895 February 7, 2023 The Slot

I took a nice walk into town this morning.  I had read about a desert botanical garden that I hadn’t yet seen.  I went to look.  5 years ago, this area was a dirt lot.  A bunch of community volunteers had a vision.  With perseverance and love, this garden was crafted.  It is absolutely beautiful.  I didn’t have the time to see all of it.  We had an appointment, but I will come back!

There are these signs posted in many of the shop windows.  Dollar General seems to be a fixture in every little berg that we travel through.  This town had long resisted any chain store…no restaurants…no McDonalds…no big grocery stores.  The store owners really do not want a Dollar General here.  While cheaper prices would really be helpful to the people who live and work here, there are local businesses that would suffer harm…a complicated issue.

We had some business to take care of today.  We contacted a notary public who was kind enough to come to the resort and assist us.  This lady has lived and worked in Borrego Springs for most of her life.  She had lots of stories to tell and had a perspective about this area that we never would have known.  It was a pleasure to visit with her and we were grateful for her help.

This afternoon, we drove to Buttes Pass and went to hike The Slot.  This is a half mile hike through a slot canyon.  The walls rise up 50 feet above the bottom.  The passage is very narrow in spots and there were a few places where we had to do some scooting, squeezing, and climbing.  It was a very fun!

We emerged into the sunlight at the end and looked for signage to indicate which way the trail went.  We decided to follow the footprints in the sand. 

We walked for about another ½ mile and ended up in a box canyon with a dry waterfall at the end…end of trail!

We had two options.  The first was to walk up the slide and around the ridge back to the Jeep.  The second was to retrace our steps and go back through the slot.  I was happy we chose option 2 and went back through again.  What a great hike!

We were down there in those crevices in the earth.

We took the Jeep and drove to Hawk’s Canyon then took a gravel road into Blowsand Canyon…4WD recommended.  This canyon was aptly named.  The road was covered with deep sand.  It was a pretty ride and somewhere that we had never been before.  We turned onto Goat Trail where we found a nice campsite with a tremendous view.  We plan to take the Jeep back tomorrow night and stay.

It was about 4pm when we got back.  Fish tacos on Taco Tuesday.  Day is done!