October 23, 2017
Last weekend, Noah, Luke, and I took a trip out to Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Last winter, we spent most of the season exploring the central area of the park near Borrego Springs. I’m not sure why, but Noah decided maybe we should explore the southeast area of the park.
The plan was to leave San Diego at 7pm and arrive before 9pm. Due to a miscommunication about meeting location, we didn’t wind up meeting until about 7:15pm at Noah’s house in Ocean Beach. The boys looked at the map and discussed plans for another 15 minutes, then we left for food. While Luke and I ordered and waited for burritos at Roberto’s, Noah gassed up S/V Moon Fox. We ate in the car as we headed east on the 8.
It was around 9pm when we finally got to Ocotillo. We stopped into the Lazy Lizard to grab a 6-pack and chat with the locals, who recognized Noah with fondness and affection. There was Michelle, the bleach blonde bartender who drives the same tiny 4×4 as Noah, and Alan, the overweight junk hauler sitting on the corner of the bar. Two men played pool, a heavy-set man named BC from Clairmont with a tattoo of the Lazy Lizard’s mascot leaning against the letters “PGL,” which of course stood for Painted Gorge Life, and another man sporting the same Lazy Lizard tee shirt as Noah. Michelle poked fun at the second man when he ordered another beer, “You ready for a second one now?”
“What? This is my second,” he replied, lifting up the empty can.
“No, that’s your first,” Michelle countered, “You’ve been sucking on that Coors Light all night.”
BC played an Eminem song on the juke box for us and everyone seemed genuinely disappointed when we said our goodbyes, but we still needed to find our camping spot for the night. We left and headed north along the S2. The first turn off after entering the park was Mortero Wash, which we passed intentionally. The boys were looking for Jojoba Wash. We pulled off at the next sandy area that looked like it might turn into a road. Noah drove around in circles a few times, looking in vain for a dirt road in the dark.
“I don’t think this is Jojoba Wash,” I said, “I think this is just, like, a parking area.”
“Could be,” Noah said, shamelessly driving over some little plants.
“I think we should go further down the road.”
After we injured a sufficient amount of wildlife at that pull-off and Noah felt convinced that the road to Jojoba Wash was not there, we got back on the S2. Noah started speeding up, and I commented that we should go slow so we could look for signs for Jojoba Wash just in case. Moments later, I spotted a little brown sign and pointed it out. Noah braked, threw the Moon Fox in reverse, and turned off toward the sign. In the beam of the headlights, the little sign read JOJOBA WASH.
“Oh, Rebecca was right,” said Luke from the backseat.
“Mmm, would you look at that,” I said smugly.
We drove down Jojoba Wash for about a mile before before turning left at an intersection to go around a large hill. We went as far as we could go before the road became too rough to pass. We were trying to find relief from a wind storm (gusts of about 35 miles per hour), and it was still plenty windy where we turned around. We backtracked to the intersection and went the other direction. We drove for a while before stopping to assess the area. The wind was still whipping around ferociously, and we knew we’d have to try another canyon. But first the boys had to bust out the black lights and do a quick scout for scorpions. We found one pretty large one trying to hide in the soft sand right next to a Moon Fox tire track.
On our way out of Jojoba Wash, Noah picked up some speed on the soft, flat section of the road. Suddenly, he braked hard, shouting, “I just hit a rattlesnake!” We all jumped out of the car, the wind pulling at our clothes. Sure enough, in the middle of road was a Sidewinder Rattlesnake. Noah thought he had injured it, but it was fine. It rattled at us and backed, sideways, off the road and against a branch. The boys filmed it in awe. Then we carried on.
We headed a little further north on the S2, then pulled off into the popular Canyon Sin Nombre. The road immediately drops about 100 feet, which terrified me to no end, but Noah expertly navigated the Moon Fox down the steep slope. At the bottom, the road levels out and winds between steep canyon walls.
We stopped at a sandy spot with a glorious slot canyon behind it and hopped out. Amazingly, there was no wind. We wandered around the slot canyon and contemplated where we would set up our tents. Although it was already around 11pm, we were in no hurry. The canyon was empty, we had found our spot for the night, and a meteor shower was going to begin around midnight, so we were staying up late anyway. We explored with flashlights and black lights but found no scorpions, only some harvest ants and a flying lion (a weak little insect despite its name). As much as we wanted to sleep within the slot canyon, the ground was slanted, and we instead made camp just outside it. Noah started a fire, and I laid down on a blanket beside him to watch the stars.
Read Part 2 here.
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