The 15-day Chinese New Year celebration had just come to a close as the full Wolf Moon, also known as the Hunger Moon, rose in the cool, clear night sky amid shimmering stars and howls of coyotes as we settled in for five nights of camping in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

Our festive campsite was in stark contrast to the dark and closed section of the southern non-hook-up section of Borrego Palm Canyon campground on the other side of the Palo Verde tree, due to state budget constraints.  We noticed that there were fewer park rangers and more camp hosts than ever before.

With the help of volunteers, the park’s Visitor Center remains open and is a delight to visit.  Dogs are permitted on the 0.6-mile “trail”, which is actually a cement sidewalk that traverses the desert from the campground to the Visitor Center.  Our dogs love this walk and often wildlife is spotted along the way, such as this Black-tailed jackrabbit (a previous image of mine, showing jackrabbits in their natural habitat, will be seen in an exhibit in the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona, later this year).

The only bighorn sheep seen on this trip were in the form of brass handles on either side of the Visitor Center’s massive wooden doors.

Honey bees were busy collecting pollen from Jojoba flowers nearby the Visitor Center.  Jojoba foliage is eaten by bighorn sheep and its nuts are eaten by rabbits.  Lower than expected rainfall in the area since January 1st could threaten the display of spring wildflowers expected next month.

The sun dipped below the nearby mountain ridge as we lit our teacandle lanterns and enjoyed dinner under the stars as we celebrated the upcoming Valentine’s Day and our 41st Anniversary.

Al Green got it right when he sang, “Let’s Stay Together.”

At an elevation of 3960 feet, Indianhead Peak loomed nearby as our Airstream friends Theresa, Bert, Janie, and I gathered at the trailhead of the popular Borrego Palm Canyon Nature Trail for another chance to see the elusive Bighorn Sheep and a spectacular palm oasis.  Just two days prior, Bert, Janie, and I found a 350-foot long serpent undulating in the desert sand not far from here, so we were hopeful for more good luck as we started our 3-mile hike.

Borrego Palm Canyon is a watershed for the San Ysidro Mountains and has a year-round flowing stream.

A thunderstorm can turn this creek into a raging river that can bring down trees, move boulders, and flood Borrego Springs, as it did in 2004.  Fires can also threaten this area, such as the Eagle fire of last July, which burned more than 10,000 acres as it spread east into the western slopes of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  Fortunately, Bighorn Sheep can easily get out of range of flames in the terrain of Borrego Palm Canyon.  Historically, according to Wikipedia, they have been threatened more by hunting, competition from domestic sheep, diseases, and development but are now making a comeback.

I was bringing up the rear of our hiking party halfway into our hike up the canyon when I turned and looked back at the southwestern ridge and spotted a female Bighorn Sheep (ewe) looking down at me.  I whispered to Janie, who passed the word to the others ahead.  I took a few steps back into the shade and began taking photos with my Nikon telephoto lens set to 200mm. I had photographed Peninsular Bighorn Sheep before at Agua Caliente, but I had never seen them in person here before.  As I was photographing the ewe, to my surprise, a much younger ewe poked her head up over the ridge.

It is likely that the larger ewe is pregnant and hungry.  The breeding season, or rut, is in the fall and there is a six-month gestation period.

Bighorn Sheep eat a variety of plants such as mesquite, agave and cacti.

The ewe remained vigilant as she stood on a ledge of the canyon wall covered with desert varnish, while we continued on our hike to the First Palm Oasis.

This oasis consists of a grove of California Fan Palms, Washingtonia filifera, near a running stream.  Oases such as these were habitat sites for the Cahuilla tribe of Native Americans, who ate the palm fruit and seed, and used the palm fronds to make rope, sandals, and baskets.  According to Diana Lindsay, a clan of Cahuilla lived in Borrego Palm Canyon, but abandoned their village due to small pox epidemics and territorial struggles with cattlemen (Anza-Borrego A to Z: People, Places, and Things, Diana Lindsay, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, 2001, page 80).

After working up an appetite, we returned to camp and joined Larry and Theresa’s husband Bob for a feast of pork and shrimp spring rolls, pork pot stickers, and Yusheng salad provided by Larry, while savoring our memories of our hike into Borrego Palm Canyon and reflecting on those who once lived there.  (See Bert’s photos and story of our hike here.)

Bert Gildart’s beautiful photography and stories have graced most issues of Airstream Life magazine ever since his first article, “Montana’s Crow Country – Airstreaming Through Native American History,” appeared in the Summer 2004 issue.  Bert and his wife Janie love to hike, so I had fun taking them on their first hike on the stunning Moonlight Canyon Trail in Agua Caliente County Park in the Anza-Borrego Desert in Southern California when they visited us in December.  Our morning hike was spectacular, especially when we came upon five Bighorn Sheep grazing on a nearby ridge.

Bert was so thrilled by the morning hike he asked to go out again after lunch for another chance encounter with the sheep and this time, take with him his tripod and strobes for a close-up photo shoot of blooming California Fuchsia.  I’ve accompanied Bert before on photography hikes, such as up Ghost Mountain on a previous New Year’s Day, and it is always a treat to see this professional photographer do his artistic work.  He brought along his bag of tricks, including lenses and strobes, and his heavy-duty tripod.

We returned to the California Fuchsia that we had seen earlier in the day and I took a picture of it (seen below) as Bert set up his equipment.

First Bert attached a 105mm macro lens to his Nikon D7000 camera and adjusted the tripod’s legs to accommodate the steeply angled rocky trail edge and focused on the flowers.

For Bert’s magic and artistry, he set the camera’s shutter speed to 250^th of a second (which makes the flowers look motionless, even in a breeze) and set the aperture at f/32 for maximum depth of field.   Bert used two hand-held strobes, which he explained overwhelm ambient light and produce the black background.  See his stunning image of this flower in his blog posting, “Surviving In a Land Where Everything Either Sticks, Stings or Bites.”

We then returned to the ridge where we had seen Bighorn Sheep earlier in the day, but none were within sight.  As we gazed upward, we both slowly turned, smiling at each other with the same thought.  Maybe the sheep were just on the other side of the ridge.  Yes, we thought, and scrambled up the loose granite side of the ridge like young boys on a treasure hunt.  We got to the top and Bert went on to a higher ridge nearby, but did not see sheep.  I motioned for him to come over and see Hedgehog Cactus that had been eaten earlier that morning by the Bighorn Sheep.

In his book Bighorn Sheep: Mountain Monarchs, Bert writes, “Sheep can digest many forms of food, and their teeth form the foundation for this tolerance… The lower incisors and single canine are intended for nipping while the molars serve to grind… Sheep have a four-chambered stomach… the first [chamber] is unusually large, creating a super fermentation vat” (Page 53).  See Bert’s close-up photo of this same cactus here, taken from his vantage point seen below.  (The cactus is in the shade to the left of the Brittlebush.)

We could have enjoyed lingering on that ridge longer, but the sun began to set, and Janie and Larry were waiting for us back in camp.  We returned with warm memories of this glorious day, which continue to sustain us as we look forward to that next hike, adventure and photo shoot in this wonderful world as we greet the New Year and the return of the sun.

There were rainbows over San Diego and snow fell on the Laguna Mountains, but the Anza-Borrego desert night sky was filled with stars the night before Bert and Janie drove down from their winter camping spot at Pegleg Smith Monument to visit us at Agua Caliente County Park in Southern California.  Writer/photographer/Airstreamer Bert Gildart and his wife Janie are from Montana and have produced a number of guide and nature books such as Bighorn Sheep: Mountain Monarchs. His beautiful articles are seen in most issues of Airstream Life magazine.  Our last hike together was New Year’s Day 2010 for an evening photo shoot of Marshal South’s home, Yaquitepec, on Ghost Mountain.

The nights were chilly but our Safari Airstream trailer was warm and cozy inside and festively decorated for the holidays.  Before we left San Diego, Larry had made a Christmas tree (in the style of ones seen in Pennsylvanian German settlements in 1747) for Bert and Janie using materials from our garden, including Juniper, Rose hips, and Bromeliad bloom spikes.

It was a glorious sunny morning when Bert and Janie arrived with good cheer, smiles, and a large bottle of California Chardonnay wine.

We happily chatted as Larry served hot cider, homemade panettone and carrot-raisin oatmeal cookies.  This is Bert and Janie’s first time here, so I had fun introducing them to the park, the Marshal South connection and its beautiful hiking trails.  They joined me on a late morning hike on Moonlight Canyon Trail, where I photographed Peninsular Bighorn sheep last January.  A third of the way into the hike, Bert pointed up and smiled.

We spent the next 30 minutes at this spot photographing 5 Bighorn sheep that were grazing on the nearby ridge.

Bert was in his element. See his photo of the above scene in his posting, “Christmas at Bill & Larry’s.”

Seeing these mountain monarchs this close is like finding gold.  Perhaps Janie helped our fortune by recently adding 10 rocks to the Pegleg Smith Monument, honoring the legend of Pegleg Smith’s lost gold.  Bert turned to me with an expression of true joy.

After a two-hour hike, we returned to camp and enjoyed Larry’s homemade Cajun pork stew while conversing over myriad subjects of interest.  At a certain point, Bert got up to stretch and whispered to me with a boyish smile, “Do you think we could go back out on that trail… I could bring my bigger lenses and strobe light equipment and photograph the California Fuchsia we saw… and maybe the Bighorn sheep might still be there!”  So Bert and I took off like a couple of school kids on vacation.  I saw and photographed more of Bert’s photographic artistry, which will be seen in an upcoming post.  We returned just as the sun went down behind our nearby mountain ridge, quickly bringing cooler temperatures.

We thanked Bert and Janie for their good cheer, insight, company, genuine warmth and understanding… especially as we approached the shortest and darkest day of the year, winter solstice… and for helping us drive the cold winter away.

Last Sunday we arrived at Agua Caliente as temperatures soared in the 90s, requiring air conditioning that first night, but by the next night I was wearing long johns as a rare early October storm from the Gulf of Alaska began moving into the area, bringing rain to the San Diego coast and high winds and unseasonably cool temperatures to the desert.

We came prepared to celebrate Oktoberfest.

Larry brought items prepared at home such as Jäger-Schnitzel (American version: Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup simmered with pork chops), Würzfleisch (East German chicken stew), and Kartoffelsalat (German potato salad).  We also brought leberwurst (liverwurst), bratwurst on skewers made of rosemary branches from our backyard, Beck’s Oktoberfest Lager, and German steins.  Additional items such as corn beef, corn on the cob, and pita bread provided meal flexibility depending on the weather and how we felt at the time.

By Tuesday, cool breezes made for a comfortable hike through Moonlight Canyon Trail, where I had a close encounter with Bighorn Sheep last January.  (The park rangers were impressed with my photo journal of this event made with iPhoto’s book-creation tool.)  I saw no sheep, but I was impressed with a large California Fuchsia, a.k.a. Firechalice, on the trail with a profuse display of scarlet flowers that we have not seen before because it blooms August to October, when we usually are not here.  A Rufous Hummingbird was seen nearby.  The flowers supply hummingbirds with food for the start of their southward migration.

I discovered a scorpion in the park restroom sink as I was about to take a shower.  I helped it out with some tissue paper and coaxed it out the door, but it quickly darted back under the door, so I chose another shower and now keep a closer eye out for creatures in restrooms (and those that like to take shelter in our trailer tire covers).

After the shower, I enjoyed Larry’s corn beef – Swiss cheese pita wrap served with chips, tomatoes, and Beck’s Beer.

This was usually followed by afternoon reading or napping.  At bedtime, I continued reading out loud Harry Potter.  We are currently reading Book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Before the gusty winds arrived, we enjoyed mellow evenings under the moon and stars.

On Thursday, we listened with sadness to a BBC tribute to Steve Jobs, which included his words of wisdom spoken during his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life… Have the courage to follow your own heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.”

Desert wildflowers were blooming and the sun was shining, so even wild horses could not keep us away while record-breaking high temperatures were rolling across San Diego County.  It took longer each day for the sun to dip below the nearby mountain range and bring comforting shade and refreshing coolness to our Safari and us.  During the week temperatures progressed from the high seventies to the high nineties in the Anza-Borrego Desert.Areas of the Anza-Borrego Desert were once part of the ancestral Gulf of California and are rich in fossils, such as horse teeth.  According to Wikipedia, the horse is native to North America and Equidae fossils date back to the Eocene period, 54 million years ago.  Equus fossils, such as those thought to be Equus scotti, have been found in the Anza-Borrego Desert.  All Equidae in North America became extinct about 12,000 years ago, but horses eventually returned to the Americas with Christopher Columbus in 1493 (second voyage).  Some horses escaped and formed feral herds, such as the Mustang.  In 2003, the last herd of wild horses in Southern California was removed from Anza-Borrego’s Coyote Canyon, but efforts are underway to restore the herd amidst much controversy.

We recently acquired this beautiful fused glass art, “Galloping Horses”, by Lyn Feudner, from The Art Glass Guild, part of Spanish Village Art Center, next to the San Diego Zoo.  A closeup of this piece is seen in Lyn’s blog posting, “Fused Glass Horse“, and is based on her sketches posted last May.  It goes well in front of our Vista View window.

Here is what is also new in our trailer.  We found that the Cuisinart CPT-60 2-slice toaster with its wide long slot is perfect for toasting slices of Larry’s homemade artisan bread rounds and fits perfectly in back of the stove when not in use.

It is pulled out onto the mat under the stove hood when in use (unfortunately it is currently unavailable).

This 39″ high Bionaire Tower Fan from Costco has a small footprint and yet produces a cooling breeze inside the trailer when it is not quite hot enough to close up the trailer and start up the noisy air conditioner.

It is remote controlled and comes with a 12″ high Mini Tower Fan.

Eventually, as the week progressed, we did turn on the air conditioner…

and began dreaming about our next camping destination…

bluff-top  camping overlooking the Pacific Ocean…

where wild horses couldn’t keep us away.

Desert blooms are not as profuse in some places of the Anza-Borrego Desert this spring due to three straight nights of freezing temperatures in February, but magnificent points of color can still be treasured.  Avoiding nails, I carefully backed our Airstream Safari into our Agua Caliente County Park campsite, right up to two spectacular ocotillo plants lush with small green leaves and profuse crimson flowers.

Every morning we opened our door to wonderful displays of color.

Nearby our two ocotillo plants is a creosote bush in full bloom.

The Creosote bush, Larrea tridentata, is an evergreen shrub with dark green leaves and yellow flowers.  According to Wikipedia, this plant was used by Native Americans in the Southwest as a treatment for a variety of illnesses and it is still used as a medicine in Mexico (the species is named after J.A. Hernandez de Larrea, a Spanish clergyman).

Another medicinal, the ocotillo, Fouquieria splendens, has bright crimson flowers that often appear after a rainfall.  According to Wikipedia, the fresh flowers are used in salads and the dried flowers are used for herbal tea.

Marshal South and family’s spirits rose when spring came to their desert home, Yaquitepec, on Ghost Mountain.  He wrote in his Desert Diary 4 (May 1940) April at Yaquitepec article:

 All the desert is awake and rejoicing in Spring. Fountains of wax-like white flowers tower above the green, bristling bayonets of the yuccas and the emerald wands of the newly-leafed ocotillos are tipped with points of flame. Color! Sharp, vivid color! That is the keynote of the wasteland’s awakening. And the knowledge that the vanished Children of the Desert found in many of these gorgeous blossoms a source of nourishing food takes nothing from their charm. Both the flowers of the yucca and the ocotillo are good to eat.

(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 a cold, rainy winter, my spirits rose while hiking the Moonlight Canyon Trail in full sunlight and rising temperatures.  I spotted a lizard basking on granite surrounded by a sea of Bigelow Monkeyflowers, Mimulus bigelovii.

Barbed cholla spines pierced my lower pant leg and shoes as I maneuvered to take the photo of the barrel cactus below.

I returned to camp, removed the cholla spines, and enjoyed my daily noontime shower followed by savoring a cotto salami sandwich made by Larry.  Slices of cotto salami are placed in a toasted bun with finely shredded cabbage, horseradish mustard, mayonnaise, cream cheese, and onion with a side of chips and pepperoncini, Asian pickled garlic & ginger, olives and Deglet Noor dates.  This was complimented by a cold bottle of Heineken.

Then came afternoon reading, writing, walking the dogs and dining and photographing under the stars… and listening to a French song.

Agua Caliente lies in the Anza-Borrego Desert at the eastern end of Vallecito Valley at the foot of the Tierra Blanca Mountains in Southern California where seismic activity created a spur of the Elsinore fault enabling water to come to the surface, which supports lush plant life and a wide variety of wildlife including the Bighorn Sheep.  Minerals come up in the hot springs forming mounds of natural salt licks.

Bighorn sheep are on the federal list of endangered species and seem to be making a comeback in this area.  An Agua Caliente County Park Ranger said there are about 13 of them here, so I was excited to have my first close encounter when I took a hike during our last camping trip and spotted four of them,

or more accurately, they spotted me.  They prefer to graze on rocky ridges and slopes where they can spot and escape from predators.

I stopped in my tracks and quietly prepared my camera and spent the next forty minutes in their world.  We saw eye to eye.

As long as I moved slowly and peacefully, they seemed comfortable in my presence.

They came down to feed,

and smile.

Poet, artist, and author Marshal South, along with his family, lived on Ghost Mountain for years before they spotted a great ram while hiking near here.  Marshal reported this experience in his article, Desert Refuge 41, December, 1944 issue of Desert Magazine:

As the dark body broke from the fringe of brush and leaped upon the lower rocks of a precipitous hillside not 30 yards distant, we saw that it was a great ram… a monarch among sheep.  In that flash instant in which poised upon a boulder, he glanced back at us before starting upward; he was a sight to stop the heartbeat… he halted, appraising us.  Then he started up, bounding swiftly up the almost perpendicular ridge with a sure footed skill that gave a deceptive illusion of leisurely ease… he reached the crest.  Here, silhouetted against the hard blue of the sky, the tall sharp line of a dry mescal pole rising beside him like a lifted standard he paused again.  Silence held the desert – and us – as for perhaps 20 seconds he stood outlined against space: A creature of freedom, gazing out across the rocks and ranges of his homeland in whose beetling cliffs and hidden canyons still some trace of dwindling freedom lingers.  Then he was gone.  The skyline was empty, and our hearts came back slowly to normal beating.

(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.)

I was lucky to have my Nikon D40 camera on hand as I took a hike on one of Agua Caliente County Park’s many trails when I had my first glimpse and extended photo session with Peninsular Bighorn sheep during our last camping trip here.  Up until this trip, we have never seen firsthand the famous Bighorn sheep of the Anza-Borrego Desert.  (“Borrego” is Spanish for lamb or sheep.)  “Bighorn sheep tend to keep a safe distance from human activity, but sometimes seem possessed of a kind of curiosity about humans,” writes Jerry Schad in his Afoot & Afield in San Diego County, 3rd edition, Wilderness Press, 1998, page 13.

Peninsular Bighorn Sheep, Ovis canadensis cremnobates, live in the Peninsular Mountain Ranges of California and Baja California.  Wikipedia states that Bighorn sheep originally crossed to North America over the Bering land bridge from Siberia during the Pleistocene (about 750,00 years ago).  Bighorn sheep population once peaked in the millions, but decreased to several thousand by 1900.  Threats to this endangered species include drought, disease, mountain lions, coyotes, feral cattle, off-road vehicles, and reductions in their natural habitat by encroachments of “civilization” (golf courses and housing developments).  Bighorn sheep prefer steep rocky slopes where they can graze on plants while avoiding predators.

After I spotted the first one, I walked ahead very slowly, quietly, gently with camera ready and heard above me hoof-steps and rocks moving and saw an ewe gazing down at me.  It was love at first sight.

This pregnant ewe accepted my peaceful company and grazed on plants.  “Favorite food is jojoba, mesquite, white ratany, bee sage, desert agave, and barrel cactus,” writes Diana Lindsay in her book Anza-Borrego A to Z: People, Places, and Things, Sunbelt Publications, 2001.

She grazed and gazed.

Other sheep gradually accepted me, while this ram came down with a clattering noise of sliding rocks to investigate.

An older and larger ram kept watch as a younger ram and ewes grazed towards me.

These were very special, magical moments with the great ram…

and pregnant ewe…

After 40 minutes, we said our gentle goodbyes and I walked ahead with a warm glow and beautiful memories.

Such beautiful and precarious creatures… may we be good shepherds to all of nature.

If you have read my previous article, you know that I’ve been Barefootin’ about this summer in San Diego.  And if you have not read the 12+ comments to this post, you have not read the rest of this story.  But now summer is coming to a close and the June bugs are winding down their wild mating rituals.

And our pond water is now warm enough for Tasha’s first swim test.

Autumn is approaching, which means that it is time to prepare our 2007 Safari Airstream for our fall and winter camping season.  Last June I washed the trailer after our beach outing and noticed a few drops of water had entered the trailer near the forward Fan-Tastic Fan.  It’s possible that I had manually not closed the cover all the way, but I also noticed that there seemed to be a gap in some of the exterior caulking around the fan and other places on the roof.

I have used Acryl-R for a small leak from a seam on one of the Vista View windows and Parbond on the top seam of the stove exterior exhaust vent, but I had not caulked anything on the roof before, so I searched and found abundant information on this Airforums.com thread, Caulking and Sealants.  For caulking Airstream roof seams, Vulkem (now called TremPro) and Sikaflex seem to be recommended the most (both are polyurethane sealants).  Sikaflex is now used by Airstream, Inc. on most exterior large seams and is available from the Airstream Store.  I decided to try TremPro (Vulkem) 635 in white for the roof and ordered this, along with a tube of TremPro 636 in aluminum color, from C & G Trailer Service (Airstream Certified Service Center in Bellflower, California).  TremPro is also available from Vintage Trailer Supply.

TremPro is made by Tremco, a company first started by William C. Treuhaft in 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio.  TremPro 635 is faster curing than 636.  Note that I used a standard, manual caulking gun (unlike the air-powered one used by John, resulting in an exploding tube of caulk, as reported by Lug in his “I Am Vulkem Man” posting).

I followed the directions and made sure the caulking surfaces were clean and dry.  (Our 2007 trailer’s caulking is still pliant, intact and did not have to be removed.)  I cut the tip of the tube at an angle and punctured the inner foil several times with a wire hanger.  Larry held the ladder while I went topside and applied the product, smoothing it with my dry finger.  Paint thinner (mineral spirits) easily removed the product from my hands.  While I was up there, I also applied 303 Aerospace Protectant to the rubber seal around the Fan-Tastic Fan, which I apply annually here and on the window seals to protect them and keep them from sticking.

I repeated this process around the rear Fan-Tastic Fan and bathroom air vent.

Success… now our trailer is as happy as a dancing robot under the Harvest Moon (Caravan Palace)!