Indian Valley / June Wash / Diablo BM - ABDSP

Like many of my trips to Anza Borrego Desert State Park I usually will have one thing I am going out to do and then I will usually find other things along the way to do also. This trip involved photographing some pictographs near the In-Ko-Pah mountain range. Using Indian Valley as my base camp I packed up my gear and was ready for a 2 day backpack trip to try and find the pictographs. The weather was great and I only saw a few cars the first day I arrived and then only a single person when I left, none of them were camping.

The pictographs proved to be worth all the effort, here are few photos of them.

DStretched enhanced circle motif


I have seen some refer to these next two pictographs as the Xray pictographs



DStretched enhanced version


To learn more about pictographs in Anza Borrego Desert State Park pick up a copy of Manfred Knaak's book The Forgotten Artist: Indians of Anza-Borrego and Their Rock Art

You can find more books about Rock Art in California on Amazon

Before heading back to Indian Valley I figured I would summit False Sombrero, it has been just over a year since Scotty "C" and I went up there.

Looks like the Cliff Bar and the Cholla Ball Combs we left are still in the jar


And someone may have actually used Scotty's combs!


One small dime sized macro wildflower bloom in Indian Valley before I left


Before going home I decided to go over to June Wash and try to hike up and over to Sandstone Canyon as described in Jerry Schads book. The effort proved too much for me after the backpack trip and I stopped at Diablo BM instead and called it a day. It was still a great hike and the views were awesome, recommended hike for sure to anyone thinking about it. Do read the trip description in Jerry's newest edition unlike myself. I only took his 1986 copy and the description was outdated and I ended up hiking the wrong wash.

June Wash sign at the S2 turn off


Heading up June Wash, it is easy going for the first 1-1/2 miles or so and then it gets bouldery


The Diablo BM register


Heading back down June Wash, Sombrero Peak waaaayy off in the distance


Here are links to (2) 360 degree panorama images from Diablo BM. One is just the view and the next is the view but with landscape features annotated for reference. I recommend you download the full versions of the photos and zoom in and pan around, they are about 22MB each.

View only - Download full version


View with landscape features - Download full version


Congratulations, it's a boy! - From The Desert


Total Mylar Ballons this trip - 2
Total old faded beer cans - 2