Sandstone Canyon Report

The Trail Blazers made their first off-road and primitive car camp in November, driving about 15 miles off the pavement to Sandstone Canyon, deep into the Fishcreek area of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  It turned into a very nice adventure. The recommended vehicles were those with high clearance, but not necessarily 4WD.  Luckily, we caravaned in as there was one tough sandy spot that required some pushing and pulling.  I was glad that I brought the tow rope as there was no way we were pushing out the Ford F150!

The weather was perfect, shirtsleeves well into the night.  The stars were absolutely spectacular, especially being framed by the 100 foot sandstone walls surrounding us.  The dad's and boys had a great time hiking both canyon bottoms and ridge tops, and we were able to stretch our abilities beyond initial expectations climbing some of the sandstone washes.  For a second there I thought we were in Arizona.

The boys liked the tarantula!

As for the colors, since the dirt in the Anza Borrego Desert is mostly from the Colorado River, if you've traveled up along the Colorado into Arizona and Utah, it's all the same coloring.  Some of us took a paleontology tour on the way out, and were able to identify llama, horse, cat, maybe elephant tracks, and a very nice petrified wood field.  Its all still there, bad Karma follows those who remove these artifacts! Looking forward to next year! Trail Boss Grant

George negotiating the drop off

My son and I in a slot canyon

View of the camp from the ridge

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