Come next Friday (3/28) we may have a window of 4-6 weeks before we have to return to Kaiser for more chemo treatments. So our time remaining in the El Centro area is quickly coming to an end for this season. There are still places we have not visited nor seen in this area yet, but the desert of Anza Borrego does call!
On Wednesday last we decided to take a trip back up to the desert to visit a few places that we had not had time to see on previous trips.
California S2 travels through some of the most colorful mountains that we have ever seen. As many times as we’ve driven over S2, we are always awed by the sights we see. Today was no exception.
However, before we reached Ocotillo, (where we pick up S2), we road along old California highway 80 and coming toward us were a number of cyclists (with all their camping equipment in their panniers). We reasoned that surely these riders must be on a cross-country trip. They had probably just come down the 3,000 foot descent from the mountains on I-8. (There being no road on which cyclists can travel, certain stretches of Inter State highways may be used) – this is just one stretch, and it was on Kathleen’s cross country trip. We rarely drive this section of highway without thinking about that glorious trip! So back to the cyclists passing us. We waved at some of them, then decided to stop the last two riders that came along. We did stop and were delighted to meet Frank and Eileen (members of Adventure Cycling).
And they are in the process of crossing the country. Their route is called the Southern Tier Route and we were so glad we stopped and met them. They have camping gear with them and “motel” at only a few places along the way (unlike the every night motel stops Kathleen enjoyed on her Young At Heart cross country ride in ‘99). We spoke with the two of them awhile then wished them well. We will be thinking about them as they travel on many of the roads Young At Heart traversed those nearly 10 years ago. Good luck to all the Adventure Cycling cyclists on this Southern Tier Trip!
We reached S2 and as we traveled north on this road, our thoughts went back to the time of the western expansion of our country. S2 follows along the original Emigrant Trail and to imagine how those early settlers faced the challenges of the inhospitable environment in this area, boggles the imagination. Here’s a view from S2, looking down on the Emigrant Trail below. When those hardy folk reached the base of the many mountains over which they had to cross, makes our modern day travel almost seem sinful!
Along the route we passed many flowering cacti – this one was a bit of a surprise to us. 
From the road the barrel cactus looks like a reddish stump, but closer inspection shows the crown of the cactus – beautiful yellow flowers! The spine is covered with reddish spines, and one could think that the cactus was reddish. Upon closer examination, the green of the spine is clearly seen!
This plant is actually a parasite, clinging to any flower or cactus it can find. We were able to see it in trees, plants, cacti and anything that was growing!
The wild Heliotrope that we saw today grows in absolute isolation! It’s a lovely little purple flower so delicate and lovely – in such a harsh environment!
The Trixis is found all over the desert. It is so prolific and can be found almost everywhere in the desert.
Yellow seems to be the color of choice here in the desert. Ground covers are everywhere – and consist of a variety of little gold poppy (many small-petaled flowers on erect, leafless stems), the Desert Cassia – also called the Desert Senna. It is a low branching, nearly leafless shrub that grows up to 36′ tall!
Kathleen fell in love with the Yellowheads. They are about 4″ tall and have fragrant, wooly, sharp toothed leaves. They like stony soil and rock crevices. We saw Desert Dandelion, Goldfields, Dune Sunflower, Walace’s Eriophyllium, Chinch Weed and Brittlebrush — all with yellow flowers.
There are other flowers – many of them white or red, but today we saw more yellow than anything else.
We especially like stopping along the road and roaming through the cacti, looking for the tiny, almost invisible desert flowers. It seems so miraculous to see these tiny plants surviving in so hostile an environment. Taking our little walks like this inspired and delighted us with their singular beauty.
But viewing and enjoying the spring desert flowers was not all we did today. We had noticed, on our map, a place called “Pictographs” – and decided to take the side road that would eventually lead to an area where Indians once roamed and lived. Our road ended at the parking area. A sign indicated that
We were pleased that the hike was so enjoyable and afforded us with Spring desert flowers and history of the area.
