Borrego Springs - tau Herculids Meteor Shower

The night of Memorial Day was moonless and with the possibility of a meteor storm, I loaded up and for an overnight to Borrego Springs.

As typical I stopped a Dudley’s Bakery in Santa Ysabel for a Baja sandwich that will make two meals.

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I miss-timed my arrival to Christmas Circle

to attend the complete Veterans Memorial Service, provided by the local American Legion Post 853.  But did catch the bugler playing Taps and the honor guard providing a 21 gun salute.

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This Scout Car was used by General Patton while training in Anza Borrego was on display

From Christmas Circle I stopped to top off the truck.  If cost is any indication of quality, Borrego must have some real quality fuel!

gas 6.89;6.99;7.09 - diesel 6.89

The road up to Font’s Point required 4x4.  That’s not usually the case, but the sand and ruts were pretty deep.

At mid-day I was the only one there for about half hour.  It was a nice visit with dad.

After Font’s Point I drove over to the American Legion

with the idea of taking a picture of the Missing Man Table that is always there.  I think all of Borrego was there!  Burgers and war stories for some 500 guests.  Here's a picture from the web of a Missing Man Table.

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After the flag raising, I left in search of cactus that might still be in bloom.  What rain that does fall in this area will drain into the Texas Dip.  Nope nothing there.

I headed over to Ocotillo Wells, with the idea to set up my camp there at one of the provided shelters.  Free camping, with showers available kinda appealed to me.  Altho not crowded, the activity was hectic and the sites near the showers taken by two large groups, so moving on.

Slowjamastan is just a bit further east on CA78.  Unlike my last visit there has been noticeable progress.

The boundary fence marks the territorial boarder with the US.

Altho I got a good chuckle out of this warning sign, I did not test it for accuracy

With the population now around 200 Slowjamastanies, I was not surprised to see property signs going up.  This lot belongs to the Palmer family.

I returned to Borrego Springs with the thought the ocotillo garden in Coyote Canyon might have some color left to photograph.

I’ve never encountered such deep sand in Coyote Canyon, again I’d advise 4x4.

A surprising number of ocotillo have suffered from the drought.

Some have succumbed

The ocotillo is drought deciduous, dropping it’s leaves when water is not available.  This one is waiting for better times ahead.

None had any leaves and  Coyote Creek was dry.

I set up camp on the east side of Peg Leg Smith, which is just a short drive way.

The meteor shower radiant should be directly overhead near Arcturus.

I’m the only one here!  Despite a chance for a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event it’s just me.

Unfortunately, not only did the meteor storm not occur, the wind was Biblical!  I did see several small slow moving particles that went ‘poof’ in a bright burst.  And several ‘streakers’, that started dim, become bright streaks, before fading away.  There some meteors, just not the anticipated 'storm'.

Although the tau Herculids were just a mediocre performance, I enjoyed the day in Borrego Springs.