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Brian Posts: 249
12/8/2024
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Last weekend after Thanksgiving I did an overnight hike to Agua Alta spring. I was considering spending an extra day and doing a dayhike to Jack Miller cabin, but I would have needed to refill water at the spring for that. There was a small amount of water, but it was green and stagnant and there was no new flow coming in. It would have worked in an emergency, but for my purposes I decided to give it a miss. I had carried 6 liters which ended up being the right amount for my 2 day / one night trip.
I have a map published by the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto National Monument which lists the distance to Agua Alta as 8.8 miles, but according to my tracker it was a little over 10 from the Cactus Spring parking area. This map mentions that the trail becomes indistinct and hard to follow past Cactus Spring. It actually was easier than I was imagining. There were many sections that were well marked with cairns, but there were also sections (especially crossing washes) where it was easy to lose the trail and I was glad to have GPS.
I noticed that the trail on the "mapbuilder topo" layer of CalTopo didn't seem to be accurate past the 5168 saddle. There are a lot of straight lines with no regard to the topography. I used the "scanned topo" (USGS) layer which agreed with the cairns I was seeing.
This is near Cactus Spring and reminded me of similar rock piles I've seen in Rockhouse Valley. Burial mound?
Typical scenery along the way
Now that's a cairn!
backside of Toro
Shortly after cresting the 5168 saddle. The Salton Sea is sorta visible through the haze and the Santa Rosa crest is on the right
Agua Alta
A native site near the spring
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Brian Posts: 249
12/24/2024
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Last week I returned to try to finish the Cactus Spring trail by coming up from Martinez Canyon at the bottom end. I was hoping to once again reach Agua Alta spring so that I would have done the whole trail. It almost worked! By the time I set up camp I was only 1.5 miles from the spring, which normally would be a trivial distance to cover.
There were a couple reasons I didn't. The weather was hotter than expected and I had gone through half my water supply by the time I set up camp (I carried 7.5 liters and had used all of it by the time I got back to the car the next day. The car's thermometer said it was 81 degrees). Also, although I made good time going through Martinez canyon (6.7 miles to the turnoff in 3.5 hours), the next mile climbing out of Martinez took me 3 hours. I might not have always been exactly on the trail, but I was close and couldn't see any easier way. The hillside going up was not only steep but crumbly. There were a couple sections where I was on my hands and knees and even then I had trouble not sliding down. Every rock that I tried to grab would come loose and start rolling down. This section was equally difficult to descend the next day.
On the positive side, this was my second time doing Martinez Canyon and I enjoyed it much more than the first time I did it 4 years ago when I went to the Jack Miller cabin. On that occasion it took me quite a bit of time and frustration to get past the choke points of vegetation. Now that I know the route through there it was much easier. And this time the BLM gate was open and I was able to drive all the way to the wilderness boundary. But not without a stop on the way when I got stuck on a rock step (my first time getting seriously stuck with my Crosstrek - luckily the recovery gear I carry worked well).
There are 3 different wrecks just inside the BLM gate. How does one end up flipping a car in soft flat sand?
Someone apparently rode an E-bike at least as far as the reeds section of the canyon
The trail through the choke point
climbing out of Martinez
camp and sunrise the next morning
A distant view of Tahquitz spring. I didn't want to make the detour up the river bed on this occasion. Anyone know if it's active?
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tommy750 Posts: 1070
12/29/2024
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Looks like a great trip, Brian. Disappointed to hear Agua Alta was not flowing well. Have been thinking about a loop using that spring and was assuming the flow would be good based on this video showing the spring completely rehabbed compared to the one time I visited years ago. Check it out at 1:29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZlVN5xiFHI&t=89s Rockhopper also said it was flowing well in the recent past. Guess the Santa Rosas are pretty dry right now. Was in Rockhouse Canyon with Gary and Yoks a month ago and two of the three springs out there were dry (Cowboy was a wet spot but we located good flow about 40 feet uphill so actually 1 spring dry). Gary said for the past thirty years he's been hiking RHC, all three water sources were a sure thing. Not this year.
Am thinking the vehicles may have been stolen and got stripped out out there.
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tommy750 Posts: 1070
12/30/2024
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Brian wrote:
tommy750 wrote:
two of the three springs out there were dry
Am I right in assuming it's the spring at the Cottonwoods which is still reliable?
That's right, Nicholias Canyon above the cottonwoods had good flow.
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Brian Posts: 249
1/26/2025
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I've heard of floormats working, but I've also heard of (and experienced) having the tire simply bury the thing you're using for traction if the sand is soft and deep. Traction boards are substantial enough to avoid that. But I'd say one of the more helpful things you can do in sand is to air down the tires. I usually go to 20 PSI but I've heard of people going as low as 10. At some point you have to worry about the tire bead separating from the rim. I've never had a problem at 20. To do this you should carry an air pump to bring them back up before driving on asphalt.
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2633
1/27/2025
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I have never had to use it but always figured I could use the full 8' long thick rubber truck bed liner.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1369
1/27/2025
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We carry traction boards but have never used them. Some guy on YouTube was saying if traction boards helped you get unstuck then you weren't really stuck. Not sure about that one
We usually air down to 20 - 22.
Better traction and makes the washboard sections a little easier to deal with.
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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Brian Posts: 249
21 days ago
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rockhopper wrote:
Cactus spring trail to Agua Alta spring enjoys great views along the way. Thanks for sharing. Brings back some great memories. Been hiking that trail from below and from the top at Hwy 74 about a dozen times past 40 years. Went all the way thru from Hwy 74 to Martinez only once. Great trip report.
I have now done all of it except for a 1.5 mile section in the middle where I didn't make it all the way to Agua Alta when I came up from the bottom. The one thing that really tripped me up was a half mile section climbing out of Martinez Canyon when I came up from the bottom. It was so steep I was on my hands and knees both going up and down. And yet, according to the scanned topo layer on CalTopo (which I think is USGS), I was on the native trail.
Has this been your experience with that section?
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rockhopper Posts: 672
17 days ago
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Brian wrote:
rockhopper wrote:
Cactus spring trail to Agua Alta spring enjoys great views along the way. Thanks for sharing. Brings back some great memories. Been hiking that trail from below and from the top at Hwy 74 about a dozen times past 40 years. Went all the way thru from Hwy 74 to Martinez only once. Great trip report.
I have now done all of it except for a 1.5 mile section in the middle where I didn't make it all the way to Agua Alta when I came up from the bottom. The one thing that really tripped me up was a half mile section climbing out of Martinez Canyon when I came up from the bottom. It was so steep I was on my hands and knees both going up and down. And yet, according to the scanned topo layer on CalTopo (which I think is USGS), I was on the native trail.
Has this been your experience with that section?
Hiking poles for sure. The CST climb out of Martinez is steep for sure. Straight up the nose - ridge. Even steeper is the climb out of Martinez from the Jack Miller rock house. I just follow the Big Horn trail. I have been meaning to post a few items about Jack Miller that I have discovered over the years. I will try to post later. Here are some random photos of the Cactus Spring trail.
Morning light on Torro peak
Agua Alta spring. Trickel at best
Jack miller Cabin. Look hard in the center.
Alta Pinyon flat
Agua Alta village
edited by rockhopper on 3/12/2025
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