Isn't This the Life?!: California Deserts

We got home to Regina Apr. 7th and have spent the time since then seeing friends, doing our taxes, fixing our computer, doing laundry and seeing to our bathroom renovation before we go to southern France on Apr. 23rd. We finally got all the photos from our US trip loaded on the computer and we will give you a tour through the second half of our time in the south west USA.

We crossed into California at Yuma, making our way toward Thousand Palms. We turned north shortly after entering California and having all of our citrus fruit confiscated by the Agriculture Department at their enormous check-point just inside the California Arizona border. The area we drove through was pure desert, very little vegetation save creosote and mesquite trees, some ocotillo and a few cacti.

We could see the Imperial sand dunes off in the distance, and eventually we drove right through them. The dunes on the north side of the highway are protected, but the dunes south of the highway are open for OHV access (Off-highway vehicle). There are hundreds of RV's camped in the desert near access points to the dunes. Some of them are in established camping clearings (not what we would call a campground) and some are just parked in a solid clear spot in the desert. The Bureau of Land Management allows camping on their lands in the desert as long as you are a specified distance form a water source and from a road.

Sand hills in south eastern California

Evanna and dogs climbing the dune

We stopped in at a bird sanctuary on the east side of the Salton Sea, a huge inland lake that is also used for recreation. It was quite hot that day so our hike was short, but we did see a roadrunner. Very exciting!

Roadrunner

Gambel's Quail

In Thousand Palms we visited Kathy's Uncle Jim, and went with him to the Living Desert Park, a combination zoo and botanical gardens.

Jim and Kathy by the palms

Anza Borrego Desert State Park is about an hour and a half drive south west of Thousand Palms. We spent a couple of days there doing driving tours as they have the ridiculous rule that no dogs are allowed on hiking trails. There was one trail from the campground to the Visitor Centre that allowed dogs, so we walked it daily.

It was a nature trail and had information about the flora and fauna of the desert. The Ocotillo were starting to bloom and a few cacti had flowers just beginning to open.

Ocotillo

Ocotillo flowers

You were allowed to walk your dogs on the roads, so we walked up a road to see if we could see the view at the end. The Yuccas were also beginning to blossom.

Yucca blossom

Our camp site at Anza-Borrego. Note that we are eating grapefruit purchased from the local orchard for $3 a big bag. Also note the native California fan Palms

The desert around the adjacent town of Borrego Springs contains numerous large welded metal sculptures. Dennis Avery, the owner of Galleta Meadows Estates in Borrego Springs, commissioned these sculptures by artist /welder Ricardo Breceda. Many of them are of prehistoric creatures that have been excavated from the Plio-Pleistocene sediments of the park area. Some of them depict the human history of the area, and some are just for fun!

An hour or less north of Thousand Palms is Joshua Tree National Park, where we spent a couple of days (another place with no dogs rules on the trails). We did some driving tours, we each did a solo hike while the other person stayed with the dogs, and we waked on some roads with the dogs, so we had a good visit there. It is a beautiful place, with the Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) and the huge granite boulders and outcrops.

Joshua Tree

Driving through the Joshua Tree Forest

Blossom on the Joshua Tree

In the park there were two desert environments, the lower elevation zone had wild flowers and cacti, such as the Opuntia and Cholla. The higher elevation had the Joshua Trees and the Mojave Yucca.