Happy Firstbud, everyone!

With the passing of the vernal equinox, the time has arrived to find some flowers, water, and Firstbud festivities! Firstbud came a little later this year than last, when I frolicked on the banks of the Río Sil, and this presented a challenge: after a dry winter, would there be enough flowers left for the celebration? Full of questions, I set off toward Anza-Borrego Desert State Park with my good friend, Malcolm, and a car known as the Age of Aquarius!

Malcolm has been dreaming about camping in the desert, and helping him fulfill his dream also reminded me how great it can be to have a travel companion. For instance, the wind was pretty rough throughout the weekend, and every time I fell down, he helped me back onto the monuments. That was really neat, and so was having both an extra set of eyes scanning for landmarks and an extra set of hands to help set up the tent! With all those extra perks, here’s how the quest for Firstbud and the 15 landmarks of Anza-Borrego turned out:

As predicted, the general area around Anza-Borrego is full of landmarks commemorating famous travel routes, like the Butterfield Overland Stage Route, represented in part by the Oak Grove Stage Station (#502) on the left. This early transcontinental mail service stretched all the way through the scorching deserts of the American Southwest from St. Louis to San Francisco! Oak Grove turned out to be a lovely place for a stage stop, even though Robot Jane the GPS failed to find Oak Grove at all! Thankfully, this part of San Diego County is well stocked with signs pointing to landmarks, like Warner’s Ranch (#311), a crossroads that met the needs of both the Butterfield Stage Route and the Mormon Battalion!

Speaking of the Mormon Battalion, did you know that they carved the first road into Southern California using only hand tools at a place now known as Box Canyon (#472)? The magnitude of this hand carved canyon is impressive, and its importance is not to be underestimated! It allowed American troops to reach the battle fronts of the Mexican-American War, settlers to reach the farmlands of SoCal, and mail to reach those lonely San Franciscans up north! That’s another great example of how huge things can be accomplished by working together!

Of course, even working together can come with setbacks. When planning to camp, it’s critically important to find a site before dark, which meant we ran out of time looking for the Butterfield marker in Blair Valley (#647), and the Age of Aquarius just wasn’t ready for the high, loose sand bars and wrong turns on the road to the Palm Spring (#639). That doesn’t mean we didn’t try hard—the white-knuckled grip marks on the steering wheel can attest to that—but we decided to put them on hold for another time, perhaps after conquering Imperial County!

We headed north and found a pullout along Yaqui Pass Road, fighting gusty winds and rocky ground that made setting up the tent no easy task. Nonetheless, after much struggle and toil, we triumphed just as the sun set on Day 1!

Day 2, otherwise known as Easter Sunday, dawned bright and clear after a long night of terrifically strong winds that threatened to blow our tent right to Oz at any moment! Luckily, they did not, so Malcolm and I broke camp and set off, not to find Easter eggs, but history!

The markers we covered yesterday, south of the 78, primarily related to the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, while today’s markers on the other side of the highway tell tales of Anza’s expedition in the previous century. For instance, while the wind kept whipping, we read in our best Spanish accents the story of how Anza’s party camped very near this spot, known as Los Puertecitos (#635). It wasn’t an incredibly thrilling account, but the reading was fun. Three of today’s markers would have very similar summaries, and in order to find them, we set off for the visitor center in Borrego Springs!

We learned some really neat things at the visitor center, like how this park was once lush and green, inhabited by camels, giant sloths, and four-tusked pachyderms called gomphotheriums (gomphotheria?), all of whom were represented in gorgeous steel across Dennis Avery’s sprawling Galleta Meadows Estate! We learned that desert plants can have roots as shallow as 2 inches (cholla) or as deep as 200 feet (mesquite)! We also learned that San Gregorio would be wholly inaccessible for a car like the Age of Aquarius, which meant we would have to choose one, and only one, hike! Darn!

After much deliberation and some sand dune frolic, we decided that Santa Catarina would be our destination, partly because David at Landmarkquest said it was the most challenging and partly because my instinct told me that it would be more likely to have water and flowers. So far, apart from the blazing ocotillo in the lower parts of the park, flowers have been pretty sparse! So, we set off up Horse Camp Road, past the Anza campsite called “El Vado” (#634), to a parking area, only to learn from a park ranger that we weren’t supposed to be here without horses! Fortunately for us, he turned out to be a nice ranger and led us to Coyote Canyon Road, where we embarked for Santa Catarina Spring!

Some folks take jeeps up this road. Others, like the drivers of Mini Coopers, must walk. Luckily, the trail was largely flat and pleasant with only one big, steep, jagged, rocky hill to tackle at the end. In short, The Age of Aquarius would have fainted with fright! Nonetheless, once Malcolm and I crested the top of this hill, we reached what could only be described as a garden of paradise: a hidden jungle tucked into the dry, desert hills! To top it off, the beavertail prickly pears were in bloom! We had found water and flowers! It was enough to celebrate Firstbud!

I’d meant to celebrate by the waters of the spring, but the foliage on the cliffside was too thick, even for me! It was as if the desert were guarding an ancient secret against all outsiders! We had to content ourselves frolicking upon boulders, counting ants, and enjoying the clean, spring air. Upon overlooking this desert Eden, I had the strangest feeling that George might be nearby. I called out his name and heard no reply except the desert wind’s, yet something told me I was closer to finding him here than I ever had been before. Maybe it was just the fact that we were sitting on the edge of Eden.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay any longer, since the sun was setting on the verge of a new Monday. I will return to Anza-Borrego some day, not only for the three missing landmarks, but also because something tells me there is more to this place than just the green!

Farewell from Paradise!