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anutami Posts: 491
4/1/2014
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A small Valley East of Harper Flat has been on my hit list for quite some time, If Starfish Cove/alma wash is one of the more remote washes in the park this Valley east of Harper flat has to be one of the more remote valleys.
We headed up to Dave Mcain Spring on Friday
the Ocotillo are in full bloom, and we had the place to ourselves. It was so nice to get away as I have been crazy busy at work!
We set up camp at Dave Mcain Spring and enjoyed the tranquil setting. The weather was perfect. It was nice to get back in nature and out of an RV. (although I miss the Truck Camper pretty bad as It makes it so much easier to camp with kids)
Where's Brett?
We had some fun with the morteros
and the edible blossoms of the Ocotillo
they actually don't taste very good 
We had a nice fire and roasted some hot dogs and pounded some water.
Saturday we headed out for the back country. The weather was pretty warm which made it slow going but nice
Heading up the wash got choked with large boulders we had to scramble up and over.
At the top of the wash looking west toward whale peak
to our surprise the rangers have installed a water catch system with two 3,000 gallon tanks
both tanks were completely full with water!
The bees were taking advantage of this
a small plane flew pretty low through the valley. It was cool at first, but he kept circling the valley at least 10 -15 times! I started to get nervous that someone was missing! Luckily this valley gets cell phone service, so I called my wife, but she did not know of anything happening.
We continued exploring the amazing valley with many signs of Indian camps.
Here is a view from the North end of the valley looking south.
Pretty cool granite slab/Kitchen
we found a cool Indian cave. Luckily I had cell coverage because the weather outlook called for a wind advisory. We decided to make up camp in the shelter of the cave.
Just as we started making up camp the wind started to pick up a bit
another section of the cave
the wind blew hard all night and into the next day. Brett being only about 40 lbs and feeling 60mph gusts was a little crazy
We decided to make a loop of the trip so we headed west out of the valley and to the top of this ridge. The wind felt like it was going about 100mph we reached the top
We made our way down slowly interlocking arms. My main concern was the wind blowing one of the kids into the cholla
some blooms
Although we none of us were blown over we did all get our share of cholla bombs
when we arrive back at Dave Mcain Spring we were greeted with about 15 Sheriff Vehicles! This is where my heart sank and I though someone was in serious trouble. As it turns out there was never any closure on the 16 year old kid that took his moms jeep and vanished in the area about 4 years ago. They were still following up and searching for him. The spot plane we saw the previous day was also searching the area. I left out a kids camp chair and they expressed concern after seeing a kids chair and us never returning that night. They were happy to see we were okay and that we had enough water. They were pretty amazed to see 2 kids that far out in the back country.
We headed out and had to stop by the Shell beds and hunt for shark teeth.
  
It is nice to see people not taking the cool shells and leaving them for others to find and explore. We added a few to the collection
As luck would have it we also had great experience of spotting some big horn sheep with 3 ewes
I raced up the wash to get a bit closer and got a nice shot
All in all it was an epic trip with a little of everything! Fish Creek Wash is an amazing area and I never get tired of its hidden treasures.
hope you enjoyed the trip
Total Mylar Balloons: 5
edited by anutami on 4/1/2014
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
4/1/2014
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Smart man giving the kids radios to carry along...
I think Tom and I did a very similar route back in December, the tanks were full at 12,000 gallons each (if I remember correctly), that is sheep country for sure. Guess we need to go back again and look for memory cards..
Nice TR, good to see the kids out there with you, lots of great pics.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
4/1/2014
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BTW, hard to tell but that looks like 3 ewes and 3 lambs.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1364
4/1/2014
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Very nice trip report Nolan,
Looks like your kids adjusted well to tent camping after all the trips in your camper.
The shell fossils are really cool. Great shots of the Big Horn sheep also.
We were out in Fish creek Saturday afternoon until Sunday and the wind was crazy late Saturday.
felt like the roof top tent was going to get ripped off the car with us in it.
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
4/1/2014
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Great trip report, Nolan. Nice to see the sheep are making more sheep. That kid they were searching for is Mickey Guidry and here's a link to one of the many article written about his disappearance: http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/2826. The vehicle he ran away with made it to the bottom of the Pinyon drop off but things get murky after that. Surprised to learn one of the sheriffs officers searching for him ended up marrying his mom. Tom
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hikerdmb Posts: 423
4/1/2014
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Nice trip. Your kids are very lucky. Like your tent too.
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ziphius Posts: 911
4/1/2014
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Great trip and photos Nolan! Lucky kids (and grownups). Great use of the mylar. - Jim
edited by ziphius on 4/2/2014
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
4/1/2014
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dsefcik wrote:
Smart man giving the kids radios to carry along...
I think Tom and I did a very similar route back in December, the tanks were full at 12,000 gallons each (if I remember correctly)
Something didn't look right about those tanks. Those are at a guzzler 1 mile east of Dave McCain Spring. Now, the hike makes sense. Tom
Here's the Dave McCain Spring Guzzler we visited.
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
4/2/2014
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Good catch Tom...
Nolan, did you guys check the water level in the tanks?
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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anutami Posts: 491
4/2/2014
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dsefcik wrote:
Good catch Tom...
Nolan, did you guys check the water level in the tanks?
Yes, both tanks were full of water. Is it only 1 mile east? It felt a lot further!
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Andy Posts: 12
4/3/2014
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Looks like a great trip Nolan. I can't wait until my little ones are able to "keep up" on treks with dad
Its amazing how many of those guzzlers there are. On google earth you can pretty easily make out the square collectors, with quite a few spread out along the nort side of the Pinyon Mountains. Does anyone have an idea of total number of these in the park? I've also ran across these in Cleveland Nat Forest and always wondered who specifically oversaw/maintained them.
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
4/3/2014
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BLM has tons of guzzlers all over the country...I would guess state or park employees are responsible for the ones in ABDSP. F&G may have hand in all of them..I am not sure.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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