I visited the Anza Borrego State Park yesterday. For the first two weeks of March, the desert is in full bloom. It was definitely something I’ve never seen before. While driving to the desert, Sir Brauny and I had many spectacular panoramic views.
When we got to the visitor’s center, there was barely any parking. I guess everyone else had the same idea to see the flowers bloom. Around the visitor’s center the bloomage was disappointing. There were little flowers here and there but nothing spectacular. I was fearing no matter how great they said the flowers would be, it was after all still a desert.
We wanted to walk up the Palm Canyon Trail. It looked short and supposedly had the best flowers at that time. From the visitor’s center, there was sign that said “Nature Trail” with a little arrow, so we walked half a mile on a concrete sidewalk to the camp ground area. At which point, we saw a sign that said “Palm Canyon Trail” this way with a little arrow. I realize nature probably doesn’t have paved sidewalks leading the way but you never know.
So we followed all the other people like sheep on Palm Canyon Trail. It was flat and had slightly better flowers. The ground was covered with teeny tiny red and pink flowers, then there were little bushes for purple and white, and large bushes of yellow. It was getting better the further we walked along.
The further we walked along the trail, the more confused I became. More and more cars were driving to the end of the trail. When we finally reached the end of the trail, I overheard someone say that where the cars were parking was $6 parking and you’d be crazy to pay that much when all you have to do is walk a mile to the BEGINNING OF THE TRAIL.
I’m from LA. I’d have gladly paid $30 to save myself a two mile round trip walk and for the realization we hadn’t even begun to walk the trail. We saw a covered map area with a cliche “You are Here” designation. Palm Canyon was a 1.5 mile hike, starting there. We thought what the hell 1.5 miles isn’t that far. Thus my accidental vision quest began.
Lesson one: The end is only the beginning.
Lesson two: It may look dead but there’s a lot going on beneath the surface.
Lesson two and a half: As one of the posters pointed out – you may not be able to see the wildlife, but rest assured they are watching you.
Lesson three: When charging down the path, you won’t notice the neat-o things around you until you stop to rest because you might have sun stroke.
Lesson four: Even if you go off the marked trail in what is clearly not meant for people, all paths eventually lead to the oasis.
Lesson five: If you knew the path was going to be long, hard, and steep beforehand, you’d never go anywhere.
Lesson six: You can make it, no matter how much it hurts.
Lesson seven: It’s wonderful at the top. Until you realize it’s just the beginning.
At the end of such a powerful five mile vision quest, we visited the Salton Sea. What a let down, just like Mother Nature said. There was a large highway near by and even though we had no map of the area, we took it. I figured as long as we headed north and west we’d eventually get home. We ran into the 10, which anyone knows goes right into LA. But it also leads to an Indian Casino first. We ended the vision quest at the Morongo Casino’s all-you-can-eat buffet.
It was glorious.
