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Nice trip Daren. Wish I could have made it. Me thinking I had Veteran's Day off was wishful thinking. Nice point. That spring from your view down the valley is higher that I thought!

BTW, I think that SkyBlazer was Lot# 61 and expired in Oct. 2010.

Nice trip and tarantula Daren. Any surface moisture at the spring? Animal tracks? I count about 40-plus palms in the immediate area from aerial photos, must be significant water below the surface. Wonder if the ranchers utilized mules to help drag the pipes uphill.

Looks like there is a potentially nice flat and sandy camp area above the spring at about 3200 ft. I like that photo looking out of the shack window.

Wow. The floor of the canyon looks so empty. Did they haul out all the tamarisk? Nice skull too.

What does the Seven Sisters refer too? The tunnels?

-Florian

You didn't need your red plastic storm trooper outfit for this trip, heh? I remember that old post from when you and your buddy went down through the catclaw, etc. into the Gorge, wearing those homemade 'body gaiters'. Nice trip and bighorn skull. - Jim

That hydra -Cushion box car looks like it rode down the "hill" better than that other box car . haha
I take it that Tamarisk is non native. Nice of them to clear it out!

Neat trip report. Nice glyph photos. Where they near a old water source? Old spring or creek perhaps. The whole area was much wetter in past ice age advances and retreats. I have never seen a quartz like artifact like that out in ABDSP. Neat!

Heard the entire watershed was seeded as a result of Tropical Storm Kathleen in 1976. Took a closeup of the largest tamarisk stump I could find and by counting the rings, I ended up at over thirty years of growth. In the ballpark if my dendrochronology is right

How is the road getting in there?

I've always wanted to hike Carrizo Gorge. Looks very doable right now.

I'll be looking down into this weekend, though, on a trip out to Goat Canyon trestle.

A quote from Anza Borrego A to Z, in the Glorietta Canyon description:

"The name Glorietta Canyon first appeared on an ABDSP map in 1982. It was an unnamed canyon at the foot of Pinyon Ridge until the Fall of 1978. Frnata Smreck and Ranger Paul Schuessler named the canyon. Smreck and his wife, Verna, had been camping that season in their Airstream trailer in the canyon that flows down to the east toward Yaqui Meadows from the top of the Wilson Trail. Smreck recalled that Schuessler had asked him, "What would you like to call this place?". The Smrecks continued to camp seasonally in the canyon until 1983, when the canyon became an official destination when it appeared on the park map and visitors disturbed their privacy." [ My take-home lesson: seek out unnamed places. ]

Definitely one of my favorite areas of the Anza Borrego region. Never get tired of checking out the Rockhouse cabin.
Never did follow that water pipe. Crazy it goes all the way up the ridge.

Didn't we do that hike in the summer once Daren?

What were the exposure times on the Milky Way shots?

Hard to see but could the tracks be bear? It looks kind of long. I know there are bears in the San Bernardino NF. Nice trip report and pics too. Love the arrowhead.

Looks like an awesome backpacking trip Daren.

Glad your truck did well.
Guessing the straight axle setup of the older Toyota's works better than the IFS of the newer trucks in those rock crawling situations.

Saw you heading North up S2 this past Saturday as we were heading out after our Carrizo Palms hike
Waved but you looked like you were on a mission

Bob, It looks like you had all the elements of a great desert trip: sheep sighting, mylar, cholla bomb, spring water, and a Daren sighting! I haven't been out that way, gotta hoof it overland or make friends with a 4x4 owner. Nice trip. - Jim

Oh by the way, on our way back from the trestle on our recent hike, we could see the worker's camp down in the gorge and hear the chainsaws going. I wonder how long they'll be working in there?

Maybe we should start a thread called "Daren Sightings" ?

Same drive-train as your 83.

Great photos and trip report. Looks like you went during great weather. Man we go from hot to 20 deg nite time temps. That's the desert! Brrrrrr!
1. How in the world did you spot that quartz arrowhead? Looks like for hunting rabbit and birds.
2. Was there any remnant of the 4x4 rock built road going up the 30 ft water fall drop off? Others may chime in on the history of this. A 4x4 club back in the day (1950's- 1960's) ?? built a road up Rock house canyon. I don't know if they ever made it to the valley floor. But parts of the 4x4 ( rock and boulder) road built by these guys still was intact about 20 years ago.
3. A big hats off to Gary and you guys doing conservation work in one of the most fragile eco-systems treasures.
Its raining good at the coast as I write this. I guess my rain dance worked

How deep was the pool in picture 5? Looks like you could take a soak in that one.

Awesome! You are getting some amazing photos! Of all the times you have not used a tent have you ever been bitten? I once woke up to a 3" spider hanging out on the top of my tent and never got into a bivy because of it.

Looking at the topo for the area makes me want to hike up the Middle Fork all the way to San Ignacio and the Hot Springs Mtn area. I guess you would seek permission to enter the reservation from the Middle Fork, perhaps park your exit car at the Rez itself. I don't think water would be a limiting factor at all, but those upper reaches of the Middle Fork look so vegetation-choked. Take the high route in those vegetation-choked spots? By the way, when one is looking at topos and fantasizing about trips, it is called 'mapsturbating'. Sorry Bob / Daren, I know this is a family-forum.
edited by ziphius on 12/9/2014

dsefcik wrote:

Looks like a great trip, glad you guys were able to get out there. That route down Pepperwood and over the saddle into Indian Gorge at one point was a proposed hiking/horse riding trail for the BLM, not sure what ever happened (or not happened) but happy it stayed as is to enjoy. Those cow bones were the ones Tom was showing me how my back was messed up on a trip a few weeks back (actually the spine was off in the wash north of the jeep road).

Did you guys happen to stop at the round water trough at the end of the jeep road near Pepperwood? Did it have ANY water in it or was the pipe dripping?

Thanks, Daren! Are you talking about the trough by the old windmill? There was a tiny bit of water that might have been from the rains a few days prior. No water coming from the pipe. I want to get out there again and explore more of Canebrake and Inner Pasture.

Great trip. Have done parts of that trip but would like to try Pepperwood sometime. Did you get see anything that looked like a trail heading up Canebrake toward Thing Valley? It's listed on old topo maps but can't really see anything on GE. Tom

The folks I hiked out there with are thinking about another hike over one of the next holiday weekends coming up to look for the solstice cave in Indian Valley. That should be an interesting search.

Rain rise pic. Awoke to rain hitting my sleeping bag while sleeping in the bed of my truck. Pic is from Dec. 12 2013 exactly one year to the day!

dsefcik wrote:

tommy750 wrote:

Great trip. Have done parts of that trip but would like to try Pepperwood sometime. Did you get see anything that looked like a trail heading up Canebrake toward Thing Valley? It's listed on old topo maps but can't really see anything on GE. Tom

Sounds like a trip to me Tom! When you wanna go..??

Any time after the holidays sounds good to me. Thinking we need to swing by Carrizo Gorge first and borrow a couple chain saws to clear a trail

dsefcik wrote:

Absolutely love it Tom, I really like the B/W photos, I need to learn how you make those. I have not been out to Carrizo Marsh yet, would like to go someday. Too bad we missed each other this weekend, you would have enjoyed going with us.

Assuming you're going to post on your trip? Also assuming you got time lapse shots of the meteor shower? Yeah, wish I would have found out about my change in plans earlier so I could have joined you.

Your picto shots make me realize how much I *need* a fisheye lens in my arsenal.

FYI, I attended Mark Jorgensen's bighorn talk and book signing this evening at the Natural History Museum. Great talk, incredibly knowledgeable about bighorn biology (and the politics of conservation). During the talk, Mark showed one of Daren's photos, a dead ram, apparently killed by a mountain lion.
edited by ziphius on 12/16/2014

Have to admit, the spider video was worth the 78 seconds! Were the skid marks from a coyote or hawk or ? Great trip. Need to head back out there.

Looks like a fun trip. From where abouts did you guys access that valley? From Blair?

dsefcik wrote:

Do you remember which photo he used? I have sent him several, I would be interested in knowing.

It was this one:

http://www.darensefcik.com/Photography/Anza-Borrego-Desert-State-Park/Blair-Valley-Alma-Wash/i-Kdh2vzC/0/M/img_1330_2013-11-03-M.jpg

dsefcik wrote:

Wonderful photos Nolan, I think there is someone singing &quotAll I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...&quot...haha...
I wonder if we just missed each other ..again...we were out backpacking the same route as 2 years ago and passed thru Agua Caliente on Tuesday. If you saw a white Prius in the day use spot that was our car. The weather the last 5 days out in ABDSP was about as good as you can get, it was perfect. Looks like another great trip!

Yup saw the Prius. I think I saw your truck last year around the same time leaving Indian Gorge I have never seen agua caliente campround so deserted. We almost stayed, but had the issues with the truck and wanted to get back.

As always, it looks like you had another interesting trip. As a fellow user, I can attest to the awesomeness of Dirty Girls, however its always awkward when a fellow hiker asks "Who makes those gaiters?" Ok, here we go...

Great trip Daren. Does the tarp set up so it is more closed off? Looks like you could get wet if the wind changed directions. How far was this hike? Very beautiful area.

Hard to beat the views of egg mountain! Like the pacifico and drainage trench Near your shelter. Is that a cigar in your hand in the hot tub? Never seen a baby tarantula, nice. Ejection seat, What a trip! Can't wait for the next one

Looks like a neat trip. Every time i'm in the area i always drive up Egg mtn but have never camped on it. I wonder if you took any star images to the south around midnight? If so you probably have an image of comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy.

-Florian

DesertWRX wrote:

That damn rock fire pit at your camping site! We do Adopt a Wash and Arroyo Tapiado is one of our areas and we've removed that pit many times. People always build it right by the signs saying no ground fires!

I was thinking the same thing. Next time I will remove the thing. I picked up about 20 nails around the parking area as well.

Did you folks ever find this plane?
http://joeidoni.smugmug.com/Aircraft-Crash-Sites/A/11558268_JnGUE#818002961_s9gHV

I hiked to it last week--its near Agua Cailente.

So sorry for my lack of effort, I still don't know how to post pic's here. I did post some on Instagram under impatienthiker.

Thanks guys!

Daren, I'm planning on an overnighter through Carrizo Gorge in February. Trying to convince the wife to meet up at Agua Caliente afterward.

I was in the Carrizo Badlands the night before last. Chilly, indeed. But I slept comfortably with a high-calorie dinner, in all my clothes layers + silk bag liner (protects bag from dirty clothes and adds a little R) + 4 lb Western Mountaineering down bag, on top of a Therm-A-Rest Z Lite Sol pad + Tyvek tarp. Yes, the bag is quite heavy, but in my case I judge it worthwhile because I hate being cold.

(And, hi! This is my first post. Great forum for a wonderful treasure of land).

awesome area! one of my favs, I was just North West of you exploring the fossil beds as well. I will post some pics, I got some good ones

Cool snow! I'd never even heard of Rainbow Canyon until now. Sounds like there are lots of dry falls in that canyon from what I've just read. Any signs of standing water on your trip?

Jim (ziphius) wrote:

Cool snow! I'd never even heard of Rainbow Canyon until now. Sounds like there are lots of dry falls in that canyon from what I've just read. Any signs of standing water on your trip?

He wrote Rainbow "Valley"....Rainbow Canyon is over near Box/Blair, I think Kylkai is referring to elsewhere, near Temecula I think....

My favorite photos are of your camp, because I can tell how cold it is ... and the bullet-ridden vehicle in the foreground of the mountains is killer. Lucky guys to find a desert tortoise shell. Never seen one in the wild... I've heard they come out from their burrows briefly in March and then spend 95% of their lives underground. Did you guys utilize any of the water at Gucci Spring? I'd been scouring the area (via Google Earth) for springs a few weeks ago and happened upon Gucci, was convinced I could make out the water trough from satellite.

Daren, that blue spot down below Orion in Lepus in your first milky way image is comet Lovejoy. It's visible in the second image just below and to the right of the airplane track.

Neat trip. I like the Mojave and the Salt Creek area.

-Florian

dsefcik wrote:

Definitely worth the drive (I would think, we didn't get a chance), I will be going back out. I wanted to backpack out to Castle Rock, Mopah Spring may have water but I have not researched enough to know. You wanna plan a trip??

"We found a low level of water at the spring." - Feb 2014

"Near the base of the massive, monolith known as Mopah Peak, is a small clump of California Fan Palms and a pool of water. This is the only water for miles. The pool is about four feet across, and not quite a foot deep. The water is clear and sweet." - BLM website.

Oh boy... I wanna go. Water water everywhere.

Darren, have you looked at some of the UL gear suppliers like ZPacks.com and Mountain Laurel Designs? I know Andrew Skurka used their MLD28 Quilt to go down to some pretty frigid temps on his Alaska-Yukon expedition. It's my current bag, though I haven't had the chance to use it below about 40 yet, it's extremely light and warm, and packs down really small. Zpacks has a 10 degree quilt that weighs in at around 14 ounces or something like that, but it is a bit short. The MLD one I have is an XL size, so I can be completely wrapped up in it head to toe. I know you're not looking for conventional stuff, so figured you might like some of their gear.

The Western Mountaineering bags I've heard great things about, as well as the Mont-bell Spiral Down Hugger bags, for anyone else looking for a more conventional sleeping bag type setup, as opposed to a UL quilt.

P.S. - my first post on here - long time lurker, and avid Anza-Borrego / desert explorer.
edited by justinlowery on 1/7/2015

I would freeze if I were to sleep out there below freezing and just had a ridgrest pad under me.

dsefcik wrote:

Also, I gotta give ziphius TONS of credit for turning me on to dehydrating my own food, I can now take all my left overs and throw them in the dehydrator and get light weight home cooked food out backpacking...thanks ziphius..!!

Your food prep has evolved! I found this in the archives.