Little Blair Valley

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Woke up with the sun again this morning, but no flaming colors.  Going to hit 80 today, but this morning the wind is blowing fairly hard.  Got breakfast done and read my blogs.  The wind has died down to nothing.  Not even 10:30 and Yuma and I are ready to go somewhere.  We decide it will be Blair Valley.

On our way out of town we see more metal sculptures.

During the drive, I saw a huge rock.  I knew Patsy of Chillin’ with Patsy would love it, so here it is.  Looks like someone sliced it with a knife.

Got to love the shorts.

We know our way pretty well now, since we have passed the entrance to the Blair Valley several times now.  This time we turned onto the Great Southern Overland Route of 1849.  This is the old stage coach road they used back in the day to pass through this area.  Now it is a blacktop road.

We turned off on the dirt road that was the old Butterfield Overland Mail route. Followed this into Little Blair Valley Cultural Reserve.  It is called the ‘Ehmuu-Morteros Trail where Kumeyaay people lived.  I saw a rock shelter.  Inside was fairly large with a rock circle for containing fire.

Saw one rock with a pictograph.

We also saw a rock with many morteros on it.  Big and small ones.  The larger ones were full of water.

We left there and drove the Jeep about a mile further to another rock with a number of pictographs on it.  This rock was about a mile up a wash we had to walk.

I should have stopped then and turned around, but I didn’t.  I could see the wash went down to a rocky area and it looked like a valley on the other side.  Thought I might get some good photos, so we walked about another mile down the wash to where it entered the rocks.

I could see the Carrizo Valley below the cliff as the wash continued in the distance.

By the time we got back to the Jeep, my feet were absolutely killing me.  Walked six miles today.  The temperature was 80 and we were hot and tired.  Like a dummy, I left the water in the Jeep.

Since the entrance to the the old Marshall Homestead was nearby, I drove over, got out and took a photo of the sign.  The homestead is a mile up in the hills and I did not have the strength to attempt to walk up there.  I walked up there last year and I know it is not an easy climb.

On the way out of the Little Blair Valley, I finally saw some wildlife.  As I was driving along, I saw a jackrabbit stop in the brush ahead of me.  He thought I couldn’t see him, but I did.

Then as we were near the exit, I saw a coyote off in the green pasture to my left.  He was pretty far away, but I got him with my zoom.

Didn’t waste any time getting back into the Borrego Valley and off my feet.

Had a nice sunset.  Almost missed it working on my blog.

See you later.