We did a spring trip down to the deserts of California and Arizona, hoping to enjoy the attractions in balmy weather. We got the blue skies, but temperatures were unseasonable and 10 – 15 degrees above normal. Our lowest high was 77 on our first day in Palm Springs, while our last day (in Phoenix) was a bracing 98! Tina put the damper on any aspirations on my part to design this primarily as a “hiking” trip and that, combined with the fact that she positively wilts on days above 75 degrees, meant that our outdoor excursions were more limited than I had hoped. Much of the time, we were down near the border and, although we never crossed into Mexico, we went through at least five border checkpoints and Border Patrol SUVs were omnipresent.
Note that under the "new and better" upgrade, file names are not automatically translating into visible picture captions as before. You can run your mouse over the picture to see the file name, which serves as a caption.
1. Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
My eyes were on the Skyline Trail, 10 miles and 7,000 feet elevation gain up to the end of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, but we were in the area with friends from Portland who had other ideas. One hike was on the Lykken Trail, from the beginning of the Skyline, which offered views of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley.
We also hiked in two of the “Indian Canyons” on the Agua Caliente Reservation ($9 admission per person). The attraction here is the creeks shaded by California fan palms, the only palm tree native to the western U.S. Both of these areas were within the national monument.
2. Joshua Tree National Park
We made a day excursion to do some short hiking trails in Joshua Tree, and experienced the lowest temperatures and coldest winds of the trip at Keys View (5,185 feet, 53 degrees). This was the only three-layer day of the trip!
3. Mecca Hills Wilderness
These bleak hills near the north end of the Salton Sea have a slot canyon where ladders have been installed by a local hiking club to ease you up some vertical chutes. It was 95 degrees, so Tina found a patch of shade to read a book, while I headed up a scorching wash. Once inside the slot canyon, however, temperatures cooled about 25 degrees.
4. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
This is the largest state park in the United States. It is even more widely known, perhaps, as a staple of every generic nature calendar ever printed, the scene usually a brilliant carpet of wildflowers as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately, the desert here hasn’t bloomed for a couple of years because they’re in a severe drought. I did entice Tina into another slot canyon on a 95 degree day.
We also enjoyed wandering through the creosote/cholla/ocotillo scrublands outside Borrego Springs visiting scores of life-size metal sculptures installed by artist/welder Richard Breceda.
5. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Out the back door of the Visitor Center, I almost stepped on a western diamondback. I told the ranger, who got excited and fetched her snake stick but ended up just taking pictures. We hiked a trail up in the Ajo Mountains; we were only four miles from the border, and signs reminded us that these canyons sometimes serve drug traffickers as well as tourists.
Desert borderlands 3-27 to 4-12-18
Re: Desert borderlands 3-27 to 4-12-18
6. Saguaro National Park
We spent a few days in Tucson and so were able to do some short hikes in both the west and east sections of the national park. Temperatures were around 90 here as well, but we caught a handful of saguaros in flower (They usually bloom in May).
7. Ironwood Forest National Monument
There are no trails in this national monument on BLM land, but I found a possible excursion, described in Summit Post, to the summit of Ragged Top in the Silver Bell Mountains. The catch was that I had a rendezvous with my wife at the Tucson Art Museum at noon. I spent some time locating a suitable trailhead and then wandered through cholla/palo verde scrub and an ironwood wash to reach the slopes of Ragged Top. Here, I surprised a herd of desert bighorn ewes who stuck around for a while and eyed me cautiously. The ascent route was up a steep, boulder-filled gully tangled with whitethorn acacias sporting one-inch thorns. I worked my way up to a roomy cave and, still about 300 feet below the summit, knew I had to turn around or lose my freedom.
8. Ramsey and Brown Canyons (Miller Peak Wilderness)
Again, I escaped in the cool of the morning to do a longer loop up Ramsey Canyon and then down Brown Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains. I began in the Nature Conservancy’s Ramsey Canyon Preserve (admission fee), which borders on the wilderness. The canyons are shaded by leafy Fremont cottonwoods and white-barked Arizona sycamores, which were just beginning to leaf out. As with other border “sky island” ranges, this is a hot spot for birders seeking the numerous species that enter the U.S. only in these parts and nowhere else. A group of enthusiasts pointed out to me an elegant trogon, and I was able to identify several other borderland species as I completed the loop. Brown Canyon has been a notorious drug trafficking route in the past; these days the area is monitored by a TARS (Tethered Aerostat Radar System) blimp, which screens the airspace for all those drug payloads delivered via cartel-owned drones.
9. Coronado National Memorial
This is park of yucca grasslands and expansive views down into Sonora, Mexico and back to 9,470-foot Miller Peak. We hiked from Montezuma Pass along the ridge to the Yaqui Ridge Trail, which leads down one mile to the Mexico border.
10. Chiricahua National Monument
In terms of hiking, this was probably the highlight of the trip. Temperatures were cooler up here, and we spent most of the day hiking in and out to Heart of the Rocks and then doing some shorter trails. The fantastic formations here are the result of 27 million years’ erosion of welded tuff deposits from the Turkey Creek Volcano. The loop in Heart of the Rocks allows you squeeze through the landscape of bizarre pinnacles. There’s also some magnificent stonework on the trails completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
We spent a few days in Tucson and so were able to do some short hikes in both the west and east sections of the national park. Temperatures were around 90 here as well, but we caught a handful of saguaros in flower (They usually bloom in May).
7. Ironwood Forest National Monument
There are no trails in this national monument on BLM land, but I found a possible excursion, described in Summit Post, to the summit of Ragged Top in the Silver Bell Mountains. The catch was that I had a rendezvous with my wife at the Tucson Art Museum at noon. I spent some time locating a suitable trailhead and then wandered through cholla/palo verde scrub and an ironwood wash to reach the slopes of Ragged Top. Here, I surprised a herd of desert bighorn ewes who stuck around for a while and eyed me cautiously. The ascent route was up a steep, boulder-filled gully tangled with whitethorn acacias sporting one-inch thorns. I worked my way up to a roomy cave and, still about 300 feet below the summit, knew I had to turn around or lose my freedom.
8. Ramsey and Brown Canyons (Miller Peak Wilderness)
Again, I escaped in the cool of the morning to do a longer loop up Ramsey Canyon and then down Brown Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains. I began in the Nature Conservancy’s Ramsey Canyon Preserve (admission fee), which borders on the wilderness. The canyons are shaded by leafy Fremont cottonwoods and white-barked Arizona sycamores, which were just beginning to leaf out. As with other border “sky island” ranges, this is a hot spot for birders seeking the numerous species that enter the U.S. only in these parts and nowhere else. A group of enthusiasts pointed out to me an elegant trogon, and I was able to identify several other borderland species as I completed the loop. Brown Canyon has been a notorious drug trafficking route in the past; these days the area is monitored by a TARS (Tethered Aerostat Radar System) blimp, which screens the airspace for all those drug payloads delivered via cartel-owned drones.
9. Coronado National Memorial
This is park of yucca grasslands and expansive views down into Sonora, Mexico and back to 9,470-foot Miller Peak. We hiked from Montezuma Pass along the ridge to the Yaqui Ridge Trail, which leads down one mile to the Mexico border.
10. Chiricahua National Monument
In terms of hiking, this was probably the highlight of the trip. Temperatures were cooler up here, and we spent most of the day hiking in and out to Heart of the Rocks and then doing some shorter trails. The fantastic formations here are the result of 27 million years’ erosion of welded tuff deposits from the Turkey Creek Volcano. The loop in Heart of the Rocks allows you squeeze through the landscape of bizarre pinnacles. There’s also some magnificent stonework on the trails completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
Re: Desert borderlands 3-27 to 4-12-18
Amazing places and wonderful reports & photos describing them.
Thx,
--Paul
Thx,
--Paul
The future's uncertain and the end is always near.
Re: Desert borderlands 3-27 to 4-12-18
Great info and pictures - thanks for posting!
So many cool places to see in Southern Arizona and So Cal, most of these I never heard of.
So many cool places to see in Southern Arizona and So Cal, most of these I never heard of.
- BurnsideBob
- Posts: 538
- Joined: May 6th, 2014, 3:15 pm
- Location: Mount Angel, Oregon
Re: Desert borderlands 3-27 to 4-12-18
Awesome!!
Thank you for sharing your experiences!!
Thank you for sharing your experiences!!
I keep making protein shakes but they always turn out like margaritas.
Re: Desert borderlands 3-27 to 4-12-18
These are great photos. Thanks for sharing. The SW is an amazing place. Desert scenery manages to be incredibly beautiful despite the austerity (or because of it?).
Thanks for all the details about these locations hikes. Checking out more of Arizona has been on my radar for a while so this a helpful summary of the areas you visited.
That's a cool rattlesnake encounter too.
Thanks for all the details about these locations hikes. Checking out more of Arizona has been on my radar for a while so this a helpful summary of the areas you visited.
That's a cool rattlesnake encounter too.
Re: Desert borderlands 3-27 to 4-12-18
Spectacular photos! The SW is such a beautiful place, so dramatically different from our environment here in the NW.
I'm not sure if they're the captions you had intended, but I'm seeing what I'm assuming are your (delightfully descriptive) filenames when hovering a mouse over each image.
Thanks for sharing!
I'm not sure if they're the captions you had intended, but I'm seeing what I'm assuming are your (delightfully descriptive) filenames when hovering a mouse over each image.
Thanks for sharing!
Re: Desert borderlands 3-27 to 4-12-18
Could you forward a copy of the first photo in your TR, of the sign stating you hike at your own risk, to the FS people who are in charge of opening the trails in the Columbia Gorge? This seems like such a simple, cheap, obvious solution to opening trails that can be hiked with a certain amount of risk, even before trail crews can certify they are "safe" for the flip-flop crowd. I'd appreciate the local FS personnel seeing how directly and easily their colleagues in Arizona decline taking liability for trail hazards.
Re: Desert borderlands 3-27 to 4-12-18
That looks like a really interesting trip! Thanks for posting all those photos.