David Lean said, "When you're in the desert, you look into infinity.... It makes you feel terribly small, and also in a strange way, quite big." Maybe that's why we love it here so much. Or quite possibly it's the way the desert greets us each morning.

"This trek is capped off with a passage beneath a gravity-defying rock span. This short hike has just 100 feet of elevation loss, but the memory will be much more profound."

Here's a little video so you can see what we were experiencing more clearly. Wow.

I love this description, "Slowly descend into the trench. The trail is steep, but not nearly as steep as it looks from above. There are no more optical illusions from here, just eye-popping natural wonders." So true, around every bend.

This was one place where we did not linger. This scepter-shaped block appears to have broken off one wall and come to a comfortable resting place between the two. The precarious feature could fall at any moment, but it remains lodged overhead, trapped in some loophole of the earth’s gravitational pull.

Once through the canyon, the scenery continued to wow.

This magical forest of cairns delighted.

This was the only company we had to share our hike with.

We chose not to return to our rig via the slots. This jeep trail headed uphill to a path that returned us to our beginning.

Narrows Earth Trail was our next stop.

Faulting, flooding, gravity and wind are sculpting the earth. The story is written in the rocks. It’s a story that’s been written over millions of years and is still being written today. We humans are visitors during only a brief span of time. 

One of the busiest underground residents of Borrego is the Harvester Ant. On warm sunny days, the ants march out to collect seeds from nearby wildflowers and bushes. They're brought to the nest and hulled. Then the chaff is brought up and discarded, building the crater. Without these ant gardeners the seeds would not get spread across the desert. Who knew?!

Our last stop was to learn more about the people who came before us. Mine Wash is an 8 1/2 acre cultural site. It was occupied and used most intensively by the Kumeyaay people around 1100 years ago and again in the 1600s.

Ethnographic data for the Kumeyaay and, in particular, the Kwaaymii Band, indicate that Indian people would have used this and surrounding interior valleys for food procurement, ceremonies, and winter/spring settlement.

The archaeological pattern in Mine Wash and environs shows a single relatively large occupation location with abundant cultural remains, a few smaller-sized encampments, and numerous isolated grinding/milling areas and roasting pits.

This is a powerful place to explore and just be.

A stated purpose of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park was proclaimed thusly: “…to make available to the people forever, for their inspiration, enlightenment, and enjoyment, a spacious example of the plains, hills, and mountains of the Western Colorado Desert…” We would say the purpose has been met and exceeded in every way possible. And as the sun sets, we prepare for another day of amazement in this wonderful place.