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The cactus are beginning to bloom in the desert, I especially love the vivid magenta of the Beavertail flowers. It is fun to hike and search for the early bloomers, it reminds me of an Easter egg hunt.
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, wildflower artist
I find myself returning to the Anza Borrego Desert Palm Canyon often, it is one of my favorite places in the park. On a hot day the clear, cool springs at the end of the canyon make the hike all the more worthwhile.
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, landscape artist
Another great hike is a 3 mile treck through a winding slot canyon starting near Buttes Pass Road on Highway 78 east of Borrego Springs Road. Two state park volunteer naturalists guided our group as we squeezed and ducked our way through this Disneyesque landscape. We loved this canyon, but don’t want to be anywhere near it during the flash flood season. The weather was wonderful, once again!
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, landscape artist
Returning back to the Anza Borrego Desert we took a group hike with a state park naturalist up one of the unnamed washes of the North Fork Arroyo Salado beginning about mile 35 on Hwy. S-22, to the Truckhaven Rocks. The sandstone lined wash is interesting, we were delighted to find a new plant or rock formation around every turn. The relaxing 2 mile hike took several hours with the addition of facts, plant identification, geology, and historic information from our guide. The weather was in the balmy mid-seventies, just perfect for transplanted Alaskans!
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, landscape painter
Miles of poppies and other wildflowers line the highway at the southern entrance to Joshua Tree, a sight to behold! These photos look like paintings done with pointillism. The variety and colors of this desert bloom are gorgeous!
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, wildflower artist
Unlike the California Gold Poppy, the Parish’s Poppy is much smaller and grows in the Anza Borrego desert region of Southern Californina. It is fun to find these tiny golden wildflowers tucked among the boulders, or hidden in sandy washes. The desert is coming alive with yellow colored wildflowers during the peak of the bloom. My daily hikes in the field are a joyous event.
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, wildflower artist
We visited the site of many old western movies north of Palm Springs, Pioneer Town, California. It is nicely preserved and many buildings are privately owned. It is a neat place to tour. I can remember some of these buildings from the old Roy Rogers, and John Wayne cowboy films. Pioneer Town is famous today for the funky restaurant Pappy and Harriets Palace.
More tomorrow,
With the wildflower bloom at its peak, I’m hiking the Anza Borrego desert daily sketching and photographing. Last weekend the San Diego Union featured this spectacular bloom on its front page bringing hundreds of tourists to the park to see the wildflowers. During the week we have the place mostly to ourselves. It’s amazing to be near such a huge population center and find the landscape and nature relatively untouched, thanks to the California State Park system.
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist
The desert jackrabbits are big, their ears are half as tall as their bodies. They will hold very still seeming invisible, then suddenly burst out of the brush and tear across the ground lickety split. This one let me get quite close before he took off. They are gorging themselves on the green grass and weeds that cover the ground at this time of the year. A feast before the drought of summer.
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, landscape artist
We spent most of the day today hiking near Palm Canyon and identifying wildflowers, they are nearing their peak bloom in the California Anza Borrego desert this winter. The ground is covered in millions of tiny colorful blossoms.
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, Wildflower artist
The temperature was 80 in Borrego Springs yesterday so we drove to Blair Valley to hike, at this higher elevation the temperature was a comfortable 72. We followed the well marked Blair Valley Road and easily found the trailhead for the Morteros, an ancient American Indian campsite where we saw the bowl shaped holes formed in rocks made by grinding corn into flour using a smooth stone. A fascinating site.
A little further down the road we found the trailhead for the Petroglyphs. This is an easy 2 mile trail and well worth the hike. Along with seeing petroglyphs painted on boulders, the spectacular view from the slot canyon at the end of the trail is something to remember.
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, Artist from Alaska
This artist journal blog is about daily life in Alaska with professional artist Gail Niebrugge and her business partner husband Bob, and will discuss shows and exhibits, research in the field, the creation of original paintings, and art prints. See Gail's fine art here.
