Wildlife of the week

I am still unable to identify the different hawks I encounter. This hawk has been flying around my backyard since spring, I believe he might be a juvenile Cooper Hawk..but I could be completely wrong. He loves to scree-scree all morning as the sun comes up and flies around the canyon near my house. He routinely has sky battles with the crows. These photos were taken on a misty, cloudy and drizzly morning. He was bathing himself in the drizzle in a tree in my backyard. The photos were difficult, the backlight was really bright compared to the shadows of the tree branches. He was about 40'-50' up the hill and I used a 300mm lens to photograph him, the photos are slightly cropped.

Carrizo Gorge Railway Goat Canyon Trestle - ABDSP

On my way home from hiking Whale Peak and exploring Inner Pasture I stopped off in Jacumba to meet up with some friends to ride out to the Goat Canyon Trestle in Carrizo Gorge. Let me say this was by far the easiest way I have traveled to to see the trestle.

I had a flat on my MTB and Scotty "C" promised to fix it when I got there, he totally lived up to his promise..thanks Scotty!


Really..??


Our first wood plank crossing


Scotty C heads off into a tunnel. Riding thru the tunnels was a blast, especially the really long ones


This train is now becoming famous the longer it sits out there



The funky aqua/turquoise colors of the interior are so cool


Possibly one of my favorite window stickers yet


Tried out some of the B/W filters for the camera


Scott and Greg immediately saw what was wrong with the train, somebody had wedged a piece of wood under the wheels


Canadian Car & Foundry (Can-Car) manufactured these railway cars


There was a lot of debris left near an abandoned tunnel


This was an abandoned tunnel that looked caved in several hundred yards into it


No idea what this is


ta'da..! the Goat Canyon Trestle


Riding the steel side grates was sketchy

Inner Pasture - ABDSP

The next morning following my Whale Peak Hike I hiked to Inner Pasture for some exploring. There is no easy way out to Inner Pasture, you are almost guaranteed a minimum of 6 miles round trip just to get to the edge of the valley. My trip was about 14 miles total, I could have done close to 20 miles if I had left earlier but I got a late start.

You can see all of the pictures from the trip here http://www.darensefcik.com/Photography/Anza-Borrego-Desert-State-Park/Inner-Pasture-10-08-2011/19490183_7TtrGM

Inner Pasture is raw and vast, if you decide to go explore Inner Pasture be sure not to follow my actions and go with a few people if possible. The undocumented travelers in Inner Pasture is obvious and active, hiking solo out there is not recommended.


Cool Dragonfly


Morteros and Pottery around this rock shelter suggest it was used by Native Americans



There was also evidence of undocumented travelers in this shelter and others nearby.


Pottery sherds and what appeared to be a possible projectile made from stone



Lots of morteros nearby



Yoni rock carvings are always a favorite to find



Inner Pasture was once home to cattle who grazed the open valley. You can still find evidence of them today




Here is a close up of the steer teeth just in case you wondered what they looked like


Here is a close up of the horn


I also stumbled across a small shelter with a really funky pictograph, not really sure what it is supposed to be.


Here is an enhanced version with DStretch


This is with my hand in front as a reference for size


This the alcove wall I found it in, look in the lower right


Here is my mandatory scat inside of a mortero photo


Total mylar balloon count for this trip - 5

Whale Peak via Bisnaga Wash - ABDSP

I finally got around to hiking up to Whale Peak. I planned a route up from Bisnaga Wash almost one year ago and never went. I would not recommend this route for anyone who just wants to summit Whale Peak, I would suggest one of the more popular routes up from Blair Valley or Pinyon Mtn. It took me most of the day to hike it but in the end it was worth it.

See all the pictures from the trip here http://www.darensefcik.com/Photography/Anza-Borrego-Desert-State-Park/Whale-Peak-10-07-2011/19490750_TmpnG6

Here is a Google Earth image of the actual route recorded by my GPS


This is the route going up just after getting out of the wash. Whale Peak is way off in the distance about 5 miles away


This was a steep wash ravine Google Earth didn't show me


Yours truly


Started finding pottery going up


More "trail"


Got to walk in a small sandy wash for awhile, lots of animal tracks


There was some more pottery and a small milling feature along the way



It was at this steep climb near the top I almost convinced myself to turn around and go back to my truck where there was cold beer waiting


I pressed on and found this cool old Juniper tree at the top of the ridge line


I still had two valleys like this to cross to get to the top of Whale Peak, that would still be another 1.5 miles or so.


At the top of Whale Peak looking west towards the Laguna Mountains and Vallecito Valley below


On the east side of the peak you can see the Salton Sea


There is a rock shelter that guards the hikers register. There were many great places to camp overnight at the top.


The register. This is a popular peak with entries every few days.