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tekewin Posts: 371
9/29/2019
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It's officially the end of summer and though it still gets hot in some places, I made my first trip back to the desert. Started at Agua Caliente State Park, walked a half mile of the Moonlight Trail, then went up an unnamed canyon toward the Tierra Blanca Mountains High Point. With careful route finding, it can all be kept class 2. Lots of boulders in the first mile, then there are some breaks with flat spots. At the top of the gully, I went up left just below a large rock outcrop and found the summit register in a glass jar. Gorgeous view of the Inner Pasture and Sawtooth Mountains. The register went back to 1989 but only had a few dozen entries. Of course, the Monday Maniacs had been there.
Inner pasture from Tierra Blanca high point
After a short stay, I started back along the ridge line, but dropped into a parallel unnamed canyon also filled with boulders. There are a couple of dry falls that were not easy to bypass, but could be down climbed at class 3. After hours of rock hopping, I was glad to get out of the canyon. I decided to pick up Peak 1882, the bump that the loop trail goes around and Caliente Benchmark which is just off the trail. There was water running along the trail and a lot of vegetation there. Both Peak 1882 and Caliente Benchmark had flying ants that swarmed me. No register or marks on 1882, but Caliente had both.
Peak 1882
Water!
Caliente Benchmark in the middle
When I got to the truck, I smelled something unusual. My first guess was butane but I couldn't place it. I changed into swimming clothes and headed to one of the outdoor pools. I was there for one minute before a fireman came over and told me they were evacuating the park due to a chlorine problem. I guess too much of the chemical was put into the indoor pool. He escorted me to my truck and determined I didn't need decontamination before leaving. I missed out on a relaxing soak, but really enjoyed this fun but tough hike. One mylar balloon collected.
CalTopo public map of the route: https://caltopo.com/m/HCEC
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ziphius Posts: 911
9/29/2019
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Great-looking trip! Crazy about the chlorine.
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
9/29/2019
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This info courtesy of tommy750
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2019-09-27/chemical-spill-in-remote-agua-caliente-camp-site-sends-2-to-hospital
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
9/29/2019
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Nice trip Tekewin. Was out in the Tierra Blancas today hiking just to the west of Canebrake Canyon. Walked by 39 roasting pits. Should have tried for one more  Did come across this poor guy. Still had a strong odor:
 Sheep6 by tomteske, on Flickr
 Sheep2 by tomteske, on Flickr
 Sheep3 by tomteske, on Flickr
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tekewin Posts: 371
9/30/2019
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What were the odds of a chlorine spill on my first visit to Agua Caliente? Oh, well, another reason to go back.
tommy750, whoa, that looks recent. Any cat prints nearby?
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
9/30/2019
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No pool expert but aren't you supposed to keep hydrochloric acid and chlorine way the heck apart?? Chlorine gas is still unhealthy, right?
No kitty prints but it rained pretty hard earlier in the week. There were a lot of fresh sheep prints crossing the canyon further down.
Tekewin, how high up were you when you saw the water. Nice to see that out there.
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tekewin Posts: 371
9/30/2019
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tommy750 wrote:
Tekewin, how high up were you when you saw the water. Nice to see that out there.
The water was from a seep directly along the loop trail just south of Caliente Benchmark. Both canyons were mostly dry with a few damp spots here and there.
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rockhopper Posts: 668
10/2/2019
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Nice day hike. Looks like desert season is upon us. Water maybe from recent Monsoon storms which rolled thru the are a few weeks ago.
Cheers
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Buford Posts: 459
10/2/2019
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I read about the pool accident a couple days ago 
Cool to see pictures of the area from both @tekewin and @tommy750.
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Links to my photos: ABDSP photos, Bighorn sheep photos, ABDSP time lapse video, Wildlife photos (mainly birds)
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