I wanna bag two tomorrow....

If I can get up at 3:00 again....I will head off for Pinyon Mtn and Whale Peak.  It's just a little short of a 10 miler, but should be fun and interesting.  I'll be back soon.  Still owe you a trip report about Moan Benchmark.  Here's the trademark picture....

It's art if you can see it...otherwise, it's just a rock.

Be safe, enjoy living and appreciate our lands.   ~ Joel

Piedras Grandes

Piedras Grandes©

January 23, 2013, Joel Hawk

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

This is a fairly easy 3.5 mile round trip with "just a little" bushwhacking/open country traverse.  If one wanted to ease into this type of adventure, this peak would be a good one to start with.  The first mile is a gently upward slope along the desert floor.  Once you get to the ridge, then the climb really starts, but it's not too difficult.  There is no benchmark and at the time of this writing, the register had fallen between two boulders far enough away that it could not be reached, so no way to sign it.  There is my destination below.

Fairly non-eventful hike up to the summit although there was a beautiful barrel cactus I saw along the way.

  The following are three pictures of the summit.

On the way back down, I scurried up a jack rabbit.  He ran off for a little bit and then stopped to take the pose.

He decided he had enough of that, so off he went.

The sun was falling so my fun day was coming to an end.

Looks like there is a fire farther off into the East.  Glad I'm not too close.

Once back to the jeep, I gave my wife a quick call to let her know I was safe and headed home.  It was a good day.

Be safe, enjoy living and appreciate our lands.   ~ Joel

Directions and the numbers:

Travel East on I-8 and exit at Ocotillo Wells.    Travel through town noting that there is a "must stop" at the Lazy Lizard on the return trip.  Continue on this paved road until you reach the Border Patrol checkpoint.  Pass through the checkpoint for about 2 or 3 hundred yards and take the Dos Cabezas jeep road to the left.  You'll see a trail head marker with desert information.  Stay on this dirt road for several miles until you come to the train tracks and an old water tower.  Cross over the tracks (must have a solid 4x4) and drive straight through onto another dirt road skirting the foothills to the left.  There will be a little parking area that is fenced off with yet another road headed toward the mountain range with PG.  It is illegal to drive on this road.  Start walking to the lowest point in the mountain range using the wash as your trail.  Total round trip is appx 3.5 miles, 740 total ascent with a max elevation of 2564 ft.   Overall this took me about 1.5 hours.

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Ghost Mountain and Pictographs

Ghost Mountain and Pictographs
by Joel Hawk, 1/6/2013

With my trusty sidekick, Chris, we set off for a day of adventure in the desert.  She doesn't get to experience the jeep off-road much, so we buckled her in tight and set off in the early morning hours for an all-day adventure in the Anza-Borrego Desert.  She's a moderately experienced hiker and likes difficult hikes that come with trails (polite interpretation meaning "don't take me on any of your rock or open country scrambles")!  Armed with clear guidance, I selected a couple of nice hikes I had wanted to do for some time which included discovery, some exercise, and seeing some of Southern California we had not seen before.
Selecting a comfortable and most direct route, we set off for Ramona for our first adventure.  I wanted to hike Black Mountain if we could get to the top and had planned a jeep trail.  Along the way, I thought we would drive by the Sutherland Dam and Reservoir.  What a great little drive along a paved road just outside of East Ramona.

To be honest, I didn't even know this reservoir was out there.  One can tell it's toward the end of our Summer Season by how low the water levels are in the reservoir.  This is beautiful country and a nice morning drive to explore our countryside.

I'm a believer that one should always make plans and try to follow them...no matter what twists and turns we experience along the way.  We drove all the way down to the dam and then exited onto a dirt road riding along the mountain side to Trucker Canyon Road (where the access to the jeep road up Black Mountain is).  It was a great drive and we found Trucker Canyon Rd just like we planned, so I turned onto it and started looking for my dirt road turn-off.  We drove all the way up to Mesa Grande Indian Reservation without seeing our turn-off.  I could see what I thought was Black Mountain to the West, so I knew we were close.  We returned back down Trucker Canyon only to find the gate was closed/locked which is why I drove past without noticing.  So we thought we would just drive around to Black Mountain the other way.  Plans do change...
Along the way we stopped a couple of mountain bikers, Mike and Christine, and asked for directions.  Being local Ramona residents, we got some good gouge and set off for another adventure.  Armed with new directions we found and drove up Pamo Valley Road to Santa Ysabel/Black Mountain Rd.  Driving up this road we found the trailhead and started putting on our hiking gear.  Within just a few minutes, both Mike and Christine appeared having rode their bikes up the very road I had originally planned.  We then learned the summit was about 5 1/2 miles from the trailhead, so we decided to bag the idea for the day and continue on our adventure into the desert.  We'll come back for this one next week.  Back to the main highway and off to Julian for lunch.
With our tummies satisfied, we headed for the desert.  Traveling on a dirt road of the S-2, we were headed for the pictographs.  This may seem like a whole lot of nothing for some folks, but we both found it interesting and curious.  We wondered what the symbols meant and per the sign at the trailhead, so does everyone else.  This is a short 2 mile total hike, but was very pleasant and interesting. 

Chris says, "Finally, we're walking."  In just a few hundred yards or so, I found the "real" Birdrock.

Spot on, 1 mile away we came upon a solo boulder proudly displaying the pictographs we had set out to find.  One can see the sun and what looks like possibly someone walking.  There is one drawing that looks like a horse (which is very hard to draw), but this is all conjecture.  That's one thing that is fascinating about this little adventure; you can let your imagination wander and see if you can come up with your own story.

Chris says this is great, but I'm freezing!  Let's get into the sunshine.  (The horse drawing is just off her left shoulder).
I've lost my beard, but have a little shadow on my chin.

 One must strike the pose!

Once satisfied there were no other pictographs for us to see, we set off along the trail a little farther into the desert just to see what else is out there.  The trail does continue so if there are that many other folks going out that way, there must be something right?  There was; great views of the desert floor and a great viewing spot at the mouth of Smugglers Canyon drop off.  It's only about 1/4 of a mile farther and you can see the spot at the low point on the near horizon.

 With yet more to do today, we turned and headed for our next little adventure along the same foothills.  Along the way, I started planning for one of my next adventures; hiking Whale Mountain.  This is about a 10 miler and through open country with some boulder climbing, so I know Chris would not like to join me - although I asked!

Our next stop was the short Morteros hike.  This is a large rock where Indians ground out a "bowl" where they could grind the pinon nuts, mesquite beans and agave and make their dishes.  With the number of these Morteros on the boulder, Chris said this must have been an early Indian restaurant.  Could be!

Off to visit the remains of the South Marshall home called Yaquitepec (I think), we were headed for the last fun and short hike of the day.  This is a great story about the stubbornness and strengths of early pioneers who simply wanted to live off the fruits of the land.  The hike is again only a 2 mile round trip although this hike does require climbing a trail with some difficult parts for young ones (or older ones with bad knees).  It's fun though to stand at the top and just imagine what this looked like back when it was the Marshal South homestead.

If you were interested in learning more, I found this link online.  Apologies about the ads/pop-ups, but it's not my site.

http://www.examiner.com/article/hike-to-ghost-mountain-and-the-marshal-south-homestead

Some of the scenes from the site show some of the walls still standing, their water well, an old bedframe and a morteros grinding spot.

Chris bailed and went back to the jeep while I headed off to bag Ghost Mountain.  This ended up not being the summit, but was one along the way.  The sun had dropped behind the mountains by the time I reached the summit, so no good pictures.

We were so close and it is on my list....not wanting her to be waiting very long, I actually ran/jogged up to the summit and then all the way back down to the jeep.  Along the way, I took one last photo of the desert floor.

I was a mess by the time I got back down and a literal pretzel with stiffness when I got home.  But it was a fun day...a very fun day.  I would recommend this/these hikes for the family.

Be safe, enjoy living and appreciate our lands.   ~ Joel