert Dandelions, Lupine amd Brittle Bush. The only downside was watching a Bord... [More]

I took another scouting trip to the south end of the Anza Borrego Desert to see how the wildflowers and cactus blooms were progressing. It looks like we have another couple weeks for a peak bloom in the southern areas. There are many cacti with buds that are ready to explode. This beautiful Barrel Cactus near Indian Hill was getting a jump start on its neighbors. We also noticed a few small Fishook Cacti with tiny rings of flowers. Penstemon pseudospectabilis(?) nestled between the rocks. Unfortunately on our search for wildflowers near Arroyo Seco del Diablo and Arroyo Tapiado we noticed a large amount of Sahara Mustard in areas t... [More]

Mary and I left early Sunday for a day trip out to Anza Borrego. Our destination was Piedras Grandes in the southern end of the park. While Saturday's heavy rains had  dissuaded us from doing an overnight trip, Sunday had dawned with blue skies and warm temperatures. Perfect weather for an Anza Borrego trip. After a quick stop at the Subway in Jacumba we dropped down into the desert around 9:30 AM. We drove up the S2 scanning the vast desert for any sign of desert wildflowers. A few budding Ocotillo and some yellow Brittle Bush flowers but not much else blooming. As we bounced up the Mortero Wash trail, we caught up to a 4Runn... [More]

In the small desert town of Ocotillo, CA the winds may be changing. Pattern Energy, a San Francisco based energy company is proposing to turn 15,000 acres of public lands bordering the Anza Borrego Desert State Park into a 561 megawatt wind farm with 240 wind turbines. Unfortunately for the small town of Ocotillo and the Imperial Valley, little would be gained as the power would be funneled to San Diego over the infamous Sunrise Powerlink. John Calaway, Pattern Energy director of wind development states that the area would benefit from 400 construction jobs during the two year construction period of the Ocotillo Express Wind Farm. Let me ... [More]

   Our trip began with a late afternoon stop at the Lazy Lizard in Ocotillo. Mary and I had planned to head straight out to the campsite but Linda would have none of it. "We are stopping at the Lazy Lizard, aren't we ?",  she inquired as we started to drive up the S2. Hard to argue with that so, three beers, two t-shirts and a few dollars lighter the three of us were heading up the sandy washboard road of Mortero Wash. After our last  failed attempt to find the railroad construction camp, I was determined to try again. This time I was lucky since recently I had been sent a scan of a topographic map with an "x" m... [More]