Mileage:  57,991 Mountain Palm Springs Undeveloped Campground Ocotillo, California

The wind was whipping all night long and it rained off and on.  There was even more snow on the mountains this morning than there was yesterday!

The forecast for today was sunny and 45 degrees.  We will take the sunshine!  We moved a short distance down the road to a undeveloped free camping area.  It is a beautiful spot!

We got settled and packed our lunch and went Jeeping!  We took the Canyon Sin Nombre Trail or the Canyon Without A Name.  This trail began at the Badlands Overlook and quickly descended to the floor of the Badlands. 

We hiked into this narrow canyon.

We were passed by a passé of other Jeeps out joyriding as well.  As we rounded the bend, we could see that the Jeeps were parked and all the people were out looking at the trail ahead.  That was not a good sign! 

Oh…a water feature!  A portion of the canyon wall had cleaved off and had fallen creating a dam in the wash in the bottom of the canyon.  With all the recent rain, the dam was retaining more than 2 feet of water. 

All the guys were speculating about the possibility of a crossing but no one wanted to take the risk.  The only option was to turn around and backtrack.  The leader of the group said that we were welcome to tag along with them.  They were on their way to the mud caves.  It sounded interesting and so we got in line.  It quickly became apparent that they were traveling much faster than we were willing to go!  Every one of you who knows Tim…you know that he is NOT a follower!  In fact, he is quite proud of that.  He raised our boys not to be followers, to be men who think for themselves.  To Tim following is a weakness…you have to be strong to lead. Needless to say, we didn’t stay with the group very long. 

As we made our way, we passed a man walking with a young boy.  It looked odd to me.  As I was thinking this, Tim said he thought we should turn around and check on the pair.  I had noticed that they didn’t have backpacks or water in the middle of the desert and miles from nowhere.  We approached them and they were very happy to accept a ride.  They had hiked the whole mud caves trail and they were on the way back to the car.  I initially understood that the wife and a three-year-old child were waiting for them to return from their hike.  We put the father and son in the back of the Jeep and started to look for their vehicle…it was miles away.  The boy was 12 and out of school today for Presidents Day.  The father was a pastor and he remarked that this adventure was going to make a good sermon.  I was hopeful that we were not taking them even further from their car but they were sure we were on the right track.  After about three miles we spotted their minivan along with three others.  There was no one there.  Then the son explained that the entire group had taken the hike and because there were lots of younger children who couldn’t walk so far, the father and son were sent to get one of the vehicles.  They were so grateful that we stopped to help!

We met the other Jeepers at the minivans and they helped us to find the mud caves.  This was very cool.  You could walk through apparently for a long way but we just walked in for a short distance.

We stopped at a couple of other trails to hike through.  I had much more energy today and am feeling almost better.  I scrambled up through the rocks to get to the top.  At one point Tim was wondering where I was!

In these mud hills, the canyon walls are very crumbly.  You could rub the surface off with your hands.  There were lots of places where great chunks of wall had fallen to the floor.  There was also a collapsed mud cave.   After climbing in several caves and up through several narrow passages we came to this warning sign.  The hills and caves are actually quite ancient and fragile and dangerous!

Lunch spot.

The trail became pretty rough and we actually scraped bottom on a big rock.  We had trouble following the map and trails today.  The trails were not clearly marked and were very easy to miss.  We took a couple of Jeep trails to the ends and then turned around to head back.  That is when we saw dark and threatening clouds ahead…with rain cells…

When you are driving in a wash at the bottom of a canyon in the mud hills and you can see rainstorms approaching, that adds a whole other element to the sense of adventure…maybe even a little apprehension.  Also, knowing we were miles from the highway…

We were racing but slowly…we had to avoid all the rocks and ruts and other obstacles in our path!

I thought that the clouds looked less dense and that they were dissipating…Tim really didn’t want to hear my platitudes.  He was the driver and he felt the pressure to get out safely, and we did!  We had 5 drops of rain and then the clouds really did begin to lift and separate a little.   I believe that the ring of mountains kept the rain from passing over, diverting the clouds from our direction.

Some wildflowers

It did eventually rain a little…but we were safe at home in the RV.  I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow!  Helping the pastor, water features, bottoming out, and getting just a little lost…all make it even more fun!

Rest in peace Tante Hanna.