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TR Posts: 67
6/19/2012
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I went out to Borrego the weekend of the second and third of June. I decided to go up Cougar Canyon in hopes of seeing some Big Horn Sheep coming down to the water. I knew that they had closed the gate before the Third Crossing, just a couple of days prior. But I figured I could hike back in.
I was amazed at how quickly the road had become void of vehicle tracks. And this was only 3 days since it was closed, and it hadn't rained in the interim.
I ran across this lizard. I don't know if it changed colors or not, but it was almost indistinguishable from the sticks around it.
I was astounded at lack of water at the Third Crossing.
Just to the left of where the road went through, the stream narrowed and I could hop across on the rocks.
I decided to get off the road, and take the Lower Willows Trail, in hopes of finding Big Horn.
Walking along, scouring the ground for snakes and lizards and the like, I ran across this.
Yes, it a golf ball. And a relatively new one at that. God knows I've tried, but I can't imagine a scenario that explains this. Was this a person hiking with a golf ball in his pocket, or was this just a bad shot, hit way out of bounds. (It miles from the nearest course.)
There was plenty of water in the stream of to my right. And I got this shot of a dragonfly on a stalk of grass.
This was the first of several stream crossings. It was to wide to just hop across. So I ask myself, What would Daren do? And the answer was, Man up, and hop across the rocks!
Unfortunately, not being as coordinated as Daren, the second rock flipped over and the next thing I know, I'm wading across the stream.
Unfortunately, most of the trail was like this. Hemmed in by willows on either side. They were so thick that I couldn't even seen the stream any more. So I decided to tell you all that every Big Horn Sheep in the park was down there taking a drink, becaused nobody could say I was wrong.
It went on this way for over a mile. So I ask myself, What would Daren do? Again, the answer was, Man up, and keep hiking. When I finally broke into a little clearing I had this view of the mountains surrounding me. My map and GPS, said this peak was Monkey Hill. The elevation looked wrong, but I guess when both the map and the GPS say it's so, it's so.
Well, I continued on a ways further, until I started back in to the willows again. I figured I wasn't going to see anything in the willows any way, so I turned around and hiked back out. All in all, a pretty boring hike.
After I made it out of the willows, there was a duck swimming at the Third Crossing.
So, the animal, reptile, insect count was, 1 lizard, 1 dragonfly, 1 duck. The mylar baloon count - 1. It's ribbon had gotten tangeld up in a cholla. When I pulled it loose, there wasn't even a hole in the baloon. The golf ball, of course. And a length of chrome door molding off a fancy SUV.
I wish I had taken the Ocotillo Flats Trail instead. I probably wouldn't have seen any sheep, but it was more likely I would have seen some snakes.
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