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Tag Archives: Kumeyaay Mine Wash historical site

Spring bloom at the Kumeyaay site, Mine Wash

Julian Trek Posted on April 3, 2016 by Lee McCombSeptember 6, 2020

Mine Wash Kumeyaay Site

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

Inquis­i­tive cholla

A cholla removal method.

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

An ocotil­lo bloom

Vermillion-crowned ocotillo plant in Mine Wash

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.

Beetle in a cholla
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.
Cholla cactii panorama in Mine Wash
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 flowers
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 Wash
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 bloom
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.
Posted in Hiking, History, Inspiration, Places | Tagged cholla cactus removal method, Kumeyaay, Kumeyaay Mine Wash historical site, Kwaymii, Mine Wash, ocotillo bloom, spring bloom | Leave a reply

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