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Very nice. Is the forest open?

Very nice...Tom and I went out to McCain Valley for a bike ride, yes...bugs are in FULL force.

Nice pics Rocko1. Glad to see water down in Storm. Last time I was in that area was early 2019 and that drainage was bone dry. You ever looked around Oasis Spring? Assuming that's where most of that water is originating from. Now to continue Daren's hijack of your post, here's another ebike pic up in McCain. Gunna have to step up my game to get that fully accessorized look Daren's bike has

IMG_3881 by tomteske, on Flickr

Ziphius, you know what this cute fuzzy plant is?? Can't say I've ever noticed it before.

IMG_3895 by tomteske, on Flickr

I used to do a lot of mountain biking and I had always heard that Noble Canyon was one of the best spots. When I rode it, I had to keep the speed up to outrun the gnats, but every time I had to slow down for a technical section they would be swarming around my head and I had to be careful not to inhale them. I never went back.

Nice trip Rocko. The wildlife was really enjoying that seasonal creek heading down to the desert floor.

Weight - Somewhere around 60-70lbs probably
Top Speed - Flat, no wind, wearing my 8lb hiking boots, in a tuck and using the 4.5" slick tires inflated to 30psi.....close to 30mph
Range - Off Road 25-30 miles, on road about 35-40 miles

I run the off road tires tubeless and 7 psi in the back and 5 psi in the front. The slicks I run with tubes and about 25psi front and 30 rear.

Motor kit is a BBSHD from Luna Cycle

Battery pack is a 52volt and about 15 amp made from laptop batteries I harvested from computers at work that were headed for the recycle farm.

If you look thru the pictures you can see 4.5" slicks for the road and the 4" knobbies for off road.

The racks I bought on Amazon and made custom mounts for them

The custom triangle bag is made from 500D Cordura in Pencott Badlands camo (need to make the saddle bags still)

I have around 200 miles on the motor build version.

What else..?

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Rocko1..nice...are you getting the CNF permits or just going out? Was half thinking for next weekend but we always get the (free) permits.

That's nice...I was wondering, is the (Cuyamaca) park open for parking and hiking as usual? No restrictions?

• Paso Picacho Day-Use
• Green Valley Falls Day-Use
• Merigan Day-Use
• Sweetwater Highway 79 Turnout
• Very limited parking is now available to the public

• Dyar Visitor Center and Day-Use
• Stonewall Mine Day-Use

• Campgrounds.
• High public-use indoor facilities, including museums and visitor centers.
• Special events and tours continue to be canceled until further notice.

Nice to see some greenery and flowers.

I went hiking in Cuyamaca Saturday. The parking pullouts along the 79 were open, not just the Sweetwater one listed.

As for crowds, it was not crowded at all, although I did not hike to a waterfall or peak. The parking pullout was overflowing with cars on return, but never saw most of the people.

Thanks Rocko1 for the report and the lovely pictures.

Do you happen to know if the Sunrise Trailhead is open for parking? Although, that is within the Anza Borrego park boundaries, so I guess it's still closed...

Yes, I guess it's just wishful thinking on my part. Looking at the public lands map layer on CalTopo, it seems the Pedro Fages Monument is in Anza Borrego as well.

Thanks for the info!

Thanks for the photos and update.

Can't believe AB is still closed. Most of ANF is open, OC trails and parks open. San Diego county had +2 cases today, almost nothing. Hair salons are open in the OC, but the 600,000 acres in AB is just too tight to be safe. I will call them tomorrow if I have time to find out why.
edited by tekewin on 6/3/2020

Sound like everyone is in agreement drones are awesome and terrible depending on how they're used. Ziphius, nice article on seal counting. My cheap drone camera now has more MP than the one in your article which is from 2011. Your Sony mirrorless setup is probably a completely different story! My little drone in intentionally 249 grams, one less than required for an FAA certificate which is .55 to 55lbs.

What interests me the most is high resolution panoramas and I think our area has a lot of possibilities.

Called the state park today and they said no idea on re-opening AB, but it would be posted on the web site the day the decision was made. Not very helpful.

Rocko1 wrote:

tommy750 wrote:

Sound like everyone is in agreement drones are awesome and terrible depending on how they're used. Ziphius, nice article on seal counting. My cheap drone camera now has more MP than the one in your article which is from 2011. Your Sony mirrorless setup is probably a completely different story! My little drone in intentionally 249 grams, one less than required for an FAA certificate which is .55 to 55lbs.

What interests me the most is high resolution panoramas and I think our area has a lot of possibilities.

What is your drones MP count Tommy? Some high res panos would be pretty fantastic.

Mine is 12.7MP and not bad for the price. Definitely could stitch a few pics together in Photoshop for a decent pano.

tommy750 wrote:

rockhopper wrote:

Nice finds. Neat adventure Tommy! Were the camping circles on the benches above the ancient lake shore line? The multiple lake fills over the past 12,000 years ( At least 8 full fills but probably many more) supported large populations at various periods of lake fills. Lake fills may have lasted 50 years or more with constant inflows from the Colorado river. Population peak may have reached 10,000 around the lake. Those stone tools could be 1000 years old or 10,000 years old.

Was exploring around Ocotillo and SW of the Coyote Mts. Lots of reported Archaic sites in that area. The Park spent a lot of time last year excavating such a site near Carrizo. The history of early man in this area is quite fascinating. The earliest first man site in San Diego is probably beneath the fancy homes south of the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. Just finished reading this book on the subject and would definitely recommend it for those interested in the topic: https://sunbeltpublications.com/shop/first-people/

Thanks for the publication heads up. Will add this to my library. Looks like a collaboration of the latest information in our So Cal. area.

Quick relative story. Having been in the construction industry for nearing 40 years. I have seen a lot of excavations. Our company spent around 10 years doing remodels and new construction in the La Jolla / Mt. Soladad and Spindrift areas. The city required archaeological and seismic study trenches cut on the properties for inspection. Every excavation in the Spindrift area was full of shell middens, fire hearths and stone tools going back thousands of years. Many were deep.

Elsewhere up the coast I found a shell midden, mammal bones with charcoal 20 feet deep!

"Quite fascinating" is a great discription.
edited by rockhopper on 6/8/2020
edited by rockhopper on 6/8/2020

Lizard is a desert iguana. Nice one. What is the status of the park open / closure?

• Backcountry Unpaved Roads for day-use activities that do not lead into Ocotillo Wells.
• Hell Hole Day-use Area
• Sunrise Trail Head Parking / Day-use Areas
• Very limited parking is now available to the public.

• Camping (developed and primitive)
• Backcountry Unpaved Roads that lead into Ocotillo Wells
• Open Dispersed Backcountry Camping
• Peg Leg Primitive Camping Area
• Culp Valley Primitive Camping Area
• Coyote Canyon Above 3rd Crossing
• North Coyote Canyon / Turkey Track Access Gate
• Borrego Palm Canyon Day-use and Campground
• Tamarisk Grove Campground Campgrounds
• Arroyo Salado Primitive Camp
• Blair Valley Primitive Camp
• Yaqui Pass Primitive Camp
• Yaqui Well Primitive Camp
• Bow Willow Primitive Camp
• Mt. Palm Springs Primitive Camp
• Fish Creek Primitive Camp
• High public-use indoor facilities, including museums and visitor centers.
• Special events and tours continue to be canceled until further notice.

• Campgrounds.
• High public-use indoor facilities, including museums and visitor centers.
• Special events and tours continue to be canceled until further notice.

On my list for next year.

Nice TR Rocko1. Have only been there once in 2014 but the register had stuff back to 1955. Think there were two register caches near the benchmark if I recall correctly.

Carl Whitefield (2018_09_25 07_05_23 UTC) by tomteske, on Flickr

1957 by tomteske, on Flickr

If you search "La Jolla Archaeological Area" or "Spindrift Archaeological District" you get a few hits on archaeology reports generated in association with La Jolla Shores area building permits. They're an interesting read. Here's a pic from Gallegos' book showing where the Spindrift site is located. Reported C14 dating of midden deposits is as far back as 9000 years before present with midden deposits 1-8 feet thick. The site has experienced continuous occupation over that extended period because who wouldn't want to live on Spindrift Drive?

W-1 Spindrift by tomteske, on Flickr

Rocko1 wrote:

tommy750 wrote:

If you search "La Jolla Archaeological Area" or "Spindrift Archaeological District" you get a few hits on archaeology reports generated in association with La Jolla Shores area building permits. They're an interesting read. Here's a pic from Gallegos' book showing where the Spindrift site is located. Reported C14 dating of midden deposits is as far back as 9000 years before present with midden deposits 1-8 feet thick. The site has experienced continuous occupation over that extended period because who wouldn't want to live on Spindrift Drive?

W-1 Spindrift by tomteske, on Flickr

Ha-the house we are working on is in the middle of the lower red circle. Makes sense.

Back in the 1990's our company ( Foundation / Structural Engineering / Construction) worked on the bluff house to the left of the top of the red outline. We had to excavate with Archaeology reps on site . Neat info that the Tennis pond was a former lagoon marsh. Great forum. Always learning something new.

That's a fun hike. Great photos and stuff from the register. I remember lots of agave when you first leave the road.

Nice rock art expedition Tommy. The whole Owens valley was a major corridor to the early peoples for thousands of years so there is a lot of rock art out there. Speaking of thousands of years, that obsidian point you found on the White mountains is probably very very old. That has been a dry mountain for a long time with only seasonal creeks from snow melt. Was it found near a seasonal creek drainage? btw Years ago, when we went up to the Bristle cone forest / White mountains we smoke the clutch on our Ford Ranger going up the top locked gate just shy of the 14,000 ft+ summit weather station. I probably walked over your arrow point.

Clouds rushing over San Ysidro Mtns from Big Spring area in 2014.
https://video.wixstatic.com/video/a56887_3e935c1a146c4aad98b3d4525a9296d5/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Rocko1 wrote:

There is a phenomenal amount of Cholla cactus. I have never been 'bit' by some many in any trip. I think at least 20 times I got jumped.
edited by Rocko1 on 7/10/2020

Yes! A couple of dense cholla gardens. As soon as I stop concentrating on it, it gets me...


edited by tekewin on 7/29/2020

Haha, yup. Tweezers are a necessity. It's not just the cactus itself, but the landmines that I often kick into my calf. But you win with 75+ needles. Ouch.

I am terrified of getting Lyme...

I have been driving by that spot for years wondering what's down there. Your post pushed me to go see yesterday evening. I was short on time so just drove down to the "shelf" with the Jeep trail loop. Nearly stepped on a Southern Pacific rattler looking for water in the bottom. Saw some sherds, ruins, deer sign, and lots of quail. Couple old cars (than one is actually a Nash Rambler) I intend to go back and explore further. I'll post pictures later.

Glamis recovery by david wyby, on Flickr

edited by davidwyby on 8/17/2020

Rocko1 wrote:

davidwyby wrote:

Glamis recovery by david wyby, on Flickr

edited by davidwyby on 8/17/2020

There were some pretty gnarly ruts on some sections of that jeep road about halfway from the S2 to the first rusted truck. I assume those are still there.

Yes, but I have been a gnarly offroader for 20 years before getting into hiking ;-)

Thank you I knew some in this group would know.

I didn't take any pics from the top...

It was the usual dry, hot, dusty PCT Oct experience. Gary and I just poked around with no real agenda and did not know we climbed Chariot Mtn, just followed some old looking game trail and at the top was a pile of odd looking rocks so Gary disassembled them and there was a register...like magic...


Here is another of what I think is probably the original register book, old dot matrix paper stapled into a small booklet



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Yep...all familiar...Gary and I contemplated whacking thru the Hay rd on the way back but the heat and end of day and out of water changed our minds. Thanks for posting some good pics from the top...

Interesting..appreciate you sharing that. Several questions come to mind when I see that....wonder what it takes to pull permits for horses and drones in the park.

I just remember years back during a Badwater run the DV park rangers pulled over my car crew and harassed them for over an hour because they had a small handheld consumer video camera they were using to record portions of my run. They claimed they needed all kinds of permits to record ANYTHING in the park but eventually they convinced them it was not for commercial purposes but what a total PITA ....

Ok here we go, did a 3 day trip into Rockhouse. As we came into Rockhose valley stay to the left and follow Alder canyon to Nickolas Canyon. I would GE the area so you know where to turn North. Very difficult scramble up a dry waterfall. We didn't see an easy reroute. Going up Nickolas be very careful, the Nickolas mine is an open vertical shaft with no fencing !! I 've talked to BLM about it. From the Mine head Northeast across Nickolas Canyon and head for the spring or Cottonwoods [a great place to camp] spent two night here because the spring has plenty of good water. To return to Rockhouse from the Cottonwoods head East and pick up a faint Indian trail which will take you to the upper ruins and the seeps. Look for the rock pile trail shrines !! Go to cal topo base layer 1915 to 1945 to see the old indian trails going over to Martinez ! We didnt see the trail cross the Santa Rosas when we did the ridge from Toro to S22. Thats for anotber tiime.

Yes this is where we left Alder we were able to scramble up the dry fall. I am sure looking at GE you could find a way to go around the dry waterfall. I would guess it is about 12 to 14'high. Also crossing Nickolas from the mine was no fun! Alot of down trees and no trail but it is doable. Also I would not do this trip alone. Not only is it really remote but major Mountain Lion country. The nice part is you only need to carry for one full day to get to the spring.

Rocko1 wrote:

Thanks. I was considering a couple day solo trip but will prob. wait to find someone to go with.

I will be going back, just not sure when. I'm up for discussing it with you if you're interested.

Rocko1 Maybe some technology was involved, but they also do regular patrols here. I saw him drive his jeep into another part of the valley up against Monument Peak after checking in with me. Some trail cameras have wireless technology to send imagery to a phone immediately, so that is one technology option. Thing is, I'd been all over the valley and this particular campsite for 4 days until discovery. Simple motion detectors would also be picking up deer, bobcats, lions, all of which had been in the area during that week.

Rocko1 wrote:

'Wanted to know what I was doing out there'. 1) Sleeping. 2) getting away from people.

As for him tracking you-don't they have numerous hidden motion detectors out in that area?
edited by Rocko1 on 11/9/2020

Rocko1 wrote:

Very nice. Did those about 5 years ago. Found some cool routes that popped up a vertical shaft near the top of a hill. Could really get 'lost' out there is enough time is spent.

"top of a hill" is where the danger is. I got about 20' up a side branch of cave #2, then my footsteps sounded hollow. Immediately went back.

Great TR, thanks for sharing. That target is from upstream, several target shooting setups can be found if you continue up the wash, this seems to a popular location for remote shooting and helicopter landing tracks have been identified in the past.

Rocko1 wrote:

Interesting. Do people go up there to shoot from Rockhouse Canyon or do they come from the north? .

No, what I am saying is they fly in via helicopter.

Nice trip report! I'd never heard of Roost.

Great trip! I did Roost because it was on the Sierra Club SD 100 list. I thought it was a great peak with a nice view of Granite. Wandering along that road, I remember getting the feeling that it was cougar country, but didn't see anything.


Re: marker elevations. I've rarely seen elevation stamped on most markers. Clearly, Roost is way off.


On the road down from Lucky 5, did you see the memorial boots for Michael John Farawell? Not sure if the memorial is still there.

Enjoyed the diversity of this route. http://www.anzaborrego.net/anzaborrego/Forum/topic1515-whale-peak-overnight.aspx

Looks like a great time. I liked that route you took up, did it earlier this year. Gotta get back out there soon!

Great route, thanks for sharing. Did you sign in to the Shake register?

Thanks for awesome report! The canyon looks really fun. The video snips bring it to life.

Looks like you had superb weather. Great timing!

We had a snow ball fight on the north side. Whale has a neat eco system variation during the climb and has superb views on a clear day. Thanks for sharing.

Great trip! Too bad about the fireworks hikers. New Year's Day? I tend to avoid any New Year's hikes, *everyone* is out. But you at least had the expectation of remoteness!

Also bad news if you're a red-tailed hawk, bobcat, coyote....

The major accessible peak registers are a mess.

@Tommy750 Carried all water required since it was a day hike. The search for the cave sounds like a good adventure even if it is a myth.


@Rocko1 The ridges to the main Santa Rosa crest from Clark Dry Lake area are brutally steep and can be loose but the ones I’ve tried stay class 2-3. Tommy750’s route looks as good or better than any other I’ve found online or tried myself. Depends on where you want to go once up on the crest.

I did a mountain biking route one time that went up Rodriguez Canyon, connected to Chariot Canyon Road, then down MVTT to close the loop. Looks like I basically made a big circle around the thing. Never been to the top though.

Scooter wrote:

Usually thanksgiving is still dry from the long summer. I am sure springtime will have water in both.

Hello everyone, can anyone advise on the condition of the road up to sheep's? Mainly asking about the bypass section past the third crossing, also a friend wants to know if his full size 4 wd with a camper would make it. I have not been up there in several years. Thanks in advance. SCOOTER

oh and yes there is water flowing lol


edited by anutami on 3/12/2021

Good to see the streams flowing! Plus we just got a foot of snow in the higher elevations. Excellent!

Ok, one more question. Going to Cougar Canyon soon, I googled Cougar Canyon just to see if anything was new. Anza Borrego State Park in November of 2020 said the canyon was closed due to mountain lion activity !! Does anyone know anything about the details of the closure. Not a big fan of the big cats.

#2 Probably leave a couple of drops along the way up if you are certain you will come back down the same way.

You know yourself and water needs best however.

Rocko1 wrote:

dsefcik wrote:

#2 Probably leave a couple of drops along the way up if you are certain you will come back down the same way.

You know yourself and water needs best however.

Thanks Daren. You figure just burring under some rocks off trail 10 yards or so will suffice? I have heard of animals chewing through plastic to get to water. Not sure how quickly that happens or if it's a summer thing.

I agree with Darren to leave water on the way up. We have started off carrying a half gallon water bottle. Drinking that as you go up. Then leaving it on the side of the trail for the way our. I would highly recommend staying the night before at Arroyo Salado so you can get an early start the next morning. Even if you arrived at the campground really late.
We have also spent the night on Villager and done Rabbit the next morning and hiked out that day.
Enjoy !