Thursday April 17, 14.0mi/22.5km

Big Wash (82.0/820ft) to NE boundary of Anza-Borrego (96.0/20ft) (CA)

I actually slept really well in my bivy, even with all the wind. After my usual 7am start, I climbed up out of the wash and onto a plateau and had the most amazing morning view. Looking east toward the Salton Sea:

I ambled along the plateau for awhile and came across a little highpoint which had a benchmark!

They always stamp the name of the summit into the benchmark and this one they had named “cool”, haha.

There was even a little summit register inside of a soup can with entries going back all the way to 1994, including some familiar names from my guidebook.

From there I descended into another wash, climbed up onto another plateau, and then descended into a third wash. This last one turned into a slot canyon as I hiked upstream.

I hiked this wash all the way upstream until it faded out, and I was on a ridge. Looking north to the little agricultural town of Mecca, one of the few towns in America that is below sea level:

I followed the ridge and a few minutes later I was on a 2000ft summit! It was just after noon, so a perfect time for lunch!

I hadn’t been above 2000 feet since back when I started on day 1, and the temperatures were nice and refreshing up here. Probably 70F / 21C with a strong wind. When I started to get chilly, I descended down the north ridge, and soon came to a little saddle with a series of sandstone caves.

I descended the entire afternoon, following the ridgeline down until it ended in the bottom of Travertine Wash.

The rocks were so red down here, I think I entered a different geologic region.

I left the wash by climbing over a tiny bridge, and I was quite surprised to find a grove of palms around the corner.

It will always be bizarre to me to find such a large group of huge trees growing in the middle of an otherwise treeless landscape. Nevertheless, I enjoyed their shade and had a nice little nap.

This area is only a mile from a road, and there were little bits of trash here and there and that indicated this area is popular with tourists. This little metal ring surprised me when I poked at it with my trekking pole, it jumped up and stuck to the tip. A huge magnet!

Having my fill of entertainment, I continued on and followed the wash down to the park boundary. The 21 miles of the route are on roads that cross private land, so there is no camping allowed. So I had to stop early here, and then tomorrow I will try to make it across the entire Coachella Valley, as there are no lodging or hotels in the town of Mecca.

Tomorrow I’ll get an early start to cover all the miles and also do some grocery shopping and device recharging in town.