Indian / Clark / Blair Valley ABDSP

Desert Beetle enjoying pollen

Camped out for three nights last week in Indian Valley and Blair Valley. Bob from the Anza Borrego website wanted to check out some pictographs Scott and I found on a previous trip so I met him in Indian Valley for a second trip out to Inner Pasture where the pictographs are located. Along the way we spotted a Red Racer snake lounging in the sun and also many wildflowers blooming in the sandy washes and rocky ridges we climbed.

The next day I headed over to Clark Valley to finally see the petroglyphs located near the dry lake bed. Temperatures that day reached 97 degrees on my truck dash, it was hot and I ended up drinking close to 120 ounces of water for a 4 mile hike. I camped the last night in Blair Valley where I knew it would be cooler and it was 87 degrees when I arrived near 5pm. I ended up camping at the Pictograph trailhead and in the morning hiked down to see the pictographs and also Smuggler Canyon. These pictographs are well documented by all of the Anza Borrego Visitor information pamphlets and are actually pretty cool to go see. The road is a 5 mile hard packed dirt road passable by almost any vehicle in good weather. In fact the only people I saw showed up in a Honda Fit. They stayed briefly and then I had the whole area to myself until I left the next morning.

Total Mylar balloon count for 3 days of hiking....15

You can see more pictures of Indian Valley, Clark Valley and Blair Valley here

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Red Racer snake in Indian Valley

Fishhook Cactus in Indian Valley

Desert Beetle covered with pollen on a Wallaces Woolie Daisy

Turkey Vulture in Indian Valley

Desert Iguana posturing with his mouth open to appear larger as defense measure

Side-Blotched Lizard in Blair Valley

White-Crowned Sparrow in Clark Valley

Panorama of Clark Valley (click image to see full size)

Panorama of Smuggler Canyon (click to see full size)

Be sure to check out all of the pictures from the trip here

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