We contracted “aluminumitis” over three years ago and after much research we settled on the 23′ Safari SE Airstream trailer.  But before buying the trailer we had to decide on the proper tow vehicle that would best meet our needs.  I quickly found out that this would not be a quick and easy process.  I found a plethora of tow vehicle threads and opinions on the Airstream Knowledge Sharing Forums.  Aside from which brand to buy, it seemed that the first decision had to be which fuel-type to select, gas or diesel. So I started the thread, “Gas vs. Diesel in the New World“, which yielded 15 pages of discussion.

The selection came down to factors of power, geography/topography, and longevity.  It seemed to us that the diesel truck would be better suited to carry us, our dogs, and our “stuff” (cooking equipment, tables, chairs and mats) and pull our trailer up and over our nearby mountains, and continue to do so well into our retirement.  So it was “Diesel for me in the New World“.

Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913), a German engineer, designed and patented in 1892 an internal combustion engine, the diesel engine, which uses the heat of highly compressed air to ignite a spray of fuel introduced after the start of the compression stroke.

Karl Benz is generally regarded as the inventor of the first gasoline-powered automobile in 1886 and he was a pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz.  His company, Benz & Cie designed the first truck in history in 1895 and was the largest automobile company in the world in 1899.

Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900), another German engineer, invented the first high-speed petrol engine and the first four-wheel drive automobile.  Daimler and his lifelong business partner Wilhelm Maybach in 1890 founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) which began to produce the Mercedes model of 1902.  DMG merged with Benz & Cie in 1926 and adopted Mercedes-Benz as its automobile trademark along with its logo, the three-pointed star which represented Daimler’s motto: “engines for land, air, and water”.

Modern diesel engines have come a long way from the first one and are much more complex (see this animation).  Modern diesel vehicles of today have also come a long way, as seen in the Mercedes-Benz GL Class SUV, which features Blue TEC diesel technology.  This technology reportedly reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by 80%.  A blue urea solution is injected into the exhaust gas flow releasing ammonia which breaks down the nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrogen and water particles in the catalytic converter.

Ken Gross tells more about the Mercedes-Benz GL and diesel power in this video of his test drive in Iceland (shown on You Tube).

Did you know that the Popemobile most often used by Pope Benedict XVI when traveling abroad is a modified Mercedes-Benz M-Class sport utility vehicle (as seen here in Brazil)?

As mentioned above, we chose a diesel truck because we haul a lot of equipment.  We are very happy with our 2006 F-250 Super Duty diesel truck, which comes with a 6.0 Power Stroke V8 Turbo diesel engine, Tow Command integrated trailer brake controller, and tow mirrors (seen on left in image below).

Rich L chose the 2009 Mercedes-Benz GL320 and I say, Congratulations and Welcome to the world of diesel power!

Cooling off while camping at the beach is a treat that is followed by our annual big wash and wax job. We have learned the importance of washing off salt deposits to prevent or control corrosion. We will probably limit our beach-side camping to once a year, not only to limit the exposure of salt to our trailer, but also to cope with the reality of mandatory water rationing that is about to begin due to California’s third year of drought conditions.

Notice that I’m using an extended scrub brush compared to flooding the top of the trailer with our precious fresh water as seen in this photo from last year’s washing.  We are following many of the tips to conserve water seen here.

Before washing the trailer, I needed to tend to a few minor details…

On our return home from our last beach outing I successfully negotiated the busy Interstate 5 freeway and was driving up our neighborhood hill. A car was coming down the street so I moved over to the right and, when the car passed, I pulled back toward the center of the street as I accelerated up the hill. I heard a barely audible “boom” which sounded like something had shifted in the truck’s cargo area. An hour after unhitching I noticed a slight dent in the rock guard and a smashed amber marker light. I must have hit one of the large plastic city trash cans that were out that day.

This gave me an opportunity to learn how certain parts for the Airstream are obtained. Airstream, Inc. was helpful in giving me the correct part number (511750, Marker Light, Amber Teardrop) and the two closest Airstream service centers. I chose C & G Trailer Service, an Airstream Certified Service Center that has had an association with Airstream since 1946. They had the part and could ship it via UPS, but we drove 113 miles up the coast to get it so that we could see their service center and become familiar with driving there when our trailer needs servicing (San Diego no longer has an Airstream dealer or service center). I installed the light fixture at home and substituted a flat #6S brass washer and added a #60 rubber O-ring to reduce the incidence of moisture getting into the light. Another LED bulb (67-A15) has been ordered to match our other marker lights which Larry had switched to LED.

I was now ready to wash the trailer and used Meguiar’s Deep Crystal Car Wash (See Meguiar’s over 100 year legacy and family history).  San Diego has hard water and water spots are prominent after washing. I added a cup of vinegar to a bucket of water and used a chamois to remove the water spots. Then I inspected the trailer for filiform corrosion which is showing up in newer Airstream trailers and extensively documented in the Airforums.com thread, “Corrosion problems with new Airstreams“. Last year I treated my filiform corrosion with Boeshield T-9. The label on its 12 ounce spray can indicates that T-9 was developed by The Boeing Co. for lubrication and protection of aircraft components and contains solvents, lubricants and waxes designed for penetration, moisture displacement, lubrication and protection. It dries to a thin, clear waxy film that clings to metal. One year ago I applied T-9 to my filiform and I am glad to report that I saw no expansion of the filiform. Compare the current filiform image below with the one taken last year.

(Whitish circular areas surrounding the rivets are actually incompletely removed waxy residue from Mequiar’s Mirror Glaze sealant.)

The following day was the wax job and, as indicated above, I used Meguiar’s Mirror Glaze Professional Polymer Sealant #20 that can be obtained from a good automotive body shop supply store. (Thank you, 2airishuman of Airforums.com for sharing your wisdom and insights on protecting trailer exteriors.)  I bought the 64 ounce size jug and used it to refill the 16 ounce size squeeze bottle which is easier to handle while on the step ladder. (The roof also gets a protective waxing.) This is my third year using this product and I can report that it is durable and withstands washings throughout the year. I also believe that using the above two products goes a long way in preventing and/or controlling filiform corrosion.

Also note that I observed Sun safety while out in the sun by wearing a broad-brimmed hat, long sleeve white shirt (Columbia Titanium), sun glasses that protect on three sides, and Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock, now available in SPF 100.

So by the end of two days the trailer was washed, waxed and treated for this season.

(Larry made the covers for both the Super Jack and the wheels.)

So now it’s time to relax and enjoy summer and our own back yard.

(Red Trumpet vine that our hummingbirds love.)

Surf’s up and cool ocean breezes are zipping up and over our South Carlsbad State Beach bluff campsite where we enjoyed a break from the desert heat. We camped for four nights on the edge of a 3-mile long bluff, where we were bathed in the continuous sounds of the wind and surf. Seagulls sailed by, both inside and outside the trailer.

Seagulls by John Perry

The area of Carlsbad was once inhabited by the Luiseno Native Americans who had a village near the Agua Hedionda Lagoon which was a resting place for Gaspar de Portola and Father Juan Crespi on their expedition up the coast in 1769 to establish outposts and missions for Spain. In 1883 the Santa Fe Railroad passed near here and land was opened to homesteaders and real estate speculators, including John Frazier who tapped an artesian spring yielding mineral water which was thought to be curative and likened to the old Bohemian spa of Karlsbad (in Czechoslovakia).

Five miles north of Carlsbad is Oceanside, where Marshal South, once known as Oceanside’s Poet Laureate, met his wife-to-be, Tanya, whose parents were orthodox Jews from the Russian Ukraine and emigrated to New York in 1906. See an image of Marshal and Tanya’s “honeymoon accommodations” while camping on an Oceanside beach in 1923.

Marshal South probably would have found our trailer accommodations interesting even though he apparently had no desire to use or generate electricity at Yaquitepec. Here at South Carlsbad State Beach we are self-contained and, with our two solar panels, we generate more electricity than we use during the day, even through the marine layer. Typically by late morning each day our AGM batteries are 100 percent at 13.5 volts.

If we did a lot of this coastal camping, a portable wind turbine could possibly take advantage of the almost constant ocean breeze.

We found that this South Carlsbad bluff is really the turf of the California Ground Squirrel.

 Their accommodations are underground burrows on the other side of the fence and their favorite activities are surveying the campers and obtaining campers’ food and water. Bungee cords were used to secure outdoor items that contained food or other items of interest.

A family of nearby squirrels paused for a moment and seemed mesmerized by Larry’s ukulele playing and singing.

 More beautiful sunsets and summer breezin’ are just around the corner.

We celebrated Earth Day by returning to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park for a five-night stay.  We arrived in warmer than usual temperatures for this time of year, which gave us a chance to see how well we could keep comfortable if we camped in the desert later in the season. We had full hook-ups at Borrego Palm Canyon Campground and used our Safari’s air conditioner extensively for the first time. This and other strategies enabled us to keep relatively comfortable, even when the outside temperature was 100 degrees.

Our desert heat is usually a dry heat that I tolerate rather well. I sat under one of our three trailer awnings (which also help to keep the trailer cool when the wind is not gusting) and sipped on a cool one.

Marshal South described desert heat in his article, DESERT DIARY  7, July at Yaquitepec, (August 1940 issue of Desert Magazine):

                Heat! And the distant phantoms of mirage. Desert summer is with us now and Yaquitepec shimmers in the heat of a midday glare that is thirstily metallic… Nowhere but in the desert, and in summer, can you see such magnificent cloud effects as those which tower into the hard, turquoise sky above the heat-dancing wastelands.

(All 102 articles and poems written by Marshal South for Desert Magazine from 1939 to 1948 can be read in Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles: An Experiment in Primitive Living, 2005, Edited and with a Foreword by Diana Lindsay and Introduction by Rider and Lucile South, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA.)

Upon arrival, the first item that I connected was shore power so that we could start running the air conditioner. Our original 30-amp power cord that came with the trailer was starting to pull loose at the male connector end. We recently replaced it with with a heavier duty Marinco 30 Amp Right Angle Locking RV Cord Set.

On an earlier camping trip here we noticed that the campground’s water pressure was overcoming our water pump’s check valve and the fresh water tank filled and water was seen trickling out of the overflow drain on the side of the trailer.  We found, that by hooking up a water regulator gauge, the incoming water pressure could be monitored and adjusted to prevent this from happening.

 Once we were hooked up to shore power, we were pleased that our new 3-stage Xantrex  XADC 60A Converter/Charger worked perfectly and quietly. (Our previous two Parallax converters failed). See how I installed it: “Parallax Converter Replacement with Xantrex“, on Airforums.com.

 The desert heat prompted us to convert the trailer into a comfortable cave.

We closed the curtains, blinds and Vista View window covers. Larry made covers for our two Fan-Tastic Fans from Reflectix insulation that he cut to size and then sewed the edges together. (Our forward Fan-Tastic Fan has a reversible switch, so we have the option of pulling in cool night air at one end of the trailer and blowing it out the rear end, if we didn’t want to use the air conditioner or if we were boondocking.)

Our cave was brightened by new Warm-White LEDs that Larry installed. They use less energy and run cooler. He replaced the ceiling, over-the-stove and reading lights with LED lights (G4-WHP10-D, T10-PCB-WHP9, and G4-WHP15-T respectively) that are now available in a pleasant warm-white light from Super Bright LEDs, Inc.  See details and photos of his installation in his post, “LED ceiling lights“, on Airforums.com.

 Those hot-to-touch Halogen reading lights now feel only slightly warm with the Warm-White LEDs, which is very much appreciated when camping in the desert heat, and as a bonus, colors look truer.

More images and notes about our LEDs appear in this Airforums post.

 Earth Day was brightened in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park not only by the blazing sun, but also by the flowering Palo Verde tree, also called “lluvia de oro”, which is Spanish for “shower of gold”…

Reminding us that the real desert heat is still to come, and hopefully, with more gorgeous blue skies.

Yaquitepec (pronounced YAKeete-PECK and coined by Marshal South from “Yaqui”, the fierce freedom-loving Indians of Sonora, Mexico, and “tepec” referring to the hill) was Marshal South and family’s home from 1930 to 1946 on an obscure ridge they named Ghost Mountain, owned by the Bureau of Land Management before it became part of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  Yaquitepec, where Marshal and family lived close to nature in an experiment in primitive living, was bathed in spring flowers earlier this month.

A beavertail cactus greeted us as we approached Yaquitepec after trekking up the 1 mile trail.

Marshal South described a spring scene at Yaquitepec in his article, Desert Home 1, in the May 1941 issue of Desert Magazine:

The squaw-tea [Mormon tea or ephedra] bush in front of the house is sprinkled thickly with clustering chrome-yellow blossoms; and down by the yuccas the white and yellow headings of my tiny desert daisy bushes nod beside the budding beavertail cactus. The barrel cacti too are crowned with flower circlets and the lone creosote bush by the great rock is already dressed in its bright new covering of varnished green leaves and is sprinkled with yellow blossoms. New pink and cream heads nod on the buckwheat. The whole world of desert growth throbs to spring.

(Note: all 102 articles and poems written by Marshal South for Desert Magazine from 1939 to 1948 can be read in Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles: An Experiment in Primitive Living, 2005, Edited and with a Foreword by Diana Lindsay and Introduction by Rider and Lucile South, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA.)

Ephedra funerea, Mormon tea bush, has tiny leaves and most of the photosynthesis takes place in its green jointed stems. Most Native Americans in the Southwest and some of the Mormon pioneers brewed or boiled the Ephedra stems to make a tea that was considered refreshing and therapeutic.  Marshal’s ephedra, which he called squaw-tea, was just a few feet from his front door.

Encelia farinosa,  or Brittlebush, is prolific at Yaquitepec, and helps to soften the look of its dump of rusting cans a ways down on the southeast side.  (Marshal drove his 1929 Model A Ford 14 miles monthly up the Banner Grade to the nearest town, Julian, where he mailed in his articles to Desert Magazine, bought gasoline, and brought back library books, goods and supplies, including canned goods.)

Spring also brings warmer nights to Yaquitepec. Marshal South described one such night in his article, Desert Refuge 9, in the April 1942 issue of Desert Magazine:

Last night was warm and at midnight I went out to open another shutter of our screened sleeping porch… I did not at once go back into the house. Instead I sat down on the upper of the two rock steps that lead past the cisterns to where the woodpile is. Upon my bare body the chill of the night air struck with a tingling, electric glow that was almost warmth.

 Far off, through a mist-rift above the shadowy ridges, the North Star gleamed. Almost I seemed to hear the deep, measured breathing of the earth…

 The night air was like a garment of peace, and the overhead arch of the desert stars, appearing and disappearing through rifts in the canopy of haze, was a glorious procession of the Heavenly Hosts, streaming forward triumphantly across the fields of Paradise… One gets very close to the heart of things, sometimes, in the desert silence.

(All 102 articles and poems written by Marshal South for Desert Magazine from 1939 to 1948 can be read in Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles: An Experiment in Primitive Living, 2005, Edited and with a Foreword by Diana Lindsay and Introduction by Rider and Lucile South, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA.)

Plans were already in place for us to spend four nights just below Ghost Mountain, so when Rich L. and family arrived in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park with their friends Adam and Susan earlier in the week we were poised to go on a joint hike with them and celebrate their last full day in the desert with a sumptuous feast prepared by Larry.  We had already agreed on a hike to see the pictographs near Ghost Mountain and I was especially interested in seeing the nearby morteros for the first time. Adam and Susan had recently viewed the short film, Ghost Mountain - An Experiment in Primitive Living, shown in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park’s Visitors’ Center, and they were interested in hiking up to see Marshal South’s former home site, Yaquitepec, on Ghost Mountain. So we decided to do all three hikes in one afternoon.

(Pictured above are Adam, Susan, Emma, Rich and Eleanor)

Zoe the cat enjoyed viewing the sites from the vantage point of Emma’s day bag while both Rich and Emma kept their eyes open for any curiosities along the trail.

Bright yellow flower mounds of  Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) are prolific here at Yaquitepec right now. (The Laguna Mountains are seen along with the Mason Valley below.)

The Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata) and the Brittlebush brighten Marshal South’s dissolving adobe ruins.

Desert Agave (Agave deserti) is also very abundant here.  Standing below are two Agave flower stalks.  Native peoples (as illustrated in Marshal South’s frieze in the former Julian Library) once roasted young agave stalks in rock-lined roasting pits for two days which resulted in a sweet, molasses-flavored agave which was consumed.

Marshal South wrote in his article, “Desert Refuge 35”, in the June 1944 issue of Desert Magazine:

Mescal roasting is a family affair. Tanya and I find and bring in the sprouting plants that are ready for the baking.  Rider helps dig the pit and fetches stones to line it.  Rudyard and Victoria trot hither and thither, lugging in fuel…  you leave your mescals cooking in their primitive oven for two days… Take a knife or a hatchet and carefully trim off the outer crusting, and the prize lies before you.  Brown and golden and rich!

(All 102 articles and poems written by Marshal South for Desert Magazine from 1939 to 1948 can be read in Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles: An Experiment in Primitive Living, 2005, Edited and with a Foreword by Diana Lindsay and Introduction by Rider and Lucile South, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA.)

After hiking the mile back down to Rich’s Armada, we piled back in and continued down a sandy road to our next stop, Morteros Trail.  This .25 mile walk leads to an area where Native Kumeyaay women used rock pestles to pound seeds in the bedrock mortar (mortero).

Along the way we spotted numerous lizards of various colors.  Emma wanted to see a large one so she performed her “Homage to the colored lizard” by repeated bowing with arms outstretched.

We then climbed back into the Armada and continued down the road to our next and final hike of one mile into Smuggler Canyon to see the pictographs.  Emma’s homage worked because the next lizard that we saw was the largest one of the day.

We found the rock art pictographs (pictures with applied color, as contrasted with petroglyphs which have pictures etched into rock) on a prominent boulder.  Manfred Knack says in his The Forgotten Artist - Indians of Anza-Borrego and Their Rock Art, 1968, Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association, this rock art may have been associated with girls initiation ceremonies… The diamond chain or “rattlesnake” may have represented a messenger from the god Chinigehinish (or Chinigchinix), who would punish those who disobey his divine laws… Paintings at the conclusion of the rites of passage reaffirmed the final lessons of the ceremonies.

So after a total of 4.5 miles of hiking…

We were ready to find out what Larry had been preparing back at camp just southeast of Yaquitepec.

In Larry’s own words: “Wednesday afternoon involved preparing dinner while Bill went hiking with our friends. A majority of that time was used to assemble the vegetarian pot stickers and cook the falafels. We found that another picnic table had been moved to our campsite. We aligned them end-to-end and set out a Mexican serape as a table cloth and hung 2 Chinese bamboo flutes with red tassels, which danced in the wind, on the branches of the grove of picturesque mesquite trees. This made for a festive ambiance with plenty of seating and a buffet table for serving. The weather was beautiful with mild breezes.

I had fixings out for salad and/or pita sandwiches, which included falafels, tomatoes, onion, pepperoncini, hummus, tahini, pita wedges, vegetarian pot stickers (which were a favorite), lemonade, poppy seed short bread cookies, and celery sticks. Allowing guests to pick and choose their favorite eats always makes for a successful meal. Our guests (Rich, Eleanor, Emma, Adam and Susan) brought a bottle of wine and a delicious Julian apple pie topped with a crispy streusel topping.”

Larry enjoys researching and preparing food, recipes, and menus that are inclusive and compatible with guests’ dietary limitations.

I enjoyed the food and company so much that I forgot to take out our camera to capture the moment.  Perhaps we can entice the Man In The Maze to post some of his shots of this dinner gathering in his next post.

On January 24, 1848, James Marshall, a Mormon immigrant from New Jersey and foreman for John Sutter’s saw mill in Coloma, Ca. (50 miles northeast of Sacramento), waded into a stream to see if the current was strong enough to turn a mill wheel and saw a shiny small yellow rock.  A few days later Sutter’s headquarters verified that it was gold and newspaper articles a few months later triggered what became known as the California Gold Rush (1848-1855).  Argonauts poured into the San Francisco area from around the world, including Chinese gold seekers dreaming of wealth on “Gold Mountain“.  Gold fever also spread to the desert and legends arose.

Pegleg Smith is one such legend.  Thomas L. “Pegleg” Smith (1801-1866) was a mountain man who was also known as a fur trapper, prospector and horse thief.  During a trapping expedition, he was shot in the leg by a local Indian resulting in an amputation and a wooden leg.  There are many legends about Pegleg Smith and his “lost gold mine”.  Some say that he found black pebbles while crossing the desert and held on to them until he reached Los Angeles, thinking they were copper.  When he was told they were gold, he boasted about his gold stories for drinks in the saloons and sold maps to his mine.  He became a celebrated liar and Hollywood set designer Harry Oliver started the Pegleg Smith Club, erected a monument in 1947, and held the first official Pegleg Smith Liars’ Contest in 1949.

The sign beckons, “Let those who seek Pegleg’s gold add ten rocks to this pile.”  Many have come here over the years and the rock pile has grown substantially. Bert Gildart photographed this pile last February while camping here.  Rich L & family, Rich C, and Bill & Larry also boondocked here in March, 2007.  Pegleg Smith Monument is at the junction of Pegleg Road and Henderson Canyon Road at Highway S-22, 6.7 miles northeast of Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs, Ca.  Nearby is the field that was covered with Desert Sunflowers seen in my recent article, “Desert Blooms 2009“.  Earlier this month on our way to the flower fields we stopped at the Pegleg site just in time to see “gold” glittering on Pegleg’s rock pile…

in the form of the Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa).

The Pegleg Smith Liars’ Contest starts at sundown on the first Saturday of April each year and attracts storytellers from all over the world…

 along with other interested parties and/or creatures…

Watch DesertUSA’s video, “Riding on Gold“, which tells more about the legend of Pegleg Smith.

As I begin to write this at our home base in San Diego, it is 58 degrees, breezy with on-and-off sprinkles.  NOAA weather tells me that in our nearby Anza-Borrego Desert community of Borrego Springs, it is 64 degrees with isolated showers and wind speed of 29 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph.  A fast-moving low pressure system is moving through the area.  Last month we camped in the desert near Ghost Mountain, where poet, author, and artist Marshal South and his family set up a home they called Yaquitepec for over 15 years pursuing a primitive and natural lifestyle.  While we were there we experienced firsthand how quickly showers and wind can sweep through the area.

Marshal South wrote in his article, “Desert Diary 2 - February at Yaquitepec”, in the March 1940 issue of Desert Magazine:

                               There is nothing “regular” about the desert.  Uncertainty is its keynote and its eternal fascination…  Against a backdrop of silver showers that screened the footslopes of the Laguna range the desert flashed up in dazzling brilliance.  And over all, like a jeweled scimitar, its hilt in the desert and its point upon the summit of Granite Mountain, a mighty rainbow arched the sky.  It will be will be a warm and brilliant day today.  Tomorrow there may be snow.  Quien sabe!  This is the desert.

(All 102 articles and poems written by Marshal South for Desert Magazine from 1939 to 1948 can be read in Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles: An Experiment in Primitive Living, 2005, Edited and with a Foreword by Diana Lindsay and Introduction by Rider and Lucile South, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA.)

We are preparing for our return to the desert and look upon today’s rain as a blessing and a promise of more desert flowers to come.  Marshal South wrote in his article, “Desert Refuge 56″, of the March 1946 issue of Desert Magazine:

                   But storms bring with them their ultimate reward.  For beneath every bush and in the lee of every sheltering stone, new green life is pushing up through the desert soil.  The steady drip of the rains has wakened seeds from slumber.

Wild Heliotrope (above)

Below is a field of Desert Sunflowers and Desert Sand-Verbena of Henderson Canyon near Borrego Springs.

As I finish writing this the sky is now very blue and the trees are bending in the wind.  NOAA tells me that the wind is kicking up dust in Tucson, Arizona.  We look forward to returning to the fascinating and colorful desert.

In the meantime, take a look at Wildflowers Of The Southwest, presented by NPR.

Each year’s desert wildflower bloom is unique in its variety, profusion and timing.  Much depends on rainfall and temperature.  Anza-Borrego Desert recently had rain and with warming temperatures the blooms are popping.  A good blooming year here happens only a couple of times a decade.  A good example is found in the fields of Desert Sunflowers and Desert Sand-Verbena of Henderson Canyon near Borrego Springs.

Desert Sunflower, Geraea canescens…

Along with Desert Sand-Verbena near Ocotillo Wells.

Below is Desert Chicory in the Palm Canyon area where we camped.

And the Barrel Cactus…

And the Fairy Duster (Calliandra eriophylla)…

Last Friday we drove out to the Ocotillo Wells area where we photographed what some people consider the holy grail of the desert wildflowers, the Desert Lily…

Hesperocallis undulata

Read and/or listen to the March 5, 2009 NPR, All Things Considered story, ‘Good Blooming Year’ For California Wildflowers.

It might be snowing where you are, but it’s spring wildflowers in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.  That’s how I started a similar post almost exactly one year ago when Larry and I rendezvoused with Rich Charpentier and Sadira  for a celebration of the beginning of the wildflower season and the turning point in Rich’s fortune.  Two years ago Rich visited this area in Borrego Springs and immediately felt happy.  From here he went on to find his happy home base in Prescott, Arizona and establish his very successful career, R.L. Charpentier Photography, and gallery.

Last Saturday we received a report from the Anza-Borrego Foundation and Institute that the desert is blooming.  We were not disappointed, even our campsite was surrounded with wildflowers.

The blooms are just beginning and should be prolific this year due to our recent rain.

Since dogs are not allowed on the trails, we took turns going with Rich on day hikes.  Larry and Rich hiked up Palm Canyon with its many displays of the Brittlebush (big grayish-green dome-shaped bush covered with bright yellow flowers on thin stalks) and the Pink Sand Verbena.  Then on the same day, I joined Rich in his Titan on a drive to Ghost Mountain where we hiked one mile to see the pictographs in Smuggler Canyon.

Along the way Rich discovered a lizard on a rock.  And the lizard contemplated its options.

Rich came well equipped with two cameras, an assortment of lens, tripod and waterproof bag.  Rich is gaining quite a reputation for his spectacular HDR images.

We found the pictographs and my images will appear in my next post, along with more about Marshal South’s and his son’s visit here when they lived at nearby Yaquitepec.

The brief report comes to you from the field, as it did one year ago, complements of Rich’s WI-FI connection.

More desert trails and mysteries will continue after my next post, Desert blooms 2009.