Photo: Moon in the morning on Harper Flat

Yeti and I had spent the night before in Bow Willow Campground, which was almost full. A bit of a surprise as the last time I’d been through there it was empty. Of course, it was a Saturday night so weekends are bound to be busy.

We got up early and were by the trailhead shortly after 6am. I started off on a jeep track heading into the Vallecito Wash, flat desert terrain, sandy but with pretty good packed tread. Walking was quite easy. I took Yeti’s hiking poles with the liter bottles attached and filled with water, so my arms were getting quite a workout as well as the legs. It was a heavy pack filled with water for the two and a half days I’d be out! Yikes. I could not expect to find any water in this section.

It was a beautiful sunny day, but I dreaded the heat. The area was experiencing unusually hot temperatures well into the 90s! We thought it would be at least 30 degrees cooler as it had been in previous years. Oh, well.

I set a really good pace on the jeep road and made good progress in the first hours. Scenery was expansive desert terrain…sandy jeep track, creosote brush, cactus, and happily many wildflowers. Before we had arrived there had been a couple of weeks of wet and the desert immediately comes alive. So, I enjoyed the many wildflowers – yellow, purple, blue, white, reds, all colors. I’d have to try to ID them later.

This day and the next were characterized by jeep track walking including in the washes – Fish Creek Wash was the really big one. Luckily the high walls of the wash cast some shade, so I could get some relief from the sun. And, amazed by the amount of jeep and truck traffic!! Must have seen over 20 vehicles on the first day. One guy stopped and offered me ice cold water – didn’t turn that down. It really revived me to have something cold. I had to take lots of breaks because of the intense heat. Also, the water bottles on the poles caused me a lot of problems. They kept slipping and one bottle kept falling off! I finally jerry-rigged them so that they stayed put. I used that water first as I did not like the weight on my poles. There would be no natural water sources in this section. I found one little puddle that was a result of the recent rain – otherwise nothing.

On day one, I had already hiked past my allotted miles by 2:30 or so and sat in the meager shade of an Ocotillo thinking I might hike on later when it got cooler. I was exhausted and almost fell asleep and decided that was enough for the day. Cowboy camped under a full moon. After dark – at least three more trucks whizzed by dusting me – my camp was not too far off the road! Quiet night otherwise.

Terrain the next day was very similar – jeep track and wash walking. For some reason, I was struggling in the morning. Mid-morning I stopped and brewed coffee and took a longish break. It seemed to revive me – caffeine jolt I guess. Again, many wildflowers – in some spots the ground was covered in daisy-like wildflowers. It is amazing how plants just go wild when they get just a bit of water. A wonder that there is any plant-life here in such a dry climate.

After lunch, I came to what was the first actual climb (though I had been going very gradually uphill that day). I had to go cross country and then go over a hill which was basically a boulder pile! It was slow going, picking my way through the rocks. At one point I did a big step over a boulder and sat down, but I was leaning too far back and promptly fell slightly back. The weight of my pack was too much to sit upright, so I had to take the pack off to get up. I was glad once I was over that pile of rocks! The rest of the day’s hike was cross-country bushwhacking through the brush on Harper Flat. Not too thick so not too bad, though I still managed to get scrapped by prickly things! Again, I stopped on the flat by three or so and was done. Next morning I’d negotiate Harper Canyon and the flat to the road 78 where Yeti would pick me up. Cowboy camped again, full moon, coyotes howling! Loads of stars…can’t complain. Slept great.

Final day was really nice. The pack felt great – so much less water! I could tell it was cooler and I actually left camp with my fleece on. Went cross-country to get to the mouth of the canyon. It started out with a gradual sandy downhill, not bad at all. Then the narrows started and terrain was more bouldery. So, slower going to negotiate rocks and drops. Lots more barrel cactus in this area. Most of the morning was thankfully shady until the very end of the canyon. On a jeep track again! Easy going from here on and the heat was building. You come out to an area called Cactus Garden where there are amazing varieties of cactus and they were blooming. My gps track was more to the right of me, but I was on a jeep track and kept to it. Lots easier – why bushwhack through the brush when the road paralleled the track? The hike was going fast – I had only about 8 miles to do that day and was setting a good pace. By about 10:30 I could see the white van …. Yeti was there with a nice Gatorade to drink.

Off to Borrego Springs. We like this town. It’s in a beautiful setting surrounded by mountains and desert. And, it has good food – Red Ocotillo Café is the best! Headed there for a late breakfast. Yum. Then get cleaned up at the motel. It was pretty exhausting and I knew I’d need an extra day off. We have to move to another motel though, as the one I’d booked did not have space for the extra day.

Yeti also had had a tough couple of days. He’d found a really nice place to camp called Quartz Vein Canyon. He hiked out from there and met up with a guy on a motorcycle who hiked there too. They ended up having a two-hour conversation back in camp. But the next day, when Yeti got back to camp exhausted, he had a fever of 102. So, when we got to town, we headed over to the medical clinic – we were concerned that the incision points from the ablation he’d had just before the trip may have been infected. Well, that turned out to not be the case. The doctor thought he had experienced heat exhaustion. He advised rest and water! That’s what we did.

So, we needed to adapt to the change in circumstances (Yeti was not yet in shape to hike), and we came up with a plan for the next sections. I’d hike the next two-day part. After that we may rest up in Indio and then either Yeti would do the next 10-mile stretch as a day hike or we would both hike in and out on that stretch together. We could skip a part and be set up to do the Cottonwood Campground stay on time (we had a reservation there). Then, we have a long break in Twenty-nine Palms (got an Airbnb) and we will day-hike in Joshua Tree National Park, as planned. Hopefully then Yeti may feel up to doing some sections on his own. This is a team effort now. It’s all good.

Lunch or dinner at Red Ocotillo today! May try to do some stretching and more resting!

Addendum March 6 - Melanie woke up vomiting this morning so after tending to her and discussing the options since I’m not recovered and she can’t hike like this plus we can’t change reservations for Cottonwood Campground in Joshua Tree we will skip this section (2 day hike) go up to Mecca & I will try and do the next section tomorrow March 7.