09/14/2019
Ah.... Love Anza Borrego Desert State Park. I need to do this hike again!
In 2008, Frank & I found this hike without the aid of a hiking book or a trail to follow. We drove off-road in our Tacoma into the labyrinth of sandy roads & washes in the park finally finding the little sign for "Hills of the Moon" wash - it just sounded intriguing! Our 2008 maiden exploration began by driving up the Hills Of The Moon wash. The road eventually gets squeezed-off and ends as you approach the foothills of the badlands. We hiked over a ridge to find a beautiful sandy valley with NO footprints anywhere. To ensure we'd find our way back to the truck on this trail-less adventure, we drew large arrows in the sand marking our path. The arrows had to be huge or we might not find them again in this maze of mud hills, valleys, and washes. We had to be able to see them from a good distance.
We were awestruck by the amazing sights to be found here. In a short time we climed over a mud ridge to a valley, then on to the next set of mud hills - walking in the little, one boot-wide drainage-trail.
In the open valleys we found a few pieces of WWII shrapnel-looking things, messes of wire and transistor-looking stuff wrapped in probably asbestos, & a timer device that goes on the business-end of a bombing-shell. These are of course left-overs of the military flight/bomb training carried out in the area in the 1940's. We knew we should be very careful where we walked & what we picked-up.
Here it is 2010. We visited "Hills Of The Moon" wash again a few weeks ago - almost 2 yrs to the day. Seems that the more pristine an area appears, the more dead balloons we find. We came upon 3 in a short period of time & these images will be added to my "Balloons To The Wilderness" collection.
As usual, this was a day hike for us. We walked out & back in about 3 hrs & stayed for the sweetness of twilight - that special few minutes after the sun sets that gives a pinky-orange glow to everything. We'll be going back to Hills Of The Moon Wash soon. It's not too long or strenuous, nor too easy, & lots of variety. This is an area I'd love to continue to explore & photograph.
Stay tuned for more desert hiking adventures.
Namaste,
Julie
