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caltopo.com + imagination = trouble / fun

If you have not already reported it I can let the rangers know.

You could contact the Visitor Center (760) 767-4205 and they can either take the information or help direct you to the right people.

Unbelievable. When was it discovered? My son and I just camped there on April 29-30 and it was spotless. All we could manage for our "leave it cleaner than you found it" was a bottle cap.

It happens, I remember camping in Indian Gorge one one night, we drove in at dusk and when we drove out around 9am the next morning somebody had camped right where you drive in and left a huge bonfire pit of wood pallets, beer bottles, trash, etc.

Leave in place and don't post specific locations. Even posting general locations is kind of a bad idea, as there are many forums out there dedicated to the collection of arrowheads, etc. Why give folks a head-start on their collecting activity? Everything is public and searchable these days.
edited by ziphius on 5/9/2017

Britain wrote:

The Historic Backcountry seems to be a hard find to purchase.
edited by Britain on 5/11/2017

Email Chris directly, that is how I bought mine, he is a good guy.

https://chriswray.smugmug.com/BackcountryBook/The-Historic-backcountry-Book/

I always leave them where I found them. I would never take it home, ever. Period.

If it is notable I take a picture.

I appreciate museums, and the fact they protect things forever. I am uncomfortable that museums vacuum up artifacts and take away someone's else's joy of discovery in the wild.

I would be very upset if an artifact I left in the wild was poached and taken home by someone. I also would not be thrilled if it was taken by a museum and stored in a closet in perpetuity.

I know there are still mostly intact Ollas out there that have been left by like minded people. I have not found one myself, yet.

I agree with Ziphius. I stumbled on an online artifact collecting forum once looking up Borrego info. What people had looted and taken home made me sick.

Rocko1 wrote:

Dartman wrote:

Unbelievable. When was it discovered? My son and I just camped there on April 29-30 and it was spotless. All we could manage for our "leave it cleaner than you found it" was a bottle cap.

Did you camp at the end of the road? It may have been cleaned since I was there a 4 weeks or so ago.

I presume it is the same spot. This is the turn off to the right at the top of Pinyon Mountain Rd before it starts dropping down toward the Squeeze. I will try to attach a couple of pics.

"", ""
edited by Dartman on 5/9/2017

Bought a signed (yeah, that's how I roll ) copy of Wray's book at the Desert View Tower a few years ago. Just called over there and they say they're sold out and can't get Chris to get them any more. Anyone know how the third edition differs from the prior one??

LOVE that hill.
here's my ride going down...
Britain let me know when you are going out, I might join you sometime. That is if you are ok with Tacomas.

Feel free to view in full screen.

Personally I would recommend an overnight trip, spend the night up on Rabbit (or nearby with a view of the Salton Sea) and watch the sunrise over the Salton Sea, that is one of my favorites for sure, anywhere up on the Rosa's watching the sunrise is magical.

When are you going? Darens right, nothing like waking up on a remote Santa Rosa mountain peak. However bring LOTS of water! We are technically past the peak climbing season for Rabbit peak as the desert heats up. Be careful if you go. Go early and gain elevation to beat the heat. You can also night climb under a full moon with headlamp. Nov.- April is my favorite time to go. Snow is often available if timed right.
edited by rockhopper on 5/15/2017

Everyone goes through different amounts of water. 2G sounds like more than enough to me, but everyone is different.

I agree, sunrise from the ridge is awesome. It can be very cold up there though.

It is basically a trail to Villager. Hard to call it a cross country route.

The Combs Peak / Bucksnort Mountain area along the Pacific Crest Trail north of Hot Springs Mtn. Nice, wild country back there.

Not sure if your desire for 'highest' spots are due to cooler temperatures, if so, the Culp Valley area is 'west' and relatively high (3000 - 4000 ft). Then there are the San Ysidro mountains, hellish terrain, but high and just west of Borrego Springs.

Rocko1 wrote:

Nice trip. What bivy is that?

Also, how much water did you carry at one time?

OR Helium


5-7 liters this trip, we dry camped every night because of our route. You could do it carrying much less with the springs being your final destination for each day.

I am assuming a day hike right? If so bring hiking poles, gloves ,heavy bush wacking clothes and a folding saw. btw I find it is easier going up through rough terrain than going down it. good luck and please post pics from you expedition.

Here’s my trip report on dropping down from the Lagunas via Cottonwood earlier this year: http://www.anzaborrego.net/anzaborrego/Forum/topic1279-oriflame-to-cottonwood-canyon--day-bp.aspx

You can find a way from the highway down to the top of Cottonwood Canyon looking on Google Earth. As I recall there’s different options depending on how much you enjoy brush

sddarkman619 wrote:

what shelter is that? a Tarptent? Looking for a shelter.
where did you park vehicles so they weren't messed with?
Nice writeup thanks for sharing!
edited by sddarkman619 on 5/20/2017

Got an altaplex tent from zpacks.com last year and really like it. It weighs in at 18 oz making it lighter than a lot of bivy sacks. If you're not too tall, their solplex is less than a pound. I like tents because they keep bugs away but obviously there's pros and cons.

We left our vehicles at the Camp Hark ruins. Never have had any problems leaving a vehicle at local sites but not sure about others' experiences.

The new edition of Lindsay's book is out.

AB by tomteske, on Flickr

https://www.amazon.com/Anza-Borrego-Desert-Region-Complete/dp/0899977790/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514770620&sr=1-1&keywords=anza+borrego+guidebook

Rocko1 wrote:

tommy750 wrote:

Here’s my trip report on dropping down from the Lagunas via Cottonwood earlier this year: http://www.anzaborrego.net/anzaborrego/Forum/topic1279-oriflame-to-cottonwood-canyon--day-bp.aspx

You can find a way from the highway down to the top of Cottonwood Canyon looking on Google Earth. As I recall there’s different options depending on how much you enjoy brush

Great trip. Do you have any gps coordinates from this trip? Maybe entry/exit point?

If you wanted to do a straight Sunrise Hwy to S2 hike you could park at the lot .8 miles north of the northernmost intersection of Deer Park Rd and Sunrise Hwy, drop down to PCT and head south till you get to a dirt road that leads toward the top of Cottowood Canyon. It will take you to near Butterfield Ranch on S2. Am thinking they will let you park there for a fee. You can easily create your own points on GE or caltopo. Don't have clear entry/exit points since we didn't go your planned route. Hope that helps. Tom

There may be some reluctance to post locations or identify otherwise obscure backcountry water sources on the open forum, especially given the history of some of those sources being diverted for illegal weed farms and the associated trash and other problems that come with discovery. Just didn't want you to think folks were ignoring your thread / post.

Rocko1 wrote:

Ok, I understand that. How does one get 'vetted' so to speak?

It kind of happens 'organically', at least on this forum. Folks post threads from their trips, show an interest and respect for the desert and it's cultural and biological treasures, get invited on a trip with forum members, maybe they are known from other sources, like the annual bighorn sheep count, then they are trusted. Internet has resulted in 'oversharing' with the result being that many sites are now overrun. Tassajara Hot Springs is a good example. We are friendly here, but we generally don't post specific locations of obscure water sources, pictographs, etc. Just thought someone should reply to this thread.

Another problem is reliability of water sources, especially in the summer. Sources that used to be reliable, may not be anymore due to drought, seasons, earthquakes, human intervention, or other causes. Not many people hike in Borrego in the summer either so info is more limited.

No one wants to send someone with unknown outdoors ability who they’ve never met in person to a potentially dry source the person might be relying on for survival.

Edit:
I actually don’t know the exact location of any year round water sources that are “secret.” I know some people here do. Another thing would be to search them out in winter with old Topo maps and google earth followed by some exploring on the ground.
edited by Buford on 6/12/2018

The other possibility is to park up at Toro peak and make your way down to the cottonwoods. Assuming there is water (which I would be surprised if there was not) you could base camp there and do some day hikes into the surrounding RHC area. This is a fairly common route even during non summer months. The only drawback is you will have to climb 3,000' to get back to your car. Toro is at 8,000+ and the cottonwoods are at 5,000 so the temps should better than down on the desert floor.

Rocko1 wrote:

Looks like a great trip. How far up RHC Road do you think you could get in a 2wd Explorer?

You should be able to get to Butler Junction without a problem. RHC in 105+ temps does not sound like any fun at all.....

Ha. That's a good one Buford. I follow the old timers and ancient peoples migrations. Low desert in the Winter, Mountians in the summer. Rocko1, Daren pretty much nailed it. Good luck. But I would go higher in elevation.

Be careful out there
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Search-On-for-Man-Missing-in-Desert-During-Heat-Warning-486333201.html??f
edited by Britain on 6/25/2018

I just got confirmation that the Sheriffs are running random patrols out in the Gorge.

Nice hike in rare SD snow. +1 for Darn Tough socks, it's all I wear any more.

Good show man. Thanks for sharing. I really like the cup of Joe at the peak

Do you need a water source or is a dry camp ok? Looking to stay above freezing at night? All trail miles or is cross country hiking ok? I assume for an introductory backpack your looking for relatively easy miles? Desired scenery?

Too many options available.

Here are 6 ideas....I think Blue Spring or Moonlight Cyn would be good. Don't know your skill level so really hard to recommend, you could just hike in to Little Blair and stop wherever feels comfortable and hangout. Moonlight is a tough hill climb.

https://caltopo.com/m/HLDK

Rocko1 wrote:

Track 1 and 2 look like great choices. What are your thoughts on terrain for these?

Track 1 is a good choice and you can check out the wildlife guzzler.
Here is a post from when I went with Hikerdmb http://www.anzaborrego.net/anzaborrego/Forum/topic61-backpacking-in-bighorn-canyon.aspx
and my own blog post http://www.sefcik.com/2011/01/bighorn-canyon-nolina-wash-abdsp.html

Track 2 would probably be easier terrain wise and you have the option of exploring anywhere up in Hapaha Flat

Glad it was a success. Only thing that looks wrong was the meal choice

Looks like a beautiful area.
How were the nighttime temperatures?

So, did your wife like it?? Mine is happy to do the day hike/car camp thing but can't convince her (yet?) for an overnight backpack outing. Nice trip report.

Glad that route worked out for you...millions of other choices for the next trip. Save the coyote brown spoons from the MRE, I'll take them..!!

Really nice trip report Rocko1. If that cap is the standard 1.25 diameter, then you have mountain lion tracks for sure. If you have an account on iNaturalist (or are interested) post those tracks, they will no doubt get 'Research Grade' status. It's an area of the county that mountain lion data is sorely-lacking. Glad your wife enjoyed the trip. - Jim

Rocko1, in a pinch, a dollar bill or credit card makes a good ruler too!

Rocko, saw that you got some of your lion tracks up on iNaturalist, thanks, nice job. Your sighting from this trip currently is shown as two separate observations on iNaturalist. If these were from the same cat, it's customary to report it as a single observation. You can add multiple photos to an observation once created, and then delete any duplicate observations. Also, you were lucky enough to see other lion tracks in Cuyamaca and some folks are ready to provide a research grade status, but they need to know what the scale was: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19864100 FYI, I go by jim_carretta on iNaturalist, welcome aboard.

Those are some nice bones! A great find. I am normally summit focused, but this trip would be worth it for bone hunting. That peak in between the canyons (3567') was dubbed Bighorn Canyon Peak by Richard Carey, so there's that.
Great set of prints, too. Lions and bones often go together.

I bought a case of MREs for an emergency a few years ago and stored them in my daughters closet, but she ate them all. She said they weren't bad.

Was out last year above Pinyon Wash about two miles east of Blue Spring and found a cache of four sheep remains, one still fairly pungent. Definitely a favorite area for the kitties.

I don’t remember much if any scrambling. Done that route a couple times, one of the few peaks I’ve repeated.

The canyon portion of the hike was the only place that some might call scrambling. From what I remember, there is usually a bypass up the canyon wall one way or another. It can get sketchy when snow covered and icy.


YMMV
edited by Buford on 2/2/2019

I don't recall any boulder scrambling, just route finding. At some point once you ascend the route from Pictograph you run into the normal pinyon mtn rd trail and you can just follow that. I suppose there could be some slight boulder scrambling, I just don't remember anything significant. Someone else on the forum may have more recent memories so please chime in.

Rocko1 wrote:

dsefcik wrote:

I don't recall any boulder scrambling, just route finding. At some point once you ascend the route from Pictograph you run into the normal pinyon mtn rd trail and you can just follow that. I suppose there could be some slight boulder scrambling, I just don't remember anything significant. Someone else on the forum may have more recent memories so please chime in.

https://caltopo.com/m/7TVE Here it the proposed route. I had thought here was some scrambling going up this canyon. I could have been mistaken.
edited by Rocko1 on 2/3/2019

The link is the route I’ve done each time. There is probably some scrambling, it just wasn’t enough to be notable or memorable for me. That is why your mileage may vary. Sometimes there is a ducked route out of the canyon to meetup with the use trail, sometimes you travel high enough up Smugglers Canyon until you hit the other use trail.

I agree with Rockhopper.

Here is an alternative route if you are feeling adventurous....

http://www.anzaborrego.net/anzaborrego/forum/topic155-whale-peak--inner-pasture--goat-cyn-trestle.aspx

Rocko1 wrote:

Very nice report! I did not know there were so many guzzlers in such a close proximity. Were either of the guzzlers full and dumping bleed water out?

There was water in the first guzzler on the ridge but none of the tanks were overflowing.

At Blue Spring, a stream of water was pouring steadily out of the top of one tank.

I wonder where the rest are hiding.

Rocko1 wrote:

I am curious where the tanks you saw first are being filled from? A pipe running all the way to blue seems like it would be very difficult to install.

It looks like there is an underground tank behind and above the guzzler tanks. Here is a better perspective:

https://i.imgur.com/K02v70m.jpg

I am guessing it catches run off from the slope directly above it. There was also a wooden post there for a trailcam, but no camera was set up. This one probably doesn't get as much animal traffic as the one at Blue Spring. You are right about the distance, though, Blue is about 3 miles away.

Nice TR, looks like a good trip.

The "oranges" are galls usually made by gall wasps, they are basically infestations.

Looks fun. Was it the right amount of scrambling?

Many programs don’t calculate gain/loss well. Fit bits and similar have issues. Hiking during a storm when the pressure is changing doesn’t help.

Nice trip. Looks like the metal sign is holding up better than the old wood one. You ever try the Jerry Schad Whale Peak loop from Blair? Also kinda like starting in Pinyon Wash: https://caltopo.com/m/HTBN

Rocko1 wrote:

dsefcik wrote:

It was a good hike. It appears Gaia GPS is not recording the elevation gain correctly-when I import the KML/GPX data into Google Earth it's showing a 2,525ft gain. Kind of a bummer as I really like the app but I am now seeing 10-20% discrepancies in gain/loss numbers.

Nice trip on Whale. I love that terrain, but I've only done it the easy way from the other side.

Getting accurate gain/loss is not easy. After many different approaches, I am now using GPS visualizer with some fine tuned options.

The complexities are explained here.

So, I use their Profile page, and these options:
1. Add DEM elevation data: best available source
2. Calculate elevation gain: Yes
3. Elev. gain threshold: 5m
4. Trackpoint distance threshold: 5m

Give that a try and see if you like the results better. It eliminates a lot of errors but nothing is perfect.

Thanks for the info. Here is what it came up with.

edited by Rocko1 on 2/15/2019

Nice. Looks cold. I was wondering how much ice and snow would be up top.

Last weekend had ice and snow on top of the San Ysidro peaks where it was cold and windy.

Looks like a great trip. This morning the Mount LAGUNA HPRREN camera showed Granite covered in snow. I just checked it and it is gone.

Ok I am not much of a tech guy.. Google hpwwren cameras. Scroll down to Mount Laguna cameras. There are four camera pictures one for each compass direction N,S,E and W. The north is the first picture on the left. If you zoom in you can see S2 in Mason Valley. Granite Mountain is above the end of S2. If you can figure how to go back to this morning's pictures you will see it covered in snow.

Nice work!

I used to always carry Succeed! Caps but am now down to just plain 'ol organic, preservative free pink rock salt.

A classic route and a difficult one. That was a fun time lapse video. Still trippy to see snow on a desert peak.

The cold might have contributed to cramping. Those endurolytes have all the right ingredients to help, should work as well as any supplement. I think I currently have Nuun tabs and Gu gels.

Nice hike! Yes, a coyote track, looks like a hind (more oval than a front). Cramps. Only had them in hot weather once. My recipe is orange juice mixed with water, very dilute. Plenty of potassium in there. Eat a banana or two as well in cold weather with your water.

Rocko1 wrote:

dsefcik wrote:

Nice work!
I used to always carry Succeed! Caps but am now down to just plain 'ol organic, preservative free pink rock salt.

Thanks. Do you find the salt alone helps as much as the other product? I don't have issues with cramping until usually at the 4-5hr marks but a tablet or 2 of the fizz usually knocks it out-this time was strange.

S! Caps are what I used when I was an active ultra runner and is considered to be the best "salt tablet" for endurance athletes, I personally would recommend it without hesitation. I generally do not have cramping issues though and find that for hiking and other recreational activities regular salt works fine for me. Each person is different and should find what works best for them, some people have huge cramping problems and may need more electrolytes than others.

Nice. Not too many people on the road?

I avoid Laguna and Julian in the snow because it turns into a zoo. If Cuyamaca is better, I might hike there instead.

Nice hike! Looks like a bobcat track, a little distorted due to lack of vertical perspective, but I think that's what it is.

tekewin wrote:

The snow covered desert doesn't look natural. Super photos, though. Looks like some zoom on those sheep, I'm surprised you spotted them if they were far away.

My usual method for zoomed in sheep pics: hold cell phone camera in one hand, 10x binoculars in the other hand. Line up the camera lens with the binocular eyepiece, and instant zoom lens. Binos don’t have to be in perfect focus, camera can focus. It can work surprisingly well for snapshots like this.

I heard the sheep before I saw them. Lots of rockfall. I knew they were recently in the area because of all the fresh tracks. There were at least 8 rams and 4 ewes.