Lunchtime visitor

I was sitting on a rock eating lunch in Hellhole Canyon, part of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California, when I looked around and discovered I was being watched from a lofty perch. This bighorn sheep was so close I didn't have to use full zoom on my digital camera. The animal cooperated just long enough for a photo, then turned and bounded off.

Earlier on the same hike, near the trailhead, I came upon the sign in the bottom photo, warning about.... Whatever the danger was, that portion of the sign was missing. You can't pick out the words in the photo, but a previous hiker had used a pen to write in one possibility: "Paparazzi in the bushes."

Hellhole Canyon is one of about 30 hikes listed in the Anza-Borrego brochure available at the visitor's center. Boondockers in the park can head off on a makeshift hike in just about any direction from their campsite.