Hellhole Canyon and Blair Valley

The next morning as the fog was lifting we hit the Hellhole Canyon trail.

It was anything but hellish, with abundant red and yellow bushes and huge robust blooming ocatillos.

These tiny yellow blooms must have just sprouted with the recent rains.

We knew we were nearing the oasis when we ran into the first sycamore tree.

This oasis was particularly green with lush abundant grass.

We climbed over some big boulders to get there so we decided not to continue up to maidenhair falls as we were told the scrambling would only get rougher.  A bit awkward with binoculars and a big expensive camera to lug.

Lots of birds here with all the lushness.

Costa's Hummingbird

And the California towhee, identified by the orange in front of its eye.  Lifer!

We also spotted a Scott's Oriole for the first time this trip.

Our next hike took us south toward Ocatillos Wells into Blair Valley.  We walked 2 trails here.  First the Motero trail through an area once inhabited by the Kumayaay people.

It was easy to imagine the women working in the shade of these big rock slabs.

Note the mortar holes for grinding grains and the cupolas (unknown significance) on the vertical surfaces .

As the info plaques noted, right next door was the larder with yucca and agave and creosote bush for medicine.

The Pictograph trail led us down a wide wash

toward a painted rock.

The info plaques always emphasize that while we like to speculate the significance of these symbol is unknown.  Nevertheless I'm pretty sure that this is a picture of a quail:

See the bobble on its head!

The trail continued on to the dramatic Smuggler's Cove with its dramatic view of the valley below.

Right at the start of the trail we saw Lawrence's goldfinch (but no decent photo) and on the way out we got good shots of a Scott's Oriole

We've been hearing western meadowlark throughout this trip, but here we had our first good view:

 And when we got back to camp we followed up on a tip from one of our fellow owlers and played the song of the California Thrasher.  Up popped two of them in response.  Lifer and Bird of the Day

Let's end this long post with our last sunset at Anzo Borrego: