I drove all the way back to the Anza Borrego State Park visitor center, and then drove south again to a place called Stag Cove because I was told that a certain plant was blooming there. That particular plant is one that's camouflaged and hard to see. It's kind of the holy grail for flower lovers like me and I was ready to spend some time looking for it there.
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| Stag Cove Trailhead |
I didn't find this plant. Either it wasn't blooming or I simply didn't look at the right paces. I did spend a nice hour walking up and around the creek and enjoying the desert views.
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| My hike at Stag Cove as captured by my GPS |
The first thing I noticed when I got out of the car was that this area wasn't a blooming hotspot. There were however, quite a few wildflowers blooming there, and many more were in the process of budding out. Almost immediately I found a few groundcherries in bloom. This plant I saw blooming also next to my tent in the campground but here were many more of these tomatillo-like shrubs.
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| Thickleaf Groundcherry, Physalis crassifolia |
I started slowly up a the little dry creek, paying close attention to the soil beneath the larger bushes, in search of that specific plant I wanted to see.
What I did see was wildflowers I was already familiar with from my June Wash hike yesterday. Not that I was disappointed, I was glad to see them again.
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| Emory Rock Daisy, Perityle emoryii |
This prickly member of the blazing star genus was also nicely represented in Stag Cove, although most plants were just beginning to bloom.
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| Hairy Stickleaf, Mentzelia hirsutissima |
There were more chuparosa bushes blooming there too, but none of them was in full bloom as the one I saw at the Bow Willow campground.
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| Chuparosa, Justicia californica |
In its lower part the wash was flat walking on the soft sand was nice and easy. Behind the first curve I found two 4WD cars parked and realized that I wasn't alone in the area. I didn't see the people though.
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Stag Cove
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A few poppy plants were blooming a bit further up the wash. These were not the California poppy that is so common in the coastal regions of the state but the smaller and yellower gold poppy. This flower too, I was seeing for the first time.
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| Gold Poppy, Eschscholzia parishii |
All around me I've seen pre-bloom mustard plants that were pulled out and left to dry and die. The mustard is an aggressive invader there and I assumed it was an effort to reduce its impact on the local ecology. I found a few of the plants that were still in the ground. I didn't pull them out, though. I wasn't sure if my interpretation of the situation was correct.
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| Mustard |
The wash narrowed and now I was going upslope, occasionally having to walk over rocks and through bushes. When some of these bushes turned out to be teddybear cholla cacti I decided it was time to turn around. I wanted to go to the bloom hotspots near Borrego Springs and go up coyote Canyon Road today still. Also, there was no sign of the plant I was looking for. It was time to head back down.
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| Stag Cove Wash |
I decided to return on higher ground so I climbed the side of the wash and found myself on a gentle slope full of creosote bushes, Teddybear Cilla cacti, and Ocotillo, none f which were in bloom. There was also a great view of the pretty mountains on the north.
I meandered between the bushes in the general direction of where I parked, giving close attention to the ground still, hoping that I might see the plant pf my desire there. I didn't see it, but pretty teddybear cholla are very pretty to look at too. Some of them were bearing the leftovers of last season's bloom.
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| Teddybear Cholla, Cylindropuntia biglovii |
It was there that I got ti see other cacti that were not cholla or beavertail. There were several fishhook cactus on my path, all of them looked very healthy and happy after swelling from the monsoon rains.
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| Common Fish Hook Cactus, Mammillaria tetrancistra |
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A young California barrel cactus covered in red thorns was growing below a creosote bush. Cacti take a long time to grow. Maybe I'll get to see this one again next time I visit Anza Borrego Park.
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| California Barrel Cactus, Ferocactus cylindraceus |
There were many agave plants all around there also, but only a few of them were blooming. Those that bloomed however, looked absolutely magnificent.
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| Desert Agave, Agave deserti var. deserti |
I didn't find the plant that I was looking fore, but I enjoyed walking around Stag Cove and I got to see the gold poppy in bloom.
On my way back to my car I saw that a few more cars were parked next to mine and some people walking up the wash. I wondered if they were looking for the same thing I was, and if they knew something I didn't. I didn't ask them though. I figured I gave my search enough time and drove back to Borrego Springs. As I was going over the pass down to the valley I noticed a snow-capped mountain range peeking between the mountains north of Borrego Springs. This mountain, I lated verified, was
San Jacinto. I still have a San Jacinto backpacking trip plan on my bucket list.
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| San Jacinto |
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Pegleg Road 33.280200, -116.299029 and Henderson Canyon Road 33.302014, -116.327668
When I was a child I loved looking at the nature publications of LIFE. One of the photos there was burned powerfully into my consciousness - the photo of a magnificent desert bloom. I remembered that the photo was taken in California, and that it had carpets of pink, yellow, and white flowers on soft sand dunes. The text claimed that this bloom was a rare phenomenon, as unpredictable as the rains in the desert. I don't remember the location in which that photo was taken, but the dunes east of Borrego Springs adjacent to Pegleg Rd sure fit the image I had kept in my memory all those years.
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| Hairy Sand Verbena, Abronia villosa var. villosa |
The colors adorning the dunes signaled the right place for me to stop by the rad side and go for a little walk. I didn't have any clear path, I simply walked around the dunes, taking care not to step on anything.
Almost immediately I found yet another 'lifer', a member of the aster family, - a laxflower. Its leaves were covered in soft, white plumage, protection against radiation and dehydration.
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| Laxflower, Baileya pauciradiata |
A white flowering desert pincushion was the next wildflower I saw. This species I saw yesterday as well in the dunes at June Wash.
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| Desert Pincushion, Chaenactis stevioides |
The most dominant white bloom there however, was the dune evening primrose. That was without a doubt, one of the flowers that I remembered from that old LIFE photo. The primrose, together with the sand verbena and the desert sunflower. These were the celebrity flowers.
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| Dune Evening Primrose, Oenothera deltoides ssp. deltoides |
There were only a few desert sunflowers at the first place where I stopped, and they were fairly small and mostly past the peak of their bloom. I found one that was still at its prime and admired it for some time.
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Hairy Desert Sunflower, Geraea canescens
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On my way back to the car I paused to appreciate the one most reliably visible wildlife on my trip - the black harvester ants.
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| Black Harvester Ant |
I drove a bit more northwest and stopped again north of Henderson Canyon Rd, where I saw a carpet of sand verbena, and a few other cars parking by the roadside. The header photo is from that spot. 
The main difference between this spot and the previous one was that here wasn't a dunes area, but a flood plain of alluvial soil. The dried up, curled clay tiles bore evidence of the monsoons back in August, when this entire area was flooded. Here also, was where I saw the big field of the desert sunflowers, all large and lush shrubs, at their peak bloom. Really pretty.
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| Hairy Desert Sunflower, Geraea canescens |
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There were active ants there too, but there were also very active honey bees. Pollen-heavy, the bees hovered around the flowers, humming gently on their fight, ignoring me completely like happy feral bees.
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| Desert Needles, Palafoxia arida var. arida |
Coyote Canyon Road 33.326149, -116.367113
I continued driving northwest towards Coyote Canyon Road, which is a dirt road going up into the mountains following in part the path of Indian Creek, and leading to campgrounds and numerous trailheads. One of the bloom hotspots that the docent at the visitor center had marked on the map for me was at the beginning of that road, and my original pan was to park there and walk up on foot fr as long as I felt like. When I got there however, I found that that bloom spot was already past its peak. The wildflowers I saw there were no different than those that I've seen by Henderson Canyon Rd. I decided therefore, to continue driving on Coyote Canyon Rd and see what I can find on the way. I drove about 5 miles up that road, stopping here and there where I saw fitting to take a closer look. I remembered to turn on my tracker app only on my way back.
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| My drive back Coyote Canyon Rd, as captured by my GPS |
I should probably start by saying that this road is for 4WD cars. The lower part of the road is really sandy, and the upper part is really rocky. There are numerous washes that come descend from the mountains into Indian Creek. On one of these washes I spotted a bloom I had not yet seen on this trip, so I parked at a nearby pullout and did a little walk up and down that wash to see what I could find. The flower that enticed me to stop was the distant phacelia. Not a lifer, but a very lovely example of that species. There were several of them growing in that area. I should probably mention that the phacelia in the photo below is growing inside a different bush and the visible greenery aren't the leaves of that phacelia.
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| Distant Phacelia, Phacelia distans |
Near the phacelia bloomed the yellow whispering bells. I saw these before in other places but it was great to see these delicate flowers there as well.
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| Yellow Whispering Bells, Emmenanthe penduliflora var. penduliflora |
Further up the wash I saw some more of the gold poppies and I stopped to admire them. Anza Borrego has also California poppies, but none of them were blooming yet.
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| Gold Poppy, Eschscholzia parishii |
I saw there also the already familiar desert lavender and enjoyed rubbing its leaves and sniffing my fingers. I don't know if it makes a good infusion but I saw desert lavender essential oil for sale online. It sure smells good.
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| Desert Lavender, Condea emoryi |
There were brown-eyed primroses, also familiar to me from my June Wash hike yesterday and also from past spring trips to other California deserts, not in carpets, but in good numbers.
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| Brown-eyed Primrose, Chylsmia clavformos ssp. peirsonii |
I was excited to find blooming indigo bushes in that wash. On yesterday's hike at June Wash the indigo bushes were already done blooming and bearing fruit.
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Schott's Indigo Bush, Psrothamnus schottii
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I went back down the wash. Not completey having given up on finding that plant I looked for in Stag Cove, I kept looking down below the larger bushes. There I found the Fremont's pincushion, another humble wildflower that can be easily missed among all that magnificent desert bloom.
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| Fremont's Pincushion, Chaenactis fremontii |
The Arizona lupine was also well represented at that side washI was walking in. All the lupines were at the beginning of their bloom season. They would be going on for a while.
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| Arizona Lupine, Lupinus arizonicus |
Just before returning to my car I spotted another phacelia, of a species I've never seen before. It was pretty small and I nearly missed it.
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| Little Flowered Heliotrope Phacelia, Phacelia crenulata var. minutiflora |
I went on with my drive, occasionally squezzing to the edge of the single lane road to allow other cars to pass me as they sped on foreward. I was glad that the sand was still damp from yesterday's rain, not rising in clouds of dust behind the speeding vehicles. I drove slowly, taking in the views and searching the roadside for wildflowers.
The Coyote Canyon Road crosses Indian Creek three times. Te first crossing is still in the sandy area, and the flow there was wide and shallow. After crossing I stopped the car and got out to take a look. I walked into the middle of the stream and to check it out.
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First Crossing
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Before getting back into my car I spotted a desert chicory. I didn't recall if I ever seen it on other trips, but it was my first time seeing it on this one.
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| Desert Chicory, Rafinesquia neomexicana |
The road was becoming less sandy and strewn with more and more rocks and potholes. I had to slow down even more, and a thought kept tickling the back of my mind that my spare tire wasn't really made for this kind of road so I'd better not get a flat.
The second crossing was rocky and considerably deeper than the first. I crossed slowly and carefully, avoiding the big ledge right at the edge of the water. This time I stopped in the middle of the stream and took the photo through the rolled down car window.
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Second Crossing
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I kept on a bit further until I reached a gate (which was open) and before it a small parking place and a large sign post with information about the area. I decided that I've driven enough and that it was now time for a litle longer hike. I sat down on a nearby rock and had a quick lunch, enjoying the sunshine and the sound of the water flowing Indian Creek. Then I got my backpack with some water, locked the car and started up the road on foot, looking for the Box Canyon trailhead that according to the map was beyond the third crossing. That hike I'll describe in my next blog post.
Many thanks to members of the California Native Plants Society for their help in identifying plants!
Very nice desert flowers :-) Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOf course! I'm glad you enjoyed it :-)
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