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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
5/1/2016
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I have been battling some personal issues for the last several months and have not been as active as I normally would be, I hope to participate more in the coming months with all of your adventures, I have enjoyed reading many of the posts here lately even though I may not be actively participating in many of the discussions. Here is a trip report I have been meaning to post for months and am now finally getting to it.
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Long overdue are some trip reports for Dec 2015 and the first quarter of 2016. Over the Christmas/Winter/Holiday (take your pick) Break I managed to get almost 12 days of backpacking in the Santa Rosa Mountains and Martinez Canyon area. Most of these photos are from a small Olympus XA film camera I picked up just for backpacking trips. It is a small lightweight 35mm film camera that takes very sharp pictures. Fuji Velvia 50 slide film provided lots of color and an old school look that I love so much in photos.
(Click on any of the photos to see a larger size version)
Sort of an Ansel Adams moment atop a razor sharp and crumbly limestone ridge
A panorama from the same ridge looking towards Cochella (click to see full size image)
This is a small area of the now dried up Lake Cahuilla shoreline. The years gone by have left an easily seen water line on the rocks
Personally I prefer to just squat over a hole in the ground but if you gotta sit while taking care of business then this would be your best friend
Moon rise from an unnamed canyon we camped in
Lots of Bighorn Tracks and body parts
Those old time cowboys really knew how to party, Gallo Wine and Hostetter's Stomach Bitters
There are also a handful of photos from my new Garmin Montana 600 GPS, it surprised me with how good of photos it can take and it is able to evaluate some tough low light exposures pretty well (sunrise/sunset).
Early morning sunrise looking at Toro Peak, yes, those are patches of snow on the ground, it was cold at night up on the mountain range!
Randy is hauling a hefty pack up several thousand feet of climbing in one day, I am not sure how he does it, especially with the light snow all over the place making it very slippery
The snow we had for a couple of days made animal tracking lots of fun and we did not need to carry much water since we could drink/eat the snow
Sunrise over the Salton Sea. I have to say that waking up in the morning and looking out over the Salton Sea from anywhere on the Santa Rosa mountain range is without a doubt one of my favorite parts of any trip up there, it is just magical
There are probably dozens of airplane wrecks in the Santa Rosa mountains, we found one
Gary & Randy enjoying some morning Starbucks looking out over Cochella Valley, damn it was cold..!!
Up near Rabbit Peak we could see down into Borrego Springs and Clark Lake
I hope you enjoy these photos of Martinez Canyon area and the Santa Rosa Mountain range
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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hikerdmb Posts: 423
5/1/2016
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Nice trip. Hope all is good with you.
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anutami Posts: 491
5/1/2016
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yeah nice trip, I was just literally reminiscing over some past photos wishing we could get out more, my kids are growing up so fast and life just keeps getting in the way
hope all is good Daren 
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1364
5/2/2016
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Great pictures as always Daren
Nice finds on the airplane and arrowhead .
Pictures make it look very cold but beautiful.
Sorry you couldn't make the Guatay Mountain hike but let's plan on another time.
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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ziphius Posts: 911
5/2/2016
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Nice trip Daren. You always manage to find the best of nature and plane wrecks on your adventures. Hope all is well. Anytime you wanna listen to Art Bell and B.S., I'm in the neighborhood. - Jim
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
5/2/2016
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anutami wrote:
my kids are growing up so fast and life just keeps getting in the way I can't get mine to go out anymore..enjoy your time with them while you can.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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rockhopper Posts: 668
5/2/2016
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Nice expedition trip and great photography! I really like the sunrise over the Salton sea pic. Did you know of the plane crash site or just stumble upon it? Looks like it was on the ridge. Missed it by that much...Nice there was a little snow for water but cold at nite. Did you guys measure the low temps in the am? Nice arrowhead too!
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
5/2/2016
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rockhopper wrote:
Nice expedition trip and great photography! I really like the sunrise over the Salton sea pic. Did you know of the plane crash site or just stumble upon it? Looks like it was on the ridge. Missed it by that much...Nice there was a little snow for water but cold at nite. Did you guys measure the low temps in the am? Nice arrowhead too! We had heard tales of the plane but that was not our MO for the trip, only a side trip for something to find. Night temps were low 20's with a couple of 17'ers. Most mornings the tents were frozen over crunchy, any condensation was thin ice sheets. The killer part in winter is the nights are 14 hours long and it is so damn cold you just want to stay in your down bags. Gary was the only one who did not use a tent that trip AND he forgot his sleeping pad so he slept on a sheet of blue plastic on the hard dirt every night and the first night in the rain under a rock shelter full of rat crap.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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ziphius Posts: 911
5/3/2016
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dsefcik wrote:
Gary was the only one who did not use a tent that trip AND he forgot his sleeping pad so he slept on a sheet of blue plastic on the hard dirt every night and the first night in the rain under a rock shelter full of rat crap.
This is why we spend time in the great outdoors!
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
5/3/2016
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Great pics, Daren. Glad you guys had a chance to use your cold weather gear Looks like Gary is wearing his ground cloth in that one pic...
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rockhopper Posts: 668
5/8/2016
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I think Gary will remember his sleeping pad next time. Heck, I bring two! I must be getting old.
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
5/8/2016
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rockhopper wrote:
I think Gary will remember his sleeping pad next time. So he did, we just got back from 4 days in Rockhouse Canyon, mostly all strong winds and 2 days of rain...Gary rolls over during the first night and wakes up to find his pad blew away somewhere..
We did find it later after a quick search though but damn....
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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tekewin Posts: 371
5/11/2016
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Nice!
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