Today’s travels have taken me from the barren to the filled. What a great morning!
After yesterday’s trip to Ocotillo Wells I decided to pay a return visit this morning. Sand, dust, badlands, and clouded skies greeted me. It looked as if a rain storm had settled in over Salton Sea. Maybe it did rain there.
Looking back toward Borrego Springs and my basecamp (the Airstream that is) the skies were clearing and leaving fun wispy cloud formations.
Deserts are big and desolate if you want them to be. But if you look closer they’re not desolate. A random tree, small bushes, signs of life everywhere.
If you can’t tell, I really do like it here. Great place to visit. But remember, I like Prescott more (plus it gets way too hot here during the summer).
The purpose of this trip is being fulfilled. I’m glad to see Borrego once more. And like each visit prior, the place is filling me up once again. Someday I’ll have to figure out why deserts seem to have this effect on me. Until I figure it out I’ll just go ahead and keep enjoying it!
After a few hours exploring the “roads” in Ocotillo Wells I decided to head for my temporary home. Back to Palm Canyon. A quick snack and then a longer hike were on my mind.
Actually, a better photo of a Big Horn Sheep was on my mind.
I began my hike up into the canyon by 10:30 a.m. Of course, I’m still on AZ time, so I thought it started at 11:30.
As I walked I decided to take a few photos. Shocking but true. The canyon has the feel of a garden, not as a place that’s part of a barren desert. This time of the year is extra special as the blooms have started and you really wouldn’t think of the place as “desert.”
Walking into the canyon I found myself spending more time looking down at the plants then scanning the walls of rock for sheep. Ah well, a sheep photo can wait. The blooms can’t, they’ll be gone soon.
Under rocks, in shade, or out in the open, plants thrive in Palm Canyon. They do especially well near the waters of the oasis here. The flowing water leaves one feeling like they’re anywhere but a desert. Frogs chirp, birds work flowers, bees buzz in every bush you pass. It’s an interesting environment to be sure.
The walk in and out was enjoyable. I turned my IPod off several times as folks walking the canyon seemed to have a need to chat with me today. No problem there. The conversations were pretty standard.
What type of camera is that? Canon. What are you photographing? Stuff. What type of lens is that? Well, that depended on the time they were talking to me. Have you seen any sheep? No. Hot in here today, eh? Yes, but it was warmer the other day. How much further to the palms? Too far….. 😉
I’ll leave you with a few more photos from this morning. Hope you enjoy them.
Oh, and yes, Bill & Larry will be here soon! Fun, fun!
Comments 2
Rich,
I couldn’t agree with you more. The Anza-Borrego State Park is far more like a garden than a blank and lifeless desert. While shooting it was less apparent, but when I sat down to edit the 400 or so photos, it became clear right away just how rich and varied the desert park really is. I’ve put 40 photos up on my gallery at http://gallery.mac.com/mikero1 that captures much of what we saw during the past few days. I’m so happy that we had the chance to experience the park together.
I’ve got quite a bit to learn about HDR. So far, I haven’t been satisfied with the images I took. Lots of room for improvement. Nonetheless, the single shots exceeded my goal of one-good-shot-per-day. Check out the badlands pics. Way cool. Got to do this again sometime. Cheers.
The best option for viewing the gallery is the “slideshow” option because I chose to download the original images rather than smaller, web-optimized images.