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The owner of the Crawford ranch, Larry, died in the summer of 2013. It went up for sale in the early fall of that year. Unfortunately the Anza Borrego Foundation was not interested in buying the property. Between October and December of 2013, the canyon was open to hikers with permission to cross Canebrake. The new owners have since closed all access, fixed the road up the canyon and built a helicopter pad among other things. They now come and go by private helicopter.

Then some idiot was digging for scrap metal and got hurt.

The marsh is closed by order of Kathy Dice, 1 mile east of the Vallecito/Canyon Sin Nombre jct. No word on when it will reopen. I'll check it out next week.

Mary and I were out in Jojoba Wash on Saturday for the night.
Super windy. How was it just sleeping in your bags on the ground with the wind?
We had the luxury of the rooftop tent

We were all the way up to Sheep Canyon Thursday doing our clean up. The bypass road is not as rough as it was years ago. But rougher than the last time we were up earlier this year. Need a little bit of thinking to get up it but not bad. A 2wd SUV isn't going to make it!

I like the medium format photos Daren. Gosh, my first guess with the snakes is that they were mating and got interrupted. If you watch video of their mating ritual, their heads end up intertwined and the 2 snakes combined are not very mobile at that point. Maybe your fox came by and chomped on both of their heads at the same time. Otherwise, it's hard to catch 2 snakes at once and chomp their heads...they look like coachwhips / racers? ...which are pretty fast.

Nice trip, Daren. Wish I could have joined you especially since when I went back home, ended up eating bad takeout and was sick all week Looks less cloudy than I thought. Pics look really nice when you click on them and get a larger size. So the necropsy showed "disease"?? Any more specific?

Looks like a nice time out, Nolan. There's a bunch of markers on the west side of E085 related to the bombing range. I think that tall sign is one of them. Here's a couple other ones presumably guiding planes to specific targets:

With my bare hands! Actually, looking at GE you can see what they're about. Didn't realize it when I was out there a couple years ago but they're 5,000 ft markers heading toward a target tank. I only saw the 20K and 30K markers but they're all still out there and visible on GE.

The Coachwhips look like they were killed by a human with a rock. A predator would have eaten its kill. All the animals out there are hungry.

Daren, you might want to contact the California Herps guy regarding the weird snake kill.

Thinking about this year, I'm already planning a mid-June trip to Big / Middle Spr. area as a test run of my summer heat tolerance. I know you guys lug in all your water into Rattlesnake ahead of time in the spring. What about tarps? Are they something you need to provide or does the park provide those?

tommy750 wrote:

Daren, you might want to contact the California Herps guy regarding the weird snake kill.

Thanks Tom, I sent the photos to him..will post back with anything he may say.

I signed up. Looking forward to June 20th and the 4th of July weekend.

Hi Daren, your pictures are so good and you take so many. I wonder, do you display many around your home? Do you change them out? Do you do any framing yourself?

Those two dead snakes are very odd. Is that how you found them beside each other? Yesterday hiking near Palm Springs i came across a young king snake cut into 2" pieces. Weird.

See the white chevron behind the little white hill on the top of the ridge to the right of your mom?

Here's a pic of my grandparents in Borrego in the late thirties. I am definitely not hiking in the right clothing! Please comment if anybody recognizes the location.

Think I just figured out the dead snake mystery! Make sure you read the entire article.
https://www.thedodo.com/mother-rabbit-attacks-snake-1211670128.html

Going back to Yaqui Pass this year. Saw none there last year, but who knows maybe we missed them by a day.

Looking at your BW pics makes me think you have more than a few drops of "artsy" in your blood

Wow when i saw the bear pictures I was freaking, looks closer than a 1/4 mile a way.
Very cool.

Great pics of your adventure.

I got assigned to head up Palm Canyon with a group. Looking forward to it. I saw our site hasn't been counted every year. I also looked at previous counts and thought it was interesting how some years a site has 0 and the next year that site might have 15.


It will be weird to backpack and not worry about cold temps at night.

Nice pics Jim! More animals than an Marlin Perkins episode

I thought the bugs might be an issue. At worse, they were a minor annoyance.

Was all set to do it next year until I heard about Daren's bee encounter

Great photos Daren. Congrats on another year. With that many sheep, you guys gotta be on your toes to sort them all out and ID them. What were the longest periods during the day without sheep at the spring? Was your team 3 or 4 people?

I was tripping on the closeup shots of the flies

We were at Yaqui Pass. Pretty deluxe spot, but saw only 1 sheep, a ewe missing her right horn. Saw her Fri and Sat morning.

Troutbum wrote:

Thanks! Will do.

I'm thinking of doing the exact same thing. Hi, I'm new to this site and I created an account just to comment on this. How did it go? How was the weather?

I still remember that night. We almost missed meeting Daren for the first time since he apparently passed out after a long hike with his buddies Jose and Jack

What the heck were all the frogs doing on your tent?

Actually, a bunch of them would jump on the tent and climb to the top and jump off.

surfponto wrote:

I second what Nolan said about you heading out in the warmer months.....

Daren and I had some more fourth season fun this past weekend out in McCain Valley. The weather service said it was going to be only 84/69 degrees but ended up about ten degrees hotter. And no luxurious spring nearby to tap for an extra liter or three!

Daren, your trip out didn't qualify for a "special event"? Every trip report you post is special and such a great event! I will vouch for you anytime

Later that night, someone celebrating the full moon and another desert backpack trip Enjoy. Tom


Invisible Man by tomteske, on Flickr

dsefcik wrote:

The Pinyon Mtn Rd is closed before it gets to the Squeeze, you can't drive thru there anymore.

You can't drive the squeeze anymore? why? wow this is the first I've heard of that. Why did they close it?

so I guess the only way to get to split mountain now is from ocotillo wells route? or?
edited by sddarkman619 on 8/8/2015

Should I be worried about snakes/scorpions/tarantulas when I camp? Does a zippered tent help?

Don't wait too long to get out there cuz Tule Wind is coming soon and things are going to look (and sound) very different afterward.

a screening of the film Impossible Railroad will take place on 17 September at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown San Diego. I might go check it out.

Here's Daren checking out a possible entrance to Thunder Canyon:

I read there was a caretaker / manager of this stage station stage many hundreds of years ago, who murdered his common law Native American wife. He then disappeared, some say avenged by her relatives, others say he fled east.
By the way, where does the bombing range begin? Is it enforced, or can you drive out to Plaster City?

By the way, where does the bombing range begin? Is it enforced

I think Daren is over collecting mylars and has found a new love

Ah, it looks like your tent is framed by Red Top on the right and her taller, unnamed sister to the left. Time to start thinking about a 2nd ascent trip, I'll send invites.... Any nighttime foot traffic during your stay?