Anza-Borrego preview

Well. The sun is setting here in Palm Desert, and I still have a laundry list of things left to do, if I am going to escape to Joshua Tree tomorrow. If that is the case, it may be weeks before I can work on the blog again. The Mojave and Death Valley sit further up the road of my expected travels, and it may be Las Vegas or further before I resurface...
Anza-Borrego is a "book" in itself. I posted these few pics to entice you to return to see the "rest of the story".
C'Yas down the road.
Hank

Cleveland NF to Anza-Borrego Desert SP

As I left Cuyamaca SP, I headed back southward up Sunrise hwy towards Laguna Mountain. I found a short spur from the hwy with awesome vistas and a geocache placed in honor of a very unique native american. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e539e4c9-ec48-41a3-97a0-c56cc15c126f
& the full story @ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/fires/20040314-9999-1m14laguna.html
I spent too much time here, and it was near sunset by the time I reached the summit. A lot of folks were up from the city enjoying the snow, and it was too bad it was too dark to get a pic of the teens shoveling a pickup load of snow to take back to the city with them. Only one camp was opened up here, and I found it unappealing, so I proceeded in search of the open area for dispersed camping. Before I realized it, I was off the mountain and at I-8, no open and accesable area found :( . I ended up with only a passing glimpse of Laguna, which is a shame...
I was awakened early by noise in the toybox, and shined my light on a unwelcome visitor! I now have a mouse :(. This is an ongoing saga, and I will devote a post to it later on, after I have sealed its fate!
After a stop to arm myself against this viscous 2 and 1/4 inch varmit ;'), I headed up into some some BLM land, called McCain Valley. Some nice views, but little hiking opportunity, so I quickly proceeded east to S-2 and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park...

CUYAMACA STATE PARK- 2/27, 2/28, 3/1

Even though my true intent was to travel into Cleveland NF, I found myself on hwy 79 and into the SP. It was a scenic drive and I would take a turn tomorrow and travel up to Mount Laguna, in the NF (at least I thought). The big thing was to break loose of the hold that SD had on me, and get back rural! I settled into a developed camp just after sunset and lo and behold, it started to sleet. Great! It lightened up before I bedded down, or so I thought. I awoke to falling snow, and an accumulation of 3 or 4 inches. Amazing : ). I figured it would stop with the morning light, but it continued on and off til after noon. By then, I had decided to just stay put, so I hiked down to the kiosk to register a second night, and then explored the park and trailheads. The surroundings were georgous with the new snow, and I managed to find a few trails where I was the first to put foot into the snow. A lot of people had come up to play in the snow, and I would later find out that snow actually "sticking" up here is a rarity. Stick it did, as it never reached 35 all day, and the low in the morning was 27. After a few miles of tramping though the snow, I went back to the van and got into a snowball fight with Ziggy ;). Boy, I sure am glad to have the Mr Heater. I know a couple of folks that wished I had carried it last October! I got really bumed out when I tried to upload several files of geocaches to my GPS, only to find that my usb cable had flaked out and bit the dust! This is the second cable in one year to do this, and I am not a happy camper. This problem dogged me all the way through the next week, in which I only managed two cache finds :(.
The next morning was an awesome day, and I hiked along a creek and through Green Valley camp to Sweetwater falls. Amazing how the snow had melted away and I was padding around in shorts and a tee :). The hike energized me to set out and explore the forest, so off I went...