More Fun in Anza-Borrego

More Fun Four Wheeling in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

I had another opportunity to explore the desert with http://frankbaiamonte.blogspot.com/ and some of our mutual friends. We always have a good time. I was treated to seeing new places I'd never been and I always love that! I like that we stop at the turn out on the way down into the desert. This time I zoomed in to a small property at the base of the hill.

There are some folks that think that the desert is bland and boring...all the same and not much of anything. I don't see the desert that way at all. I am amazed at the different formations of sand, rock and terrain. Often in our travels in the desert we are treated to views of very different geology almost layered on top of each other. 

Getting in the narrow areas with the four wheel drives is always fun and exciting too. Now, just think of what happens when we get to a spot we can travel no further on this narrow trail. Yep, it can get a bit tight to turn around. At least there was only three vehicles on this trip, but it still proved to be a bit of a challenge.

Here is a shot of my friend Robert in his jeep. You can see his wheels flexing every which way on the bumps. Keep in mind, I am using a wide angle lens here, so it looks like there is more room around the vehicle than there really is. Hey, where is his co-pilot Rae? She's next to me shooting too. :-)

We were treated to beautiful skies as you can see in this next photo.

Boys and their toys....

They are a very generous bunch of guys and they share. Here is my take.

Here is the tight spot we came to in our travels. We had to turn around as we couldn't travel further. Actually I think we had already traveled further than most on this leg of trail. There was a bit of burning transmission etc. before we were facing in the direction we needed to be. 

In one of my first posts on this blog I shared some photos of the metal sculptures of Anza-Borrego by artist Richardo A. Breceda. You can read more about Richardo and his sculptures here This next photo is one of his latest additions to Anza. There is a scorpion it is fighting, but you'll just have to visit the gallery I put up to see the scorpion.

The link to the gallery of photos from this outing in the desert are here 

We also had an opportunity to witness a migration of Swainson's Hawks. It was one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen. Hundreds of hawks were soaring high on the air currents over the desert and slowly descended to some trees in a field behind where a group of birders had gathered to witness the scene. The group that caught our attention on the side of the road was called the Borrego Hawk Watch. They had counters working on a count of the migrating hawks and the count was close to 300. I have no idea how they manage to do a count of birds like this, but I know they do and they are experienced at being accurate too. I didn't have a good long lens with me so the photos I took just don't do the event justice but I can tell you it was quite an experience to witness. It is something that I feel very fortunate to have witnessed and I will never forget it.