Anza Borrego - Palm Canyon

First off, we aren't in Yuma this week, like I said we would be. We had some technical difficulties and couldn't go. This post is from a hike we took a while back in the Anza Borrego desert in Southern California.  It was to a isolated oasis in a place called Palm Canyon. It's one of those hikes that can be either easy, medium, or advanced, depending on how far you go and which route you take. We went a lot further than I thought we would and ended up  hiking about 6.5 miles with 1,400-foot gain in elevation. It was pretty hard actually, and NOT a thing to be attempted during the hot summer months. 

These photos are going to be like a Quinton Tarantino movie. First the answer and then the questions.  This photo and the next one, are the pay off after a long hard uphill hike. 

Here is the rest of the pay off. It's an actual oasis in the absolute middle of nowhere, in an amazingly harsh desert climate. This stand of palms is the only one featuring palm trees that are native to California. It was so cool and shady under those trees. 

The round depression in the rock was used to grind grain seeds for hundreds of years. They are called mortars or morteros. Several different tribes settled here over the centuries because of the availability of water, in an otherwise totally arid environment.

This is where we spent the night. Just kidding! 

Of course, there has to be at least one black and white.

Only because I liked the colors.

I didn't expect to see humming birds in the canyon.

We gotta hike over that?  Not really, my wife is looking for mountain sheep. We only have to hike around it.

Our first view of the natural spring running down hill.

We took a different route back out of the canyon. This one was a lot more steep and very rough. My wife is deciding which way to go. She's a good trailblazer...

I said it was steep. This narrow part of the trail had about a one hundred foot drop off.  Yes, I was the idiot hanging over the edge for a photo.

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