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Rocko1 Posts: 597
12/14/2022
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I finally got around to do my Salton Sea to Cuyamaca trip. I have wanted to do this hike for a few years. I messed around with multiple routes, some shorter, some longer and eventually settled on the longer San Diego Trans County Trail route for a couple of reasons. One, it’s very easy logistically to cache water as there are many points the ‘trail’ intersects roads. Two, it is easier to bail out should something arise. Three if I ever get the gumption to do the second half of the SDTCT I won’t need to start from scratch.
Day 0-1
Wife and I car camped at Arroyo Salada campground the night before, where I also cached a gallon of water. She dropped me off Thursday, December 1st at 6:30am at the SDTCT eastern terminus which is at the end of Crystal Ave in Salton City. I then got as close to the sea as I could-within a few feet-I couldn’t get any closer as I was sinking into the muck-hiking poles were going in 2-3’ deep.
From there I picked up the Arroya Salada wash and headed west back to the campground. Made good time and decided to push on to my second water cache where Palm Canyon Dr turns into Pegleg Rd. Went by Inspiration Point-really great views up there.
Hiking as about as fast as I could with 25lbs on my back I made it to the 2nd cache around 5pm. 32.5 miles for the day and just smoked. Setup camp a few hundred yards off the road, ate and crashed hard.
Day 2
Woke up at 5am as I wanted to get into Borrego Springs early and start up Hellhole Canyon as soon as possible. Went to the Center Market and bought a few items. Once I made it to Hellhole Canyon I would be on the California Riding and Hiking Trail for a while. Struggled up Hellhole Canyon with the extra food and water-5L-brick of cheese was worth it.
Picked up another water cache at the Jasper Trail/Montezuma Valley Rd area. From there I dropped into Grapevine Canyon
and would take that to Plum Canyon-where I had another water/food cache-which ended up being overkill. I camped about a mile into Plum Canyon just off the jeep road. 27.5 miles. Same thing, setup camp, shovel some food and fell asleep around 6:30.
Day 3
Set the alarm for 4:30am as I wanted to make it to the lake as soon as possible. Left Plum Canyon,
headed across Earthquake Valley,
into Blair Valley to Box Canyon and up Mason Valley Truck Trail.
Man is that road rutted now. Got to Pedro Fages Monument, crossed the road and made a straight line for the group of pines near Stonewall Mine area. Got the lake around 2pm. 25 miles.
Really was a great trip and I had a good sense of accomplishment. I had perfect weather-lows were mid 40’s, highs high 60’s and partly cloudy. Only had wind the first night.
Trip Totals-85 miles, 10,148' gain. -231 ft lowest elevation, 4,790 highest. 4 Balloons.
Album https://imgur.com/a/4EVWumb
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Brian Posts: 226
12/14/2022
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Impressive trip and great pics. I think it would bother me to do all that climbing out of Hellhole and then immediately give back that elevation gain going down Grapevine. I know you were looking at a shorter route that wouldn't have done that, but opted for the official route.
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
12/14/2022
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Brian wrote:
Impressive trip and great pics. I think it would bother me to do all that climbing out of Hellhole and then immediately give back that elevation gain going down Grapevine. I know you were looking at a shorter route that wouldn't have done that, but opted for the official route.
Yeah, going down to Grapevine was a chore, it's pretty steep and not frequently travelled from what it looked like. Once I hit the jeep road at the bottom it felt like forever to get to Plum Canyon-pretty monotonous hiking.
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
12/14/2022
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Must be nice to be young and fit! Great trip. Your Plum tent/moon pic is really trippy. Like it.
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ziphius Posts: 911
12/14/2022
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Nicely done! I'm still thinking about a route, but not getting any younger. If you saved a gpx track, wouldn't mind seeing the general route you did in map form.
edited by ziphius on 12/14/2022
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
12/15/2022
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tommy750 wrote:
Must be nice to be young and fit! Great trip. Your Plum tent/moon pic is really trippy. Like it.
It's not without a lot of pain and a steady diet of ibuprofen!
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
12/15/2022
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ziphius wrote:
Nicely done! I'm still thinking about a route, but not getting any younger. If you saved a gpx track, wouldn't mind seeing the general route you did in map form.
edited by ziphius on 12/14/2022
This is what I used. https://caltopo.com/m/TNA0 Trip obviously can be done in more time, less rushing. It's sort of works out for 20 mile days with the cache locations.
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ziphius Posts: 911
12/16/2022
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Thank you Rocko1. Food for thought on routes.
Rocko1 wrote:
ziphius wrote:
Nicely done! I'm still thinking about a route, but not getting any younger. If you saved a gpx track, wouldn't mind seeing the general route you did in map form.
edited by ziphius on 12/14/2022
This is what I used. https://caltopo.com/m/TNA0 Trip obviously can be done in more time, less rushing. It's sort of works out for 20 mile days with the cache locations.
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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Buford Posts: 459
12/16/2022
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That is a lot of miles but some cool scenery. Inspiration Point is one of the best places to watch storms spilling over the Ysidro range and onto the desert floor.
I too am surprised about going all the way up to the top of the Jasper Trail and coming back down Grapevine instead of cutting across the badlands from Arroyo Salado to the Texas Dip and through the narrows.
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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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Rocko1 Posts: 597
12/19/2022
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Buford wrote:
That is a lot of miles but some cool scenery. Inspiration Point is one of the best places to watch storms spilling over the Ysidro range and onto the desert floor.
I too am surprised about going all the way up to the top of the Jasper Trail and coming back down Grapevine instead of cutting across the badlands from Arroyo Salado to the Texas Dip and through the narrows.
I had never been to Inspiration and it was really fantastic. I loved hiking down through the fingers from the top. Highlight of the trip for me.
I think the SDTCT wants to follow the CRHT as much as possible. Certainly not the most efficient or direct, but easier to cache water, go into town, etc. I had several routes planned before opting for the SDTCT that were 20 miles shorter.
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rockhopper Posts: 668
12/20/2022
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Wow Rocko1, that was an epic trek from shore to crest. You really were covering a lot of miles at a pretty quick pace. Probably 3 to 4 miles an hour or so. About double my usual meandering pace of 2 mph. I really like the picture 6. It is just mesmerizing! Congrats on your expedition success.
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
12/21/2022
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rockhopper wrote:
Wow Rocko1, that was an epic trek from shore to crest. You really were covering a lot of miles at a pretty quick pace. Probably 3 to 4 miles an hour or so. About double my usual meandering pace of 2 mph. I really like the picture 6. It is just mesmerizing! Congrats on your expedition success.
Thank you. I was hiking at full clip  . Felt great until the next morning when my feet were swollen and the tendons on top were really sore. Felt like heaven walking on hard pack after 30 miles of soft sand.
Thinking about doing the second half of SDTCT but the logistics just stink in comparison-private land bypasses, bushwhacking, etc.
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tekewin Posts: 371
12/31/2022
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What monster trip! Great job!
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