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Rocko1 Posts: 597
1/28/2020
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Decided to check out Cottonwood Canyon/Salt Creek area on Saturday. Parked of the S1 at the Lucky 5 Ranch entrance again. My attempt at a sunrise picture.
Followed the jeep trail down towards Oriflame Mountain. There is an old road that continues down to the desert floor and parallels Salt Creek. The road is in decent shape as you crest the saddle
but quickly becomes so eroded and overgrown it’s unusable in sections, even for a hiker. At the steep sections-1,150ft/Mile gain/loss-the ruts are so bad it’s just a 6’+ V shaped overgrown rut. I took game trails where the road is unusable.
There is heavy game usage going towards the creek. Mostly bobcat and coyote tracks. There are also a lot of ticks! I stopped counting after 25 ticks. The slightest brush up against chaparral or other bush would result in a tick. Last month I had 10+ in a 1 mile section in Cuyamaca-this far surpassed that. 25+ in 1.5 miles-both deer and dog ticks.
At about 2.8 miles I heard water gurgling over rocks. This is where the trail passes over salt creek. I was surprised at how much water is still flowing. Water disappears from the creek at 1.5miles past this section.
Video of creek flow. https://youtu.be/BrMjCJECuaw
The road continues east along the creek for a while.
Morteros
Yoni?
Concrete trough
Old farming equipment
Abandoned ranch house?
View of valley
Another trough.
A large boulder with more morteros than I have ever seen. Love the color on this one.
Not sure what this was used for
Potsherds
Whale
Looking back towards the ‘road’ and Oriflame Mountain
After I circled the hills in the valley I decided to head back up. This area needs at least 2 days to fully explore. There are lots of great polished boulders in the drainages that would be fun to check out.
Stats
10.65 miles, 3,100ft/gain and loss. Most of the loss is in 2 mile section dropping off the saddle. Coming up this was tough.
Link to album https://imgur.com/a/6kyB5on
edited by Rocko1 on 1/28/2020
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
1/28/2020
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Glad to hear Salt Creek is flowing well. Went down that road into Cottonwood a few years ago and didn't enjoy that washed out segment either! Nice TR. Cottonwood is definitely worth a 2-3 day trip.
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
1/29/2020
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tommy750 wrote:
Glad to hear Salt Creek is flowing well. Went down that road into Cottonwood a few years ago and didn't enjoy that washed out segment either! Nice TR. Cottonwood is definitely worth a 2-3 day trip.
Thanks. Salt Creek had 3 drainages feeding it and converged where the road crosses the creek. Based on this flow I would assume Oriflame is flowing as well-I may go check that out this weekend.
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rockhopper Posts: 668
1/30/2020
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Nice trip report. Thank full for the heavy rains last 2 years to keep the creeks flowing ( Less carrying water ) in the back country. My brother and I climbed up the back side of Palomar mtn. through heavy coastal oak brush and were covered in ticks. Got em' off thankfully. Had to check every 5 minutes. Not so lucky on the PCT section near hwy 74. :-0 Bush wacking does have it's rewards though :-)
edited by rockhopper on 1/30/2020
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
1/30/2020
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rockhopper wrote:
Nice trip report. Thank full for the heavy rains last 2 years to keep the creeks flowing ( Less carrying water ) in the back country. My brother and I climbed up the back side of Palomar mtn. through heavy coastal oak brush and were covered in ticks. Got em' off thankfully. Had to check every 5 minutes. Not so lucky on the PCT section near hwy 74. :-0 Bush wacking does have it's rewards though :-)
edited by rockhopper on 1/30/2020
I do love to see water flow in these seasonal creeks.
Were you doing Eagle Crag? Also do you treat your clothes? I have been spraying mine with Sawyer Permethrin. On this hike it was 3 weeks out of the 6 week claimed lifespan. I watched a tick crawl about 18" before it started getting a bit funny and then a slight shake knocked him off. I would touch up spray all my stuff before each hike knowing how thick the ticks are now.
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deborah Posts: 115
1/31/2020
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Great photos and trip report! I really enjoyed the video too.
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
2/5/2020
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That's a chin up bar, even the old timers had to get their fitness time in......
I really like that area and it deserves more exploring. Damn ticks..seem really bad this year, I am gonna try that Permethrin stuff.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
2/10/2020
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dsefcik wrote:
That's a chin up bar, even the old timers had to get their fitness time in......
I really like that area and it deserves more exploring. Damn ticks..seem really bad this year, I am gonna try that Permethrin stuff.
The Sawyer brand is the least offensive-can't smell it really. You can also get a more concentrated-cheaper-version that you dillute yourself-this has a bit of paint smell to is. You can spray it on everything-shoes, backpacks, etc.
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ziphius Posts: 911
2/17/2020
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Great trip report from an area I need to explore more! Still thinking about designing a t-shirt with a giant tick that says "TICK MAGNET".
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
2/17/2020
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ziphius wrote:
Great trip report from an area I need to explore more! Still thinking about designing a t-shirt with a giant tick that says "TICK MAGNET".
Ha! I wouldn't want to anger the tick gods-they seem pretty riled up now. 
Was out near Chariot Mtn on the PCT on Saturday and had a deer tick take a short ride. I had just sprayed my pants the night before. He made a few confused circles before I flicked him off. Most of the time they make a bee line straight up the pants.
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ziphius Posts: 911
2/17/2020
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I ran into a couple collecting ticks for research near Pine Valley a few weeks ago. They said that the deer tick that carries Lyme disease, Ixodes pacificus, is rare in San Diego County, but I see plenty of records on iNaturalist. They did say that where western fence lizard and Ixodes overlap, that Lyme is rare. This is because the blood of western fence lizard kills off the Lyme bacterium. https://news.sfsu.edu/news-story/biologists-sf-state-dig-ticks-and-lyme-disease
edited by ziphius on 2/17/2020
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rockhopper Posts: 668
2/17/2020
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Rocko1 wrote:
rockhopper wrote:
Nice trip report. Thank full for the heavy rains last 2 years to keep the creeks flowing ( Less carrying water ) in the back country. My brother and I climbed up the back side of Palomar mtn. through heavy coastal oak brush and were covered in ticks. Got em' off thankfully. Had to check every 5 minutes. Not so lucky on the PCT section near hwy 74. :-0 Bush wacking does have it's rewards though :-)
edited by rockhopper on 1/30/2020
I do love to see water flow in these seasonal creeks.
Were you doing Eagle Crag? Also do you treat your clothes? I have been spraying mine with Sawyer Permethrin. On this hike it was 3 weeks out of the 6 week claimed lifespan. I watched a tick crawl about 18" before it started getting a bit funny and then a slight shake knocked him off. I would touch up spray all my stuff before each hike knowing how thick the ticks are now.
We hiked the Agua Seca creek trail off hwy 79 to the ridge line of Palomar Mtn. Followed the old over grown fire road along the ridge and then retraced back the car. The deer ticks were everywhere on the tips of the leaves right at belt height.
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
2/17/2020
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ziphius wrote:
I ran into a couple collecting ticks for research near Pine Valley a few weeks ago. They said that the deer tick that carries Lyme disease, Ixodes pacificus, is rare in San Diego County, but I see plenty of records on iNaturalist. They did say that where western fence lizard and Ixodes overlap, that Lyme is rare. This is because the blood of western fence lizard kills off the Lyme bacterium. https://news.sfsu.edu/news-story/biologists-sf-state-dig-ticks-and-lyme-disease
edited by ziphius on 2/17/2020
I have heard this and it may have been the case a few years ago, but the ticks I have seen recently it's about a 50/50 western black legged tick and dog tick and trending towards more western.
edited by Rocko1 on 2/17/2020
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
2/17/2020
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rockhopper wrote:
Rocko1 wrote:
rockhopper wrote:
Nice trip report. Thank full for the heavy rains last 2 years to keep the creeks flowing ( Less carrying water ) in the back country. My brother and I climbed up the back side of Palomar mtn. through heavy coastal oak brush and were covered in ticks. Got em' off thankfully. Had to check every 5 minutes. Not so lucky on the PCT section near hwy 74. :-0 Bush wacking does have it's rewards though :-)
edited by rockhopper on 1/30/2020
I do love to see water flow in these seasonal creeks.
Were you doing Eagle Crag? Also do you treat your clothes? I have been spraying mine with Sawyer Permethrin. On this hike it was 3 weeks out of the 6 week claimed lifespan. I watched a tick crawl about 18" before it started getting a bit funny and then a slight shake knocked him off. I would touch up spray all my stuff before each hike knowing how thick the ticks are now.
We hiked the Agua Seca creek trail off hwy 79 to the ridge line of Palomar Mtn. Followed the old over grown fire road along the ridge and then retraced back the car. The deer ticks were everywhere on the tips of the leaves right at belt height.
I have been hearing about ticks in this area for a couple of years now. You treat your clothes?
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davidwyby Posts: 46
8/13/2020
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I am terrified of getting Lyme...
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
8/13/2020
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davidwyby wrote:
I am terrified of getting Lyme...
Go out and buy Sawyer Permethrin. Treat your shoes, socks, pants, shirt, hat, backpack, etc. Last about 5 weeks. You can also buy concentrated permethrin on Amazon and dilute yourself-note-this is much cheaper but has a slight paint smell, the Sawyer is odorless to me once dry. When you get home do tick check in mirror, take hot shower, etc. Not a huge chance out west of getting it but it is possible and people have contracted it.
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