Here are a few pictures from Saturday. We started out taking the long way around from the meet spot, through Little Blair Valley to get to the parking area for the hike to the Marshal South home site on the top of Ghost Mountain. Here we are on the edge of the dry lake bed.
The more physically fit part of the group out in front, heading up the trail to the top of Ghost Mountain.
Still lots of cactus flowers at this elevation.
Marshal's house is looking a little more worn away each time I see it.
We found a nice spot for lunch - actually it's the same spot we used on early versions of this run. There's not much shade in Blair Valley, so we used the hatch's for what little shade we could get. There was a nice cool breeze, but still a lot of very bright sun. Yes, we did stop in Santa Ysabel on the way out.
In the past we've always turned around right at the Pictograph Rock, but I recently read someplace that if you continued on about 1/4 mile you would come to a really nice view of the Carrizo Badlands. I think it was more than 1/4 mile, but it was well worth the extra walk. As you walked out there it looked like you were walking up to a bowl in the mountains, but as you got closer a little opening appeared, and then through a small came what has to be one of the best views in Anza Borrego. The drop-off was sheer, very much straight down.
Mark found a snake.
Jake found a rock.
On the way home we took a little detour, or more like the scenic route, from Lake Henshaw to Ramona via Mesa Grande Road and then Black Canyon Road. I'm hoping somebody else got some better shots of the narrow sections of Black Canyon Road.
Here is
a link to the rest of the images from Saturday.
The very last time I drove Black Canyon it was well after dark, and all you could see was what your headlights illuminated (which on a Gen2 Xterra isn't much). The time before that was January of 2008, just 3 months after the big fire. Here's what the old bridge looked like then.
Here is
a link to some more image from that day, not much green in sight. Sure was different on Saturday. By the way, did anyone get a shot of that steer that was trotting along the shoulder of Mesa Grande Road?
Looking forward to seeing everyone else's pics.
