For my sister Jessi's birthday in February, I bought tickets for us to take a guided wildflower tour in the Anza-Borrego desert. She was planning a trip out here during her spring break (which is this week), which happened to fall during the time of year when the desert flora is at its peak. So we spent our Easter Sunday in a non-traditional way - hiking through various parts of the desert while learning about native plants and taking lots of cool pictures.
The entrance to the Anza-Borrego state park is in Borrego Springs, California, which is exactly a two-hour drive from my house. We left early in the morning and had a very scenic (and very winding!) drive through some of the wine country and valleys in Escondido, then through the mountains, and then a sudden descent into the desert.
There were 16 of us in the group, and we traveled in a large "jeep" that was sort of like a bus with a soft top. We trekked through the desert for six hours, including lunch in a beautiful part of the desert called Hawk Canyon, and I didn't get sunburned! (Lots and lots of sunscreen, not to mention I wore long sleeves and pants during the morning when it was still somewhat cool and windy).
The trip was more than worth the price of the ticket - I highly recommend!
Jessi standing underneath an ocatillo - doesn't it look like it's about to swallow her?
Our jeep
Some of the sandstone cliffs in Hawk Canyon
A closer look at the ocatillo branches
An agave cactus - some varieties of agave are used to make tequila
The "leaves" on this cactus were extremely hard, like thick plastic.
Native Americans used to break off the tips and use them as needles for sewing.
1 comment:
How cool!
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