Day Trip to Ocotillo
Wells and Borrego Springs
Early this spring, my son and I took my
new Ram 2500 4x4 out to
Ocotillo
Wells (other side of the coastal mountain range, east San Diego County
desert country) where he takes his kids, my two oldest grandchildren,
to
ride their motorcycles and ATVs. We drove down Hwy 78 toward
Ocotillo
Wells then turned left across a
desolate flat area and down into San Fillipe Wash, a wide, dry river
wash banked with low
sandstone
cliffs...kinda neat,
no road, just pick a track headed up the wash and go.
I like the desert and enjoyed the
company of my son, who also likes it. Sure, in the middle of
summer,
it is hot, dusty and dry. But in the spring
it's alive with life
until the summer heat sets in. The wildflowers were past their
peak,
but still in bloom. Later on that day, we headed up Coyote
Canyon
out of Borrego Springs, one of my favorite desert back country
roads.
Coyote
Creek was still flowing and creating crossing problems
for 2-wheel
drive vehicles, but we forged ahead and found forests of blooming
ocotillo, flowering cactus and various wildflowers
making their last
stand before the sandy soil becomes too hot and dry
to support the green and
growing part of their life cycle. The rainbow colors of the
flowers,
along with the tans, chocolate
browns
and purplish hues of the rugged hills and mountains are stark
contrast.
We drove up the
narrowing road until it became nothing more than a gully filled with
rocks and boulders. Called the Bypass, it is a challenging
1/2 mile of rough and rocky
"road" only for experienced drivers and 4-wheel drive vehicles.
The
road used to
follow an "easier" route along the
creek to Lower Willows and on into Collins Valley, but that portion is
now
closed to vehicles.
We might have been able to go
further (we
watched
as a couple other trucks and jeeps negotiated the rocky route) but I'm
not that experienced
with such roads and
haven't owned and enjoyed my truck long enough to risk damage.
We parked the truck at the bottom and
climbed up the boulder strewn
"road" until we reached the top. Looking back down, I realized
that coming
up
would have been the easy part. Going back down, we would have
been at the mercy of
gravity; and back down would have been necessary
since a
locked gate blocks
further travel at the north end of Collins Valley. We climbed
back
down the gully
that would be a road, and after a break
for some liquid refreshment,
turned the truck around
and headed back to Borrego Springs and on home. It was definitely
an enjoyable day.
Copyright © 2004, by Rich McCormack
Send comments and questions to macknet@pacbell.net
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