Saturday morning we woke up feeling somewhat refreshed and ready for a fun day of visiting Anza-Borrego State Park. We had breakfast in our room (since it was a suite, it did have a kitchen, and we did have food for camping), and then drove over to the Visitor's Center. Since we would be camping that evening, we talked at length with a Ranger about some of the back country camping sites around. We were far too rustic to want to camp in the improved campground at the park that would have people who 'camp' in RVs with their satellite TVs and quadrophonic stereos. We wanted a place without picnic tables or water. Cause we're outdoorsy.
We decided on the Culp Valley site, and drove up to pick a site. The campsite sits in a pass at about 3400 ft elevation. When we got there, the wind was blowing pretty steadily at probably about 10 knots or so. We tried to figure out a) which site would give us the best protection from the wind, b) where we were supposed to build a fire (since there was a sign saying you could only build fires in metal containers and there didn't seem to be any metal containers at the campsites) and c) exactly where the heck the campsites were. (It turns out in the desert a campsite looks a lot like a patch of ground with no vegetation.) Finally we chose a site where we could set up our tent next to a tree which we thought (ho HO!) would give us some shelter from the wind. We set up and hurried back down to the Visitor's Center so the Things could participate in the Jr. Ranger program.
For the Jr. Ranger program, they had the kids learn about owl pellets (sort of like cats' furballs, but with bones), and then each kid got to dissect their own pellet, mounting all the little mousie bones on a sheet of card stock with glue. It sounded like a lot of fun, but parents weren't allowed in. Sweetie and I browsed the museum and watched the short film while the Things Rangered. They emerged about an hour later with a shiny metal badge and their mouse bone collage (which we were quite sure would not survive the trip home). Thing 2 was particularly pleased because he found FIVE shoulder blades.
After a quick picnic lunch, we headed out on the Borrego Palms Canyon hike, which Sweetie has covered quite nicely in her hiking blog, so I won't go into detail, other than to say it was quite pleasant, and we did meet our goal of seeing many desert wildflowers.
It was with some tired Things that we returned to the car and headed up the rise to the campsite. The wind had picked up some, so now it was probably around 15 knots, and it was getting dark and chilly. We didn't have a table at the campsite, so we cooked in the back of the car (with the hatchback open). We did a ground turkey lettuce wrap, which was pretty good, but sand was starting to blow around, so sometimes a little crunchy. We decided to just head into the tent after dinner. Having neglected to bring cards, we ended up reading and the Things played with their new puppets they bought at the Park, Hootie (an owl) and Jake Fuzzy Nelson (a coyote). About 8pm we decided to call it a night.
The winds were howling. The tree was not much help. Some of the tent stakes were pulled from the ground. It was loud. I was having trouble falling asleep, as was Sweetie and the Things. The Things were worried the tent would blow away. Sweetie was concerned how the morning would go. I, on the other hand, tried to construct in my head a scenario in which we would need to evacuate during the night: a tear forms in the tent (maybe from a branch of the tree?), the wind proceeds to tear the tent to shreds, and there we are trying to pack our gear in the dark in the wind to find shelter elsewhere. That didn't come to pass, but it was fun to worry about while my sleeping pad (which didn't hold air) deflated. At one point I thought to myself, "well, maybe it's close to dawn and this night is nearly over." I looked at my watch - 12:40am. The wind was still howling (the next day I looked it up - 20 knot sustained, 40 knot gusts), my pad was flat, and I was worried the boys were either cold, or had snuggled into their sleeping bags because they were cold and were slowly suffocating. I get this from my father. Finally, around 1:30, the winds died down some and I got some sleep.
I'll quit here for today and finish up tomorrow.
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