Camped last night in the ironically named Fish Canyon in a sheltered alcove. I put up my tarp in lean-to fashion to provide extra protection. But the wind shifted and blew fine sand into it all night long. I must sleep with my mouth open – every time I woke up it was filled with grit. As were my ears, my nose, my eyes, my hair (what little remains). In the morning everything was covered with sand.
Fish Canyon was pleasant but nothing special. After a few miles I finally left it and its jeep road and ascended Hahapa Flats which slopes up to a rocky saddle.
Leaving Fish CanyonThe flats abounded with life. The ground was covered with flowers, principally desert dandelions but also lupines, Canterbury bells, poppies and a small red flower unknown to me.
Ascending Hahapa Flats to the saddle
A very stylish ocotillo
These brave little flowers popped out of the sand all by themselvesPainted Lady butterflies swarmed the flowering bushes and their caterpillars made tracks in every direction across the sand. Black-eared jackrabbits bounded back and forth between yellow-flowered creosotes. It was a spectacle.
I threaded my way over a rocky saddle which spilled into Harper Flats, another garden of flowers, birds, butterflies, ocotillos and jackrabbits.
A loggerhead shrike keeps an eye on the happenings at Harpers Flat.
Harper Flats at peak flowerThese flats provide the best kind of bushwhacking: easy striding down flat washes of firm-packed sand and gravel through well-spaced flowering shrubs and cacti.
Beavertail cactus – usually the star of the show, but had to settle for a niche roleThe flats drained into narrow Harper Canyon, putting an end to the easy walking. But the canyon was a fairly easy down climb as desert canyons go, requiring the use of handholds in only a few steep rockfalls and pouroffs. No mesquite or catclaw hells blocked my passage or harshed my flow.
The alluvial fan of Harper Canyon is labeled “Cactus Garden “ on the topo map, but I saw nothing there that distinguished it from the rest of the surrounding country.
I crossed Hwy 78 and found the water cache left by my brother. Due to the cool weather and easy walking I still had 3 liters, and so took just 1 to get me the remaining 18 miles to our rendezvous at Arroyo Salado.
Having not slept much through last night’s sandstorm I was ready to camp, but the immediate possibilities were not appealing.
The wind was high, the ground was flat, the vegetation was sparse and the traffic along the jeep road, which leads to a readily accessible slot canyon, was high. I had to walk a couple more miles before I found a marginally acceptable camping spot.
I was a bit behind on my planned whiskey consumption schedule and so remedied that situation while watching the sunlight fade from the badlands sloping down to the Salton Sea. My dinner was Pork Adobo mac and cheese, which was truly delicious.
Camp sweet camp