Ferguson Lake And Picacho Wilderness

Sunday: (03/20) Lou fixed French toast and sausage for breakfast. After packing lunch we were off toward Ferguson Lake North of our campsite. It;s about 7-10 miles on a gravel road. The lake is the typical marsh lake with the Colorado river passing through. Actually the waters behind the Imperial Dam, while really only one lake, are individually named like Squaw Lake, Ferguson Lake, Martinez Lake, Taylor Lake, Red Rock Lake, Norton's Lake, Clear Lake, and more. Why is that? We looked around at the primitive camping areas and stopped at the end of the road to take a hike. We hiked into the Picacho Wilderness area West of the river.
We hiked up a nice wash into a gorge


until we came to a tank (rock water basin) that we couldn't get past.


Actually I left Lou and climbed up a rock slide and into the area above the tank. The gorge had narrowed but continued easily onward. I stopped after 1/4 mile and returned. Maybe another time. We had jalapeno loaf sandwiches and bananas for lunch overlooking the lake then headed back.


On the way we saw a rock arch and stopped to take a short hike to it.


This nice ocotillo flower was near where we parked. Today was kind of hazy and cool. Not a good solar day even though the sun was supposedly out. The wind was kicking up so we disassembled our sun shade and brought in the awning. We're leaving tomorrow anyway. Dinner was a shared smoked pork chop with Spanish rice and fresh asparagus.