Valley of the Moon

I didn't see the  lunar craters that have always depicted the moon in movies or science books. The scenic overlook  hiking trail called Valley of the Moon does not resemble anything I have seen about the moon.  This trail in the southwest area of the Jacumba Wilderness does look a little like an unadulterated version of the Joshua Tree National Park. There are no exhibits of elaborate boulder formations like a skull, an elephant or an arch. Boulders of all sizes are piled like cairns. The trail leads south towards a fence-less international borderline. 

I envisioned a lake or some kind of a oasis in the middle of the valley. I didn't see any water source in the area. The vegetation is sparse. Dwarfed trees cling on little soil in between boulders like they are part of a bonsai garden. The boulders seem to norture them:

"A tree whose hungry mouth is prest, 

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast."

This time though, the earth's flowing breast have long ago dried up into a desert. All that's left are some beautiful motherfucking trees!

The bonsai garden does come with flowers. Must be lupines. 

And paintbrushes that are appropriately named. They're Jamie Dang pretty!

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These flowers growing on the boulders are barely seen by the naked eye. I was using a macro lens attachment on my iPhone.

A  cactus flower variety I may have seen before in another desert may be the most treacherous bloom I have ever encountered. Most thorny flowers like an ocotillo or a rose have their thorns on their stems but this flower is a weapon for mass destruction. Just look closely for the dead cricket, 

And I have never looked closely at an orange moss before either. Must be some LGBT fungi. If you ask me what an LGBT fungi is,  just Google it up and go fuck  yourself with the new things that you learn everyday!

Alright, alright, that fun gay alright!

The valley looks like a no man's land. At least to Americans who have settled a hundred years ago or so north of the border. We didn't see border patrol cars but a rock climbing couple we talked to told us that some border patrol officers they talked to told them about us, "the big groups".

A dried up creek led us to a boulder made me think of the whale that swallowed Jonah. Of course, it's a biblical tale dumbass, what else could it be?

Underneath the biblical whale is the Smuggler's Cave. Remnants of cross-border migration artifacts such as a shawl and empty water gallons are piled up in a barrel  on a corner. 

On a wall inside the cave is a date that must have been scribbled almost 44 years ago. 

There was a welcoming feeling that came to me the moment I got into the cave. It was a feeling like I am eternally home.