Borrego Springs sits in the center of Anza Borrego State Park in southern California. Shielded by the rocky mountains to the east, this desert area affords pleasant winter weather without the crowds of Palm Springs. The fact that the small village is surrounded by park land and at a distance, BLM land keeps some of the aspiring development in check. We return each year anticipating the desert bloom and the opportunity to hike the many trails exploring canyons and oases with Washingtonian fan palms. The campsite we like has been open each of the last three years when we rolled into camp. In the shot from Inspiration point you might be able to spot our trailer at the left end of the loop.

We shared our recent trip with Brett and Nancy Stearns who take another approach to desert "roughing it" at the Inn. Our own camp is far from our old backpacking trips with easy access to restaurants, markets and shops. The local natural history group provides outings and education and this year a tour of local gardens. Seemed like half the village turned out to visit 6 desert gardens. One has to be brave to let the public in to view the landscaping lovingly developed for personal tastes. Mine don't run towards faux Roman marble statuary, but I didn't take Latin either! The lovely pet cemetery has clear meaning to the owners and bit less for me. The less "gardened up" the more I liked the landscape and there were some nice touches. I'll think twice before inviting everyone to my back yard!

We explored the palm oases and then went looking for the Pumpkin Patch. I got the directions pleasantly confused so we found a few extra hollows and washes that weren't in the day's plan. Along with Stearns, we invited some camping neighbors Jim and Carry from Utah along for the day's field trip. You can read the description over Carole's shoulder (click the photo for detail) of how these accretions form and are emerging from the desert floor. I expected to find modified mud balls and was pleased they are unique and unusual at about 200 pounds apiece an as solid as though cast from concrete!  We bounced on up the sandy wash through BLM land looking for a sand dune. At the proper location we decided it was there, but had a fair amount of flora covering it and not the naked sort we were imagining. Arriving at the highway we noted there was no obvious way to leave the wash and make our way back to Borrego Springs and the wash continued to the Salton Sea. We scaled the side of the wash in the truck and found a legit ramp to the highway!

As for desert bloom, we were rewarded in remote places with the wild  annuals and a few cacti beginning their blossoming. Glorietta Canyon was quiet and offered ghost flowers and a variety of others, all small and in reduced expression given the small amount of rain this year.

Check out my post about my publications for this spring under last month's posts. Also, I would lke to recommend my friend's blog for those of you interested in international travel, essays on burglary, banker's math and other topics of interest. Snow Crash,http://wordspout.blogspot.com/2012/04/bankers-math-part-sept.html  from Richard Sherman of Hawaii.