Cantú Palms

La Rumorosa

The next morning, I headed back to the paved road, taking Highway 2 east down to Laguna Salada at La Rumorosa:

Laguna Salada

I drove south taking the "high road" along the western side of Laguna Salada. There is a supposedly smoother road on the mud flat itself, but it's only passable when dry and I've never tried it.

As the mood struck me, I picked a few side canyons to explore - which cut west into the Sierra de Juarez.

Cantú Palms

The first canyon is marked as the "La Rosa" mine in my map, but I've also seen it referred to as the "Cantú Palms".

I was now directly below where I had camped the night before - though I had to drive 70 miles to get there!

The first group of palm trees I came across was behind the ruins of a stone building. I found evidence of much earlier occupation too - metates and petroglyphs. And the trees provided some nice shade. The trunks were charred, but the palms seemed to have readily survived the fire. I later found that almost all the palm groves in the area had experienced wildfire at some point.       32.3517, -115.8276 

Spring water in the desert attracts drinking bees:

Less than a mile south is a second small canyon oasis with more trickling spring water and palm trees. There was an old stone corral here, but I couldn't spot any more rock art.       32.3483, -115.8278