Geo's Journal: Hell Hole Canyon Loop

Hell Hole Canyon is the first hike down the valley towards Mexico. It is just out of the town Borrego Springs and is in the Anza- Borrego Desert State Park. We were wondering how the trail got it's name but after about an hour of hiking we realized it was a bit of a hell hole with huge boulders to navigate around and of course any vegetation that grows has barbs that attract clothing and exposed flesh.

Early morning sunshine on the cholla spines

The sign over the fake graves "They didn't bring enough water"

There must be more rain in this area. The plants all had some blooms.

Don't kick the cactus they stay with you.

View looking up into the canyon

View looking across the Borrego Plain

Further up the canyon and the boulders are starting to grow

And bigger boulders

Fan Palms were growing all the way up the canyon and stopped just past the falls.

The boulders keep getting bigger and we had to pick our way through them. The brush was growing up all around the trails and it made navigating a trail painful with all the barbs in all the plants.

The rock had some interesting combinations of stone.

I think by the expression he was saying "How did you get up there?"

There was no shortage of rocks to climb and get a vantage point.

Maidenhair Falls in all her glory... not much water.

Starting to climb out of the valley

Lunch break and time to talk about our war wounds climbing through the "Hell Hole"

The upper ridge at the top of the canyon looks a bit like a moonscape

A sign post at the top of the canyon. There was a look out accessible by wheelchair and a parking lot just a 1/4 mile down a trail. I guess we just had to do this the toughest way possible.

Nice view of the valley below.

Still more rocks stacked up on the way down.

I think this a patch of wild cucumbers?

The second hike was back to the Mecca Hills to try the Utah Canyon. It was named after the Utah rock formations a it resembles some of the colourful canyons of southern Utah.