Palm Wash Arch (11S-0583246-3683158, 19’x8’)
Palm Wash Arch is near the 4WD parking area for the South Fork Palm Wash Canyon Trailhead in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The trail, that goes under the arch and through a slot canyon, is a four-mile out and back if you walk from the main road (Borrego Salton Sea Way, S22) or a 2.8 mile out and back from the 4WD parking area at the start of the slot canyon. The arch is in shadow until late morning as the sun is blocked by the cliff wall to the east.
On The Road, Summer 2022
We live in the beautiful Sonoran Desert, so when the temperatures consistently reach triple digits, we migrate and explore.
There is very little that is random on our itineraries since we strive to reach select wilderness destinations in the best light for photography. Coastal hikes often require low tides that correlate with sunrise or sunset and inland hikes to natural arches, waterfalls and other destinations that require long drives or hikes, often require pre-dawn departures to reach destinations before the light becomes too harsh and the temperatures too hot.
Even then, as Joni Michell wrote and Judy Collins first recorded, there are those pesky clouds:
“But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way.”
In mid-June, we headed west to the Colorado Desert in southern California, then up the California coast before cutting inland to Pinnacles National Park and Mt. Shasta. From there, we traveled across southern Oregon before dropping down into southeast Idaho, northeast Utah and across to western Colorado for a week in the Fruita area. Afterwards we stopped in Boulder, Denver, Littleton and Del Norte, Colorado before heading into New Mexico where we made stops in Taos, Las Vegas, Abiquiu and Counselor before crossing back into Arizona, and arriving home.
Details are within the slide shows, but thanks to our friends and relatives: Libby, Sarah and Jason, Jim, Guy and Lisa, Steven, Bonnie and Myra, Karen and David, Marilyn and Joel, David and Judy, Ross, Kate and Greg, Bob and Carol, another Carol and Peter who fed us, housed us, hiked with us and guided us. We loved spending time with you all.
