Anza Borrego State Park - Hikes Near Ocotillo Wells

When we last visited Anza Borrego State Park in February 2017, we only had time to hike up into Palm Canyon.  We had no time to explore the other intriguing parts of the park.

Today, we started making up for that.  We arrived in Anza Borrego State Park yesterday, and this morning we decided to take some hikes in the area of Ocotillo Wells, in the southeast corner of the park.  We had three objectives:  The Slot, Elephant Trees Trail, and Wind Caves.  Here's what we found.

THE SLOT

The trailhead for The Slot was a couple of miles off Highway 78.  After navigating a relatively easy dirt road, we arrived at the parking area.  To get the lay of the land, we climbed up to a high point for a 360 degree view of anza borrego state park from above The Slot.

We found the trailhead and started down, pausing only for a view of our Jeep back at the parking area:

As we descended deeper into The Slot, Kathy gave an idea how far down we would be hiking:

Once we reached the bottom, we entered a half-mile-long slot canyon that was so narrow, we could barely fit through:

As we turned one corner of the canyon, we looked up to see a natural arch:

The canyon boasted many interesting sandstone formations:

Near the end of the canyon, the trail opened up and we found a garden of inuksuks and other rock art!

Kathy tried her hand at her own little stone guy:

We hiked back to our Jeep through the slot canyon and then headed further south, across 7 miles of sandy, rocky Jeep roads, to the trailhead for...

ELEPHANT TREES TRAIL

This trail, only about a mile round-trip, is said to exhibit typical geology and vegetation for an alluvial fan.  Below, Kathy stands in the middle of the trail as it climbs the alluvial fan:

At the far end of the trail, we finally found the mythical elephant tree, which boasts very thick trunks surrounded by amazingly green foliage: 

The elephant tree is likely the most unique plant in the entire Anza-Borrego Desert, and only one such tree stands along this one-mile nature trail.  Elephant trees typically grow to a height of about ten feet.  The name comes from the peeling parchment paper-like bark on its wrinkled limbs.  Their leaves are small and similar to a mesquite bush or ocotillo, which can handle the rays of the harsh desert sun.  The trees are common in Baja California but their range barely reaches north over the border into California.  Thus, seeing these trees in California are rare but their existence is certainly not endangered.

Having fulfilled our second mission, we moved on to our third goal.

WIND CAVES

This feature was much less clearly signed than the other features.  We headed in 4 miles on Fish Spring Wash, admiring the desert canyon views:

Our Jeep Dusty handled the sand and rocks with aplomb.

The surface of the wash was almost like a moonscape:

We found our likely trailhead, although there were no signs to mark it.  With faith, we climbed until we were far above the valley floor:

Eventually, we reached the mythical wind caves - hollowed-out formations in the sandstone cliffs far above the canyon floor:

The shapes are intriguing and are reminiscent of rounded cave dwellings:

Some of the sandstone walls are very thin:

The cave holes riddle the rocks on the cliff faces:

David modeled one of the caves:

From his vantage point, David could see Kathy with the valley floor and our Jeep in the deep background:

By the time we reached our Jeep and drove back into Borrego Springs, it was almost sundown,  This was a full day's hiking and off-roading, giving us a great introduction to the far corners of Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  After an exchange of visits with our friends Eric and Ginny, we'll have a chance to explore one more region of the park before we have to leave.