Moments in Dirt and Ink

Cleveland National Forest Click for map. Garnet Peak, not to be confused with Garnet Mountain, is sandwiched between the two hikes yesterday and is the rather peak looking thing in the near distance of both of them. It is the last of the Hundred Peaks Section listed peaks for this trip and has its own trail up, but approaching via the Pacific Crest Trail gives me a few PeakBagger bumps to grab on the way. Also, I suspect Penny Pines, a place where water is available, to be easier to find. It does have a sign, but it is far enough off the road to miss in the dark. The paved pullout is just south of a big orange snow gate and cattle guard, so that can provide a landmark to find it, too. There is no indication of where the water is, but two trails head off marked as PCT. I grab the north one since I want to head north from here. It is just the longer route to actually join the PCT on the other side of a low hill. The long way from Penny Pines to the PCT passes the donor and...

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Cleveland National Forest Click for map. With a few hours of light left in the day, I have plenty of time for the short hike up Garnet Mountain. It is easily accessed from a sliver of land between Cleveland National Forest and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. There are a couple folks enjoying the view at the end of the road as I start and one more coming up the old road bed that hosts the Pacific Crest Trail looking like he is chugging through a chunk of it. He is quite a picture in plastic slip on sandals, hauling an army duffel with pack straps, and cradling a gallon of water in his arms. He adds to it all a greeting of, "Beautiful country, isn't it?" with so much glee underneath it that there is no mistaking that he is really enjoying being on this trail. But it is, so there you go. I follow behind him a short way. Entering Anza-Borrego Desert State Park with Garnet Mountain above. The shape of old greyback, that is San...

Cleveland National Forest Click for map. After being in San Diego for unrelated nefarious reasons that only slightly involved being a bit of a jungle gym for an enthusiastic child aged 1 year and 2 days, I headed out to the Laguna Mountain Recreation area to go after three peaks listed on the Hundred Peaks Section peak list , each very near a segment of the Pacific Crest Trail. My first target is Monument Peak. It has a few named peaks nearby and someone has marked a few of the minor bumps that just happen to have a poorly surveyed elevation on PeakBagger. Except for Stephenson Peak, they are all near to the trail and look easy enough to get to. Signage on the road is lacking, but my first guess at the right bit of parking contains interpretive signs referring to Storm Canyon, a boardwalk overlook, and steps down to connect to a well established (but unmarked) trail winding its way through the area. This is probably the right spot. I doubt the boardwalk helps to get a bette...

Cleveland National Forest Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Morning is lovely. At least it is as I wander over to the first spot of a northerly view while getting breakfast ready. There is not much long view from the camp site. There is a mist playing in the valleys, especially around the tall mountains. Thomas Mountain is no longer producing a streak on the sky because they have put out the controlled burn for the weekend. I pack up and head out for some more expansive views as the mist slowly rises. A little piece of that view from Dripping Springs Trail. The trail is still a little brushy, but not so imposing that it forces a stooped walk or anything like that. Everything from the southerly viewpoint, up past the junction sign, on down is clearly hiked a lot more than the trail above that. The few bits of brushy open up further as I go down, especially as things dry out. Thin early morning mists everywhere.

Cleveland National Forest Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 It was a mild night and with the sunrise, I can have breakfast in bed. Or actually, make breakfast in bed, but then pack up my gear while the pistachio pudding full of coconut and chia seeds "refrigerates" in the morning chill. My water looks so low. I used 4 of 2.5 liters for the hike up. There is still enough to go up Eagle Crag, and then I will be right back here and can evaluate it again. Perhaps if I can hike it with just the water left over from the second bag of water, then it will be fine, so I set that line and eat my breakfast. The new view I hiked to last night. The only city lights were in that blue distance. Eagle Crag, the goal for the day, stands in shadow against the brightening sky. I toss in another bag of water and what I need for day hiking. With my gear and extra water tucked away, I am ready to hike nearby Eagle Crag. I still see none of the poodledog tha...

Cleveland National Forest Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Researching the Agua Tibia Wilderness, I found it may be a rather tough backpack. Its namesake looks to be very difficult to obtain from anywhere. It looks like my most likely chance is a stream that I will come to while technically outside of the wilderness. There are a couple springs on the map, but they seem rather close to some black squares of buildings. Looking on satellite, there do seem to be a couple of homes next to these possible sources. As if to drive the point home, my permit specifically calls out for the respect of private property in the "special notes" section. That eliminates the best bet. I will have to carry all my water for three days. I have found and filled a total of five Platypus bags to take. One to hike, one to camp, one to hike, one to camp, and one to hike. Camping actually takes less than one and hiking down will not need so much either, but the other two hi...

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2 The night was already colder than expected when we went to bed, so we were slightly worried. Somehow it did not get much colder and was already getting warmer by our sunrise wake up time. Pudding again for this morning, in "special dark" chocolate. The shaking elicits an, "It's loud," from my neighbor with just a touch of animosity, so I yield to the thought of pulling on my shoes and going back to the top of the mountain where the sunrise will be better. Such is life. We are out just about on time for the four rolling miles out to Rabbit Peak. Good morning star shine, it is time to boogie. Shedding a bit more elevation before the higher peak.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Click for map. DAY 1  |  DAY 2 The hikers gathered at just the right crossing of Truckhaven and S22, the latest coming in at midnight, to camp and get a mildly early start in the morning. Who would have thought the state park would allow dispersed camping? Just have to keep it within one car length of an established road. I give my banana pudding* a nice, long shake and put it aside in the cool morning air to refrigerate before carefully examining my foot for even the slightest glimmer of pain. No motion seems to set it off, so I get to wear my trail runners. It makes me feel safer to have a bigger range of movement on a wild "trail". I get some hot chocolate together to go with the banana pudding and scarf down half of it before getting a rather loud full signal. I head over to the actual meet point. We get signed in and extra sure that everyone has enough water. My brain keeps grunting that this will be a particularly heavy pack unti...

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Click for map. I signed up for an overnight backpack way down south and since getting there involves driving halfway to Phoenix (well, 20 miles short of) and then turning right to drive some more, I decided to leave at a time that might not have as much traffic and could give me time to hike at the end. Just a few tens of miles of slow curd around the 405 and one complete freeway stoppage later, I have arrived at the start of a road to an old calcite mine and a good approach to climbing Travelers Peak with an hour and ten minutes to sunset. It is plenty of time to check out the mine, but probably not enough to head up the peak. I had rather hoped this would serve as a shakedown for how my injured foot* is doing and if I can get away with wearing my soft trail runners instead of my immobilizer boots for the overnight. Getting into the scramble up the mountain would be better for that than the road walk to the mine. Of course, maybe I can drive the r...

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park The super bloom going on around Borrego Springs and in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is expected to reach its peak in the middle of March, so the Hundred Peaks Section planned a rare outing without any peaks to climb for the ides. Looking at just the cost of gas, the price of admission does seem staggering for a single day looking about. Still, this is supposed to be a 1 in 20 years level event, so I decided to get up in the early dark and get myself down there to see this bloom. First stop along Henderson under Coyote Peak. Our first stop is along Henderson Road, but we have been seeing flowers for a while at this point. At first glance, there are only about three types of flowers in the field. Most noticeable are masses of yellow of desert sunflower. Big floppy white flowers of the dune evening primrose are quick to catch the eye. Big puffs of purple of desert sand verbena complete the initial colorful impression. Dune evening ...

Cleveland National Forest Picking up my little sister after she has gotten rid of her rental car, we are on another geocache hunt. Today the primary prey is not just the oldest in the county but the oldest remaining in the state hidden in September 2000. Stopping off by the side of the Sunrise Highway, we are joining at least forty other cars of those who are also out to enjoy the area. The area boasts interpretive signs, a kiosk, port-a-potties, and a trash can that is clearly serviced next to a sign noting there is no trash service. The forest is really gearing up to be compliant with the latest ruling on the Adventure Pass in the Laguna Mountain Recreation Area. Many active at their cars are pulling out road bikes to continue along the highway. More are fiddling with mountain bikes for a trail. We head over to the start to find a map of an elaborate trail system and various other bits of information, then head on in. Meadow with sparse pines and very clear, wide dir...

Warner Springs Ranch (map link) Heading down to San Diego to be there in the morning, I could not very well pass up using some of the day for a hike on the way. But what to do? I decided to do something silly. I would go and see this rock that is claimed to be the most photographed on the Pacific Crest Trail just because it looks like an eagle. The thing is, it is not the passing resemblance from just the right angle one typically finds with the various edifices named "Eagle Rock" scattered around the world. This is an animal that flew around in the time of the titans until it was frozen into stone as it landed. Or maybe it was a victim of a trick by a jealous Raven. However it came to be, the bird still rests about forty feet off the trail and I will go see it in person. The trail crosses road often in the area, so it is a reasonable day hike going northbound or southbound. I find my way to the Warner Springs Fire Station, which makes an easy landmark for findi...

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park The third day of peak bagging with the Hundred Peaks Section hikers finds us carpooling down a pretty good dirt road to a widening at a crossing of the Pacific Crest Trail. I did not drive, so as I take stock of my pack at the trail and notice my camera missing, I cannot just walk over and grab it. There will be no pictures. We gather beside a sign where the destinations are the county line and the highway beyond. We will not get as far as either of those. Our destination along the trail is just the next saddle. We head north and curve around the hills. Some snow remains here, but only behind the most sheltering of steep northern slopes. There are quite a lot of dog prints in the snow. We start to climb, but it is at a very easy pace. The peaks to the east must be some favorite ones for some of my fellow hikers because as they become more visible, there is talk about this bit of ridge and that bit of climbing. They seem to be Village...

San Diego Sung has been wanting to actually tour the aircraft carrier turned museum down in San Diego and I said sure, so off we go. Of course we start off just attempting to take in the size of the boat. There is something downright comical about the snack bar and tables at the stern and manikin service men eternally hang about on deck. It gets serious quickly going forward. The length of the USS Midway with snack bar at the back.

from Lake Poway, nearish La Jolla Locate the trailhead. I only drove to La Jolla, so can't say how to get there, but Lake Poway is on the map. It's a short trail, but can get hot so we meant to head off quite early. We did manage to get around to going downhill before it started to feel particularly hot. They've certainly put together a lot of trails for a place that hadn't had a trail until 1980, but there's usually trail signs, too. Not quite the first view of ocean along the trail. I'm told this wasn't particularly visible until fire came through a few years ago. There were a few funky shaped bits of pink granite around. It seemed to be turning into shells, in a way, in places. Besides this one, the top features a wave of stone everyone but me was taking photos of. The local pink granite, a rock that isn't as much harder than the local sandstone as expected.