all messages by user

I am interested in how it works out. I have used the trespassers route (i.e. walking the tracks) but it is significantly longer than the milage that you believe would be required using this route.

My guess is it will be more work than think but it is always doable. I lost count how many times I hiked a route to the gorge and it took waayyyy longer than I anticipated.

My guess is it will be more work than think but it is always doable. I lost count how many times I hiked a route to the gorge and it took waayyyy longer than I anticipated.

You can take Dos Cabezas rd straight out to the PG road where you will have to park and walk to where you want to start. There is a road that goes up but it is blocked off now at the Dos Cabezas Rd. 2WD should be fine for Dos Cabezas rd, the sandy section is now graded over by the wind generator project.

http://goo.gl/maps/NYwsB

Daren;

I always use Mortero Wash. I air down my tires right after I get off S2. I've never had any trouble with any of the sandy sections.

Tom

Great trip Tom, I always wanted to go out there. There are some pictos you passed by also but they are very faint.

here is what I got from the sign:

"In memory of Martin Zam Torres born 11/29/1969 and passed on 07/20/2008 Do not fill your hearts with pain and guilt instead remember me each day, remember the joy, the smiles and the laughter. I have gone to rest a bit even if my absence causes pain and .....diminishes my pain..."

Every time I find undocumented packs and such I wonder how they do it and why it is worth so much......next time you are out hiking with your cushy Camelbak and name brand boots think of that sign and skull......

Would love to go but we will be out the following weekend for out annual
Thanksgiving Borrego Trip

Report back after your trip . Sounds like a good time.

Bob
edited by surfponto on 11/5/2012
edited by surfponto on 11/5/2012

Undocumented travelers backpacks...they are discarded all over the desert. How they do it as in how do they cross such rough terrain over such long distances and sometimes deadly weather with little water or food. To be in the USA for them is worth risking their lives crossing to get here.

harmono wrote:

Daren Sefcik wrote:

Great trip Tom, I always wanted to go out there. There are some pictos you passed by also but they are very faint.

here is what I got from the sign:

"In memory of Martin Zam Torres born 11/29/1969 and passed on 07/20/2008 Do not fill your hearts with pain and guilt instead remember me each day, remember the joy, the smiles and the laughter. I have gone to rest a bit even if my absence causes pain and .....diminishes my pain..."

Every time I find undocumented packs and such I wonder how they do it and why it is worth so much......next time you are out hiking with your cushy Camelbak and name brand boots think of that sign and skull......

Could you explain what you mean by "undocumented packs and such I wonder how they do it and why it is worth so much" - I'm lost here.... I guess I'm a new b.

I don't think the wind energy construction project can block public access roads, you should be able to get through on Dos Cabezas Road in 2WD. They may obscure it but not block it.

Post back if you make it out, that looks like an interesting route.

Looks like fun! If my plans fall through I'll keep this in mind. I should be out at the Colorado River over Thanksgiving. There's a mountain out there I need to climb!

Yeah it is a brand new version of the Forum software.
I imported all the old posts, users etc so it should be good to go.
Bob

harmono wrote:

Is this fixed now? The interface looks different.

Here is some obstruction a month or so ago, it threw me off also but I found my way after driving thru their trucks on both sides of the road a little further back. You can see the road on the right with the "No Ocotillo Express Traffic" sign but they have completely bulldozed the road and I could not get over it in my truck.






harmono wrote:

Do you plan on taking Dos Cabesas road on Saturday out there? If you do, could you take pictures of the construction there? It seemed like the construction was blocking the road. What I saw was the buildings and fences, then I drove about 100 feet and saw a road cut to the right. But if you continue on the road, there was construction going on right next to the road. I'm not sure if the road that cut to the right was Dos Cabesas, or if it was this road that went along this creek that cuts off to the right of Dos Cabesas.

Thanks.

I believe that is doable
You could also just take it to the toy trestle and walk up the tracks
Bob

There are a lot of bypass roads out there. I have always wondered about that high road above the tracks, lets us know what you find.

This is the road you are talking about right?

Sorry a little off topic, but I just checked out Daren's panorama shot again.
That is an amazing photo !

A good bet for a place with electricity would be Agua Caliente County Park. It is close to lots of great places and is very reasonable. I don't think the tent spaces have electricity, but they also have full and partial hook up sites. We use it as a "homebase" pretty often.
As an aside, we stayed there last weekend, and it looks like they are starting to put in some cabins; all the parts were there and many footings were being dug.

http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/parks/Camping/agua_caliente.html

We went to Yellowstone for a week on a family vacation and someone in my family used one of those machines. They brought this battery pack that was enough to run the cpap all night in the tent. They recharged it during the day with an ac inverter and also using the power in the restroom at the campground. The battery pack would be way better as you could camp anywhere in the park rather than being limited to regular campgrounds.

I have a simple A/C inverter in my truck to charge my GPS, phone or run my laptop if I take it. That may be enough to run your machine and not drain your battery. We actually used it with a big long extension cord going into our house when the Great Blackout of 2011 happened, we powered some lights and radio for most of the night.

I looked thru some of my photos from the last helicopter trip I did out there and didn't find much but there are some cool photos from above.

This one may have something you can zoom in on and see but really...look at this thing, would you ride a train on that..???

I'm interested in hearing what you find out. Although it looks like I might be headed out that way in the next week. I've got a young rail fan who really wants to explore the route. For a Christmas present he got a book on the SDA&E. I took a quick look through the book this morning and came across a bit of information for you. In one of the photo captions, it mentions that foot trails were built around all tunnels, to facilitate the movement of equipment and communication between the tunneling crews. Apparently they constructed the tunnels by excavating from both ends and meeting in the middle.

For those of you interested in the book, its the San Diego and Arizona Railway, the Impossible Railroad. By Reena Deutsch.


Oh and finally hello everyone I recently came across this website due to my son's interest in heading out to the Goat Canyon Trestle, this is my first post. Hopefully I'll have more to share soon.

Thanks for posting

Never get tired of Goat Canyon Trestle trip reports

The route that you took out is the one I want to try also.
Did you see anyone else out there?
Bob

Great photos. Thanks for doing the recon work. I'll be using your notes when I head out there soon.

As for the oiling mechanism. That's a greaser for the tracks. You see those on tracks with sharp turns. They automatically grease the wheels as they roll by. It helps cut down the friction and the wear on the wheels and tracks.

Casey,

A little more information on Aqua Caliente, there are quite a few camping sites directly around the hot pool, that have electric and community spigots. This would be perfect for you, to serve as a base camp, close to many Southern ABDSP canyons, roads, interesting sites etc. Not that far to Dos Cabezos either. I see others have posted about Aqua Caliente and it is worth visit, (very noisy though). It is on the San Diego Parks and Recreation web site, you can reserve ahead.
.
Casey Van Tieghem wrote:

I have sleep apnea, so I'm somewhat dependent on the CPAP machine which requires electricity of course. But I want to camp or sleep in the desert so I can cut time out of the 2 hour drive out there. Normally what I would do would be to get on Priceline and find a hotel for cheap, but I probably could only find a Hotel in El Centro, or north up near Indio.
I am not totally dependent on the CPAP, it's just that I have a terrible time sleeping, and I'm used to using it. I'm not talking about hiking to a place, then camping, but rather just being in the area. I see a hotel in Jacumba, and Boulevard, and then there is the Golden Acorn. I think there's a hotel in Ocotillo but it doesn't sound recommended. Any suggestions? Maybe I could get some batteries that would last overnight, and an AC inverter.

I haven't read the book yet, but in one of the captions it mentions that work camps were built at each tunnel, except if two tunnels were close together. The camps were above or below the grade level, wherever they could flatten a spot for tents. There are a couple of pictures of one camp down in the gorge. I'll read up on the chapter about the gorge and let you know if it mentions anything.

Headed home through Dos Cabezas road, and of course lost my way. Ended up driving on the Freeway they have build out there. The security patrol guy stopped me and asked if I was doing work in the area? I consider this to be harassment because it was obvious I was camping having my rig and all, as well as 2 kids riding up front. I can only think he was trying to imply that I am not supposed to be there unless I am doing work. He then asked if I was camping the area? and then asked If I was leaving the area. Next time I am just going to give him the middle finger and be on my way.

I would say you should be able to get almost to the base of Tule Mt which is close enough to walk the rest of the way but you could walk the whole thing, it is not that far.

I agree with Daren. Should be able to make it out okay. Check out the Carrizo Overlook a couple miles up the road while you're there. Tom

Great compilation.
thanks for posting that...

Bob

Daren,
That does look like a great area. Can you send me your GPS track so I can see where you started? Looks like it was a perfect day too.
David

Hi Casey,
I am guessing the foot paths were used to access the Carrizo Gorge tracks from the railroad camp area.

Any update on the January 15 meeting, Casey? I'm already tired of Armstrong and Te'o and in need of fresh scandal

Casey Van Tieghem wrote:

I periodidally check the SDMTS board meetings regarding the SD&AE railroad because there is a section that gives updates for the "Desert Line" which was the Carrizo Gorge Railway. There was a meeting on January 15th, and there is or was a speaker who is trying to expose PIR who obtained the rights to the railway from SDMTS. (Sorry for the complicated scheme, not sure how to simplify it). At any rate, apparently there could be some litigation, and hesitantcy from people dealing with PIR because of past activity. For example the former President of Carrizo Gorge Railway was sued by the widow of Junior Seau. The whole relevance of this has to do with if there will be any future railroad activity. I personally think it would be great if there was railroad activity although it would get in the way of hiking there. But in the long term the railroad would be maintained (and I'm worried about the Goat Canyon Tresle), and help business in San Diego. It also might some day provide passenger service, and I would like to some day ride on the railroad.

Here is a link to the meeting notes, you can figure it out yourself. If you need more information let me know (due to the sensitivity of the subject, it's sort of vague in public posts).

http://www.sdmts.com/MTS/documents/2013-1-15SDAEPKGFORMAILOUT.pdf

Very interesting. I hope to head that way this weekend and you've given me some areas to explore.

Now for some shameless self-promotion. You can find the 11 or so mud caves and hot springs near the Salton Sea (and another 1,600 other hot springs in the US) with my 99 cent iPhone app Hot Springs of the US:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hot-springs-of-the-usa/id583654750?mt=8

-Bill