The vil­lage fea­tures wide trails along the north­ern periph­ery of Kwaaymii fam­i­ly sites scat­tered through­out the heav­i­ly-boul­dered moun­tain.

Mine Wash lies along a direct route between Mt. Lagu­na and the Salton Sea. The sea today is a pale cousin of the ancient fresh­wa­ter Lake Cahuil­la, which was peri­od­i­cal­ly formed by the over­flow of the Col­orado Riv­er and which pro­vid­ed home to thou­sands of native peo­ple around its shore­lines.  The Kumeyaay Vil­lage site lies along the best route from the ancient lake to the Lagu­na Moun­tains to the south­west, the ances­tral home of the Kwaaymii, the last natives to use the Mine Wash site. To hike to the moun­tains, con­tin­ue south to the upper end of the wash, the nape of Mescal Baja­da, through Mine Canyon and on into Earth­quake Val­ley, where looka­like boul­dered hill­sides embrace anoth­er vil­lage site.

The blue waters of the Salton Sea can be seen through the Nar­rows to the north­east from the site, but as you explore the gen­tle hills west of the site for this nice vista, watch out for the ram­bunc­tious “Jump­ing Chol­la,” aka Ted­dy Bear cactus–but in no way are they soft and fuzzy close up.

Click pho­tos for larg­er images. Return using brows­er back but­ton.

Inquis­i­tive chol­la

Chol­la removal method

With our spring rains of 2016–making it past the Julian rain shad­ow to the desert–the burst of col­or around the Mine Wash cul­tur­al site was worth a few spines around the boot edges.  Just remem­ber when you vis­it, wear sol­id hik­ing-type boots, because reg­u­lar walk­ing shoes can admit the spines read­i­ly, and get­ting the lit­tle jumpers off–once they stick your skin–is going to be regret­ful. The rough edges of a heavy rock or boul­der lying near­by is some­times your best friend.

An ocotil­lo bloom

Fouquieria splen­dens

If you’re look­ing for an ocotil­lo for­est, Mine Wash is one of the best areas to find these beau­ti­ful plants in suf­fi­cient den­si­ty to obtain good pho­tos, as well as actu­al­ly be shad­ed by clus­ters of them.  Desert col­or can some­times be a sprin­kle here and a dab there, but after a good drink the forests of bril­liant ver­mil­lion-crowned ocotil­lo seem to float above the desert floor like glow­ing can­dle­sticks.

Click on any pho­to for full-size image, then back but­ton to return. Pho­tos and cap­tions by Bar­bara Swan­son.

Ready for night­fall in the flowerA chol­la flower: There are a num­ber of chol­la species that grow in Anza Bor­rego, and most have yel­low-green flow­ers 1–2” in diam­e­ter. I found this bee­tle in the flower after sun­set, appar­ent­ly ready to spend the night in the flower.

Crown of Ocotil­lo against blueCrown of an ocotil­lo plant (Fouquieria splen­dens): Ocotil­lo plants take advan­tage of rain dur­ing any sea­son, and will leaf out and bloom when the con­di­tions are right. This plant has a spec­tac­u­lar dis­play of the tas­sel-like flow­ers. The birds and hum­ming­birds often feed from the flow­ers.

Mine Wash panora­maPanora­ma look­ing south­west into Mescal Baja­da from Mine Wash: Desert sen­na is in full bloom among the ted­dy bear chol­la as the wash gen­tly slopes away to the tall hills. Desert laven­der and cre­osote bush­es are light­ly scat­tered in this area of fair­ly dense veg­e­ta­tion. An ocotil­lo for­est in full bloom is in the dis­tance.

Hedge­hog cac­tus in full bloomA hedge­hog cac­tus (Echinocereus engel­man­nii): This plant was at peak, with around 30 bril­liant blooms on it. Hedge­hog cac­ti can grow into large clumps. They like to grow in rocky areas or in wash­es, where this one was found.

Desert sen­naDesert sen­na (Cas­sia arma­ta): This shrub grows about 2 feet tall. In spring, the flow­ers are clus­tered on tall stems, and in full bloom the plant looks like a gold­en half globe.

Sen­na flow­ersDesert sen­na is in the legume fam­i­ly and is also known as spiny sen­na for for the sharp-tipped green leaves seen along its long, grace­ful branch­es.

Going south into Mine WashThe road from High­way 78 to the cul­tur­al site in Mine Wash mean­ders lazi­ly at a gen­tle upward grade for about two miles. Four wheel dri­ve is rec­om­mend­ed, and a high­er clear­ance. The road is not paved but is most­ly sand with a few areas with low exposed rocks. Use cau­tion, espe­cial­ly after a storm.

Ted­dy Bear chol­laTed­dy bear chol­la (Opun­tia bigelovii): While the ted­dy bear chol­la may look soft and fuzzy from a distance–this one rem­i­nis­cent of the Indi­an flute-play­er Kokopelli–it is loaded with spines. Just the slight­est touch will dis­lodge one of the seg­ments of the plants onto cloth­ing, skin or fur, so these areas with these cac­ti need to be nego­ti­at­ed with cau­tion. The plant can grow as a clone from one of its seg­ments, so some of the cac­ti are clones instead of grow­ing from seed.

Bee at work in Desert Indi­goA bee in Desert Indi­go (Dalea schot­tii): The desert indi­go plants, some over six feet tall and wide, were in full bloom with their dark blue legume flow­ers remind­ing me of tiny pea blos­soms. With the gen­tle breeze I would occa­sion­al­ly catch the per­fumed scent of the flow­ers, remind­ing me of lilac, cit­rus blos­soms and san­dal­wood. The bees must have smelled them too, as the bush­es were buzzing with bees at mid-day into ear­ly evening.

Bees bed down in a cac­tus bloomBees sleep in a Hedge­hog cac­tus bloom: This bee species appar­ent­ly doesn’t have a hive to go to at night, but instead sleeps inside the cac­tus flower blooms. Some flow­ers will have many bees in them; this one has at least four bees tucked in togeth­er after the sun went down.

Bar­rel cac­tusA bar­rel cac­tus bloom(Fero­cac­tus acan­th­odes): There is only one species of bar­rel cac­tus found in Anza Bor­rego, and in spring it blooms with a full cir­cle of yel­low-green flow­ers on the top of the plant. While a few of these cac­ti can grow to six feet, most of them grow to three to four feet tall.