Met the Sculptor and took a hike

As we've explored the area around Jojoba Hills SKP park, we were delighted to see several horse sculptures in the hills, and a large sign for the studio/gallery of Ricardo Breceda, the artist that did the sculptures that we saw around Borrego Springs.

From the highway it looked like there was a nice park next to the gallery, and I decided we would first go to the park, have a picnic lunch, a walk, and then visit the studio.

But, it turned out the park was a private RV park with a gate guard who said the public was not welcome to walk or picnic there.  The gallery is actually in the park. The gate guard gave us a 30 minute pass. We didn't pay much attention to the time.

The yard of the gallery had many wonderful critters lined up and ready for new homes. His work is very animated! They seem ready to jump or chomp. He does great teeth.

This warthog was one of my favorites.

Ricardo was there and I was thrilled to meet such a gifted man.  

The dinosaurs in the shaded grotto were fantastic. They made me wish I had a large yard and a few extra thousand dollars to spend. Oh well, the pictures will have to suffice.

We then went over to the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve for our lunch and hike.

We started with a short interpretive trail reading the charming words of a past docent, Gordon House. Many such brochures are a bit stilted.  You could hear his love of the place in his playful descriptions. 

The Granite Loop trail started through some chaparral, 

Across some open meadow land,

and under some very old oak trees.  About as diversified a trail as we've been on.

It then linked up with the Vista Grande trail that took us up into some garssy hills, and as the name suggests led us to a place we could see the far mountains.  

When we got back to the visitors center my pedometer read 4.6 miles.  A nice hike!