High Desert History and Mid-Day Rest
Ancient Traces in the Gulch
Blair Valley is a corner of Anza-Borrego rich with cultural history, and we spent the morning visiting of view of its sites. After a warm night, we enjoyed our coffee and hiked directly from our campsite into a peaceful gulch. We eventually found the morteros, ancient grinding holes worn into the stone by people who lived here long ago. Nearby, we discovered rock art of a much different style than the petroglyphs we’ve seen in Southern Utah.
The gulch was a beautiful scramble, a cactus cornucopia of teals and greens. We pushed just far enough to the ridge to catch a glimpse of the vast Vallecito Valley stretching out below us.
The Ghost of a Homestead
We moved the van a few minutes down the road to the Marshall South homestead ruins. In a feat of insane determination, Marshall South moved his family to this hilltop decades ago to pursue a self-sufficient life. Though the house is mostly gone, the stonework remains, including hand-built water cisterns and even a small kiddie pool carved into the rock. Standing there, looking out at the Sawtooth Mountains, it was hard to imagine the grit it took to raise three kids in such a beautiful, harsh environment. On the top of the hill we also met an older couple from British Columbia and chatted for a bit, just two if the many very friendly folks we’ve met in the area.
The Luxury of a Slow Afternoon
By early afternoon, we decided to break our streak of staying busy until sunset. We drove to a new dispersed site in the valley, set up the canopy, and cracked open a few cold ones. It was a treat to simply sit, read, and soak in the views. A friendly park ranger stopped by to chat and gave us a lead on a slot canyon for tomorrow. As the desert temperatures began to dip, we finished dinner and tucked in early, fully recharged.
