MORNING HIKE AND A WEE BIT OF A ROCK SCRAMBLE IN HAWK CANYON

How nice stepping out of the coach this morning into calm air.  Borrego’s big winds had finally stopped sometime in the night.  Those gusting winds were widespread over the valley Tuesday with Doug from Miss Adventure Travels over at Rock House Road at the foot of Coyote Mountain getting himself some blowing sand photos out around Font's Point.

A SHORT HIKE IN HAWK CANYON THIS MORNING

 

We started off with a bright sunny day so decided to re-trace part of our Tuesday Jeep route and have us a further look into Hawk Canyon.  With the canyon being only a couple miles from us we were there in short order.  Hawk Canyon is a box canyon with basically only one way in and out.  We drove in to where the road ends, parked then did us a wee hike with a short rock scramble thrown in. 

As with so many places here in the southwest Hawk Canyon with it’s towering high solid rock cliffs towering above is truly awe inspiring. Once again we felt dwarfed by our surroundings and that is a common occurrence out here in the West.

I OFTEN WONDER HOW SOME ROCKS CAN BE SO DIFFERENT FROM ALL THE OTHER ROCKS AROUND IT, HOW DID IT GET THERE AND WHY??

I THINK THIS BIG BOULDER MAY HAVE BEEN A WHALE IN ANOTHER LIFE

WE FOLLOW A TRAIL TO TOWARDS THE HEAD OF THE CANYON

TOWERING CANYON WALLS

 

KELLY SCOUTS THE TRAIL AHEAD

STARTING TO GET A BIT RUGGED

THE TRAIL CONTINUED ON INTO THOSE ROCKS BUT WE FIGURED THAT WAS ABOUT FAR ENOUGH FOR US….NOT THAT MANY YEARS AGO WE WOULD HAVE PLOWED RIGHT INTO THOSE ROCKS AND FOLLOWED THAT PATH

WE BEGIN MAKING OUR WAY BACK

IT’S ALWAYS HARDER GOING DOWN THAN IT IS GOING UP

Hawks and Falcons are known to nest in these cliffs but we didn’t see any.  Half a dozen small sparrow like birds flitted among the Creosote bushes and we did hear and see a sweet sounding bird high atop one of the cliff faces perched in a leafless shrub. 

NOT SURE WHAT THIS BIRD WAS BUT IT SANG NICE

THIS LITTLE FELLOW WASN’T DOING ANY SINGING BUT HE SURE WAS SKIDADDLIN ACROSS THE ROCKS FAST

IT ALWAYS FEELS GOOD TO GET BACK TO THE JEEP

With no clouds blocking the sun’s warmth this morning we could feel it getting hot by 9:30.  We had a tendency to walk along in the cooler shadows of the cliff walls.  Not a soul around and we had the whole place to ourselves.  Oh how I like when that happens.

FROM HAWK CANYON WE MADE OUR WAY OVER TO THE NEARBY RUGGED SLOT CANYON AREA

THIS AREA IS DIRECTLY ACROSS THE WIDE SAN FELIPE WASH FROM FONT’S POINT AND THE BORREGO BADLANDS

FONT’S POINT CAN BE SEE ACROSS THE WASH MAYBE A HALF DOZEN MILES AWAY NEAR THAT WHITE PATCH OF SAND ON THE RIDGE….MOUNTAINS IN THE BACK GROUND ARE THE SANTA ROSAS

THE SANDY WASH LEADING OUT OF THE SLOT CANYON CAN BE SEEN AT THE BOTTOM HEADING LEFT

From Hawk Canyon we doubled back over to Slot Canyon a short distance away and re-drove a Jeep road we had driven the day before only this time going a bit farther until it ended.  There was a bit of a rough and tumble trail down to the bottom of Slot Canyon which maybe we could have done with the Liberty but it was one of those decisions that was too iffy and we decided against it.

WE DEBATED WHETHER TO TAKE THAT ROUGH AND TUMBLE SANDY JEEP ROAD LEADING DOWN FROM THE BOTTOM LEFT OF THE PHOTO INTO THE SLOT CANYON WASH

KELLY AND PHEEBS HEAD DOWN TO CHECK OUT THE TUMBLY JEEP ROAD

PHEEBS TELLS KELLY SHE DOESN’T THINK DAD SHOULD TRY TO TAKE THE JEEP DOWN THERE

YEP I AGREE WITH PHEEBS

We were back to the rig by 10:30 and I was happy to stretch out for a bit in my recliner.  After nearly 20 years of taking my Arthrotec arthritis medicine I stopped taking it last week after one of Arthrotecs long term warning signs popped up.  Without that medication my legs have noticeably stiffened and I’m having a bit of a time with myself keeping both legs flexible without them bothering me.  Blast this darn aging thing!!

WE MIGHT HAVE GOT OURSELVES DOWN THERE AND NOT GOT OURSELVES BACK UP AGAIN

It was about 11:30 when Kelly headed off into Borrego Springs leaving Pheebs and I all by ourselves to hold the fort down.  We done good though and never got ourselves into any bad trouble.  Pheebs keeps an eye on me real good and doesn’t let me get away with doing any really dumb stuff.  Brewed myself up an excellent coffee with a blueberry muffin shared between Pheebs and I.  For lunch I fried us up some chicken noodle soup.  Pheebs thinks I’m a hero.

IT WAS NEARLY 10 YEARS AGO KELLY AND I ALONG WITH OUR RVING BOONDOCKER FRIEND BUTCH ATE OUR LUNCH ONE DAY RIGHT ON THE TOP OF THAT RUFFLED ROCK FORMATION

RIGHT ON TOP OF THOSE ROCKS WE SAT AFTER HIKING THROUGH THE SLOT CANYON, THEN WE HAD TO HIKE ALL THE WAY BACK THROUGH TO THE CAR AGAIN

DECEMBER 23RD 2007  The Borrego Slot Canyon Hike

 

I HAD MANY PHOTOS OF THIS HIKE WHICH I INCLUDED IN A PHOTO ALBUM WITH THIS HIKE BUT DUE TO GOOGLE CHANGES OVER THE PAST COUPLE YEARS THAT ALBUM WAS LOST….I STILL HAVE ALL THE PHOTOS THOUGH AND MAYBE THIS SUMMER IF I THINK OF IT I’LL DUE A PHOTO POST OF THIS HIKE….THIS IS THE BEST SLOT CANYON WE EVER DID

Kelly was back sometime around 2:30 and had a package with my new Nikon lens filter and lens hood in it.  With all this blowing sand out here I’m happy to have a protective filter on my new 18-55mm lens finally.  By the way anyone ordering anything on-line can have things shipped to a store in Borrego Springs called Zipper's Creations and it is in the same building as the police station only around the back.  She charges $1.00 for folks to pick up things there.  Here’s her Facebook page.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A Few Facts About Men:

- Husbands are like children — they’re fine if they’re someone else’s.
- Never trust a man who says he’s the boss at home. He probably lies about other things too.
- A woman’s work that is never done is the stuff she asked her husband to do.
- Go for younger men. You might as well — they never mature anyway.
- Scientists have just discovered something that can do the work of five men — a woman.
- Men’s brains are like the prison system — not enough cells per man.
- Men are like place mats. They only show up when there’s food on the table.
- Men are like mascara. They usually run at the first sign of emotion.
- Men are like bike helmets. Handy in an emergency, but otherwise they just look silly.
- Men are like parking spots. All the good ones are taken.
- Men are like lava lamps. Fun to look at, but not all that bright.
- Men are like bank accounts. Without a lot of money, they don’t generate much interest.
- Men are like high heels. They’re easy to walk on once you get the hang of it.

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A young man visiting a dude ranch wanted to be "macho," so he went out walking with one of the hired hands. As they were walking through the barnyard, the visitor tried starting a conversation: "Say, look at that big bunch of cows."  The hired hand replied, "Not 'bunch,' but 'herd.' "  "Heard what?"  "Herd of cows." "Sure, I've heard of cows. There's a big bunch of 'em right over there."