BC alumni and friends at Eagle Rock, Warner Springs. L-R: Mike Ross ’09, Marissa Robles, Rebecca Scease Reid ’96, Lissa Herrick Tsu ’00, Brian Tsu ’00, Margot Tsu, Ray Berube ’78, Mary Farrell Berube ’80, Janet Rodriguez, Kevin Smosky ’00, Bill McDonald ’68.

There is a natural rock formation in Warner Springs, about 90 miles northeast of downtown San Diego, that looks a little like an eagle. Actually, as you can see above, the rather large natural rock formation looks like nothing else than a big eagle.

On Saturday, 10 alumni and friends (and a young daughter) made the trek to Eagle Rock, which is located on the Pacific Crest Trail. In a pretty weird connection, we accessed the area where Eagle Rock is located from Camino San Ignacio in Warner Springs. That’s “St. Ignatius Road.” !?

And a few miles down the road on State Route 79 is a street with another Jesuit-related name (see photo at right). Anyone know about any Jesuit presence in northeast San Diego County?

We also went further initially than Warner Springs, over the mountainsides to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Desert flowers are somewhat past peak (earlier and briefer than expected in this El Niño year), but there is still some color not seen the rest of the year.

Our flower guide was Christina St. John from the Anza-Borrego Foundation. About to pursue a master’s degree in botany, Christina was an invaluable guide to the desert flora, as well as a friendly companion. With her guidance, we visited Glorietta Canyon, one of the most accessible areas of the Park (though over a couple of miles of dirt road) and location of many flowering plants in the spring.

It was pretty much a day-long excursion, also including lunch in Borrego Springs, and a visit to a rather unusual piece of “public art.” Below is a short (<5 minutes) video of the day, including the desert flowers, etc. You’ll see that we were able to visit Eagle Rock and park our cars inside the gate that warns “No Trespassing.” That’s because we had received official permission from the Vista Irrigation District to do so, after filling out various waivers, and were on the property for only about a half-hour. We had some unexpected companions on our visit to Eagle Rock, examples of the “wildlife” in the area . . . but that’s for you to see. (Click on “BCSD @ Eagle Rock” at upper left of graphic below to watch on YouTube. Much better viewing.)