5 Day Backpack Canebrake/Potrero/Inner Pasture

5 Days of backpacking with Craig was a blast, we did a big loop from Indian Valley, thru Canebrake, over to Potrero then straight over to Agua Caliente and finished up going thru Inner Pasture back to Indian Valley. We spent a full day exploring the upper reaches of Potrero Canyon and found some good running water. Beautiful weather and clear starry nights and some wildlife...a perfect trip!

My new Sil Nylon tarp up on Egg Mtn for the looming rain the first night but never got any. We met up and spent the first night (of 6 total) car camping on Egg Mtn


Anybody see these new wind turbines in Mexico? I just noticed them this trip driving thru Jacumba, Looks like the Sunrise Power Link is right there with them


Another beautiful sunset over Sombrero Peak, hard to get tired of these


Kicking it with some beers at night we had a small kit fox poking around our camp, we threw him a couple pieces of fresh bread and he seemed no stranger to getting handouts




Also hard to get tired of beautiful sunrises, here the moon is joining the sunrise near Carrizo Mtn


And turning around you get Sombrero Peak again


Out in Canebrake


Saw several tarantulas this trip, does anyone know how to tell male/female?


Even had a baby crawl up under my sleeping bag for the night


Some nice flora






A cool micro inch worm


I thought this was cute, a Mama and a baby wind blown brush team


Never know what you will find out in the desert


A couple nice projectiles




Here is Craig heading up the saddle from Canebrake to Potrero


Up at the top you can look north and see Toro Peak way off in the distance, a pretty cool view!


Found another old ranchers/cowboy camp. This one had a shower, tub and a makeshift kinda kitchen with faucet


Hey, what can I say...? You notice my new Dirty Girl Gaitors? They are awesome!!


Some gorgeous starry nights


And even a shooting star


Milky Way


An interesting combo of scat on the trail


Found an ejection seat from a military plane. I have heard rumors of a plane wreckage in the area, that may be another trip to find the rest of it




The last day sunrise on Redtop before we head back into Indian Valley where my truck was parked



Total Mylar Ballons this trip - 12 (1 not pictured)



More photos on my gallery here, way too many to show on this post...hope you enjoy!

Borrego Palm Canyon Backpack - ABDSP

Took a quick overnight backpack trip with Craig up Borrego Palm Canyon. Lots of day hikers to the first grove but we did not see anybody the whole trip after that. We tried to hike up the north fork but it was too choked with brush so we retreated back to the 4th grove and camped out for the night. We did see some type of hawk and misc birds but that was about it for wildlife, no bighorn. The first grove did not have any water but there was plenty from the 2'nd grove and up. Craig brought his filter and it was a nice change to only carry a couple liters of water and just pump some more when we needed it.

Looking east down at the 1'st grove and Craig


The north fork is pretty choked with vegetation


The canyon is pretty big, here is Craig near some of the many palms in the canyon


Looking down at the 4th grove, this is where we camped and I can't think of too many places in the desert where I have camped where I got to sleep to the sound of palm tree fronds blowing in the wind and running water, it was very nice.


There was quite a bit of running water all the way up the canyon






Plenty of these guys came out at night...right where I was sleeping...(UPDATE: Wolf Spider)


Some nice green reeds....not sure what the official name is...(UPDATE: Horsetail Reeds)


Total Mylar Balloons this trip - 1 (rescued form the water)

Piedras Grandes / Indian Hill - ABDSP

A Quick overnight trip and day hike in the Piedras Grandes Area. Apparently 5 million other people like that area also over the Thanksgiving break based on the 10 million footprints I saw everywhere and all the car campers. Anyway, great area and lots of cool boulders to explore. The Ocotillo Wind Farm is just awful during the day and a total nightmare by night, I feel real bad for the residents there.



Love my new Fuji XE-1 and the Velvia Film Mode, makes a great Sunrise and requires no PP. Most of these were all shot with the Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Ultra Wide Angle Lens


Some misc rock art in the area, probably has already been posted a million times by others










Total Mylar Balloons this trip - 1



Here is a sunrise photo with the built in Panorama mode of the Fuji XE-1

Rockhouse Canyon / Buck Ridge / Jackass Flat 4 Day Backpack - ABDSP

Gary led us on another great 4 day backpack trip that was a big loop thru Rockhouse Canyon, into Alder Canyon and over Buck Ridge and then finishing up by crossing Jackass Flat which led us back to our vehicles waiting at the end of Rockhouse Canyon. The road going into Rockhouse past the Butler Junction is the worst I have ever seen it, the first rock ramp is completely washed away and it just gets worse form there.

My new little Toyota was able to navigate it without trouble but the other Toyota in our group needed to stop every few hundred yards to find a route thru the rocky mess.
Still trying to go as light weight as possible I purchased a brand new backpack, a Granite Gear Torso Blaze Ac 60. It weighs in at 2lb 14oz and has a 60 liter capacity with a 35lb carry capacity. It easily handled my 4 days worth of stuff and I broke it in the first day with no problems whatsoever, I totally recommend this pack.

Here is the pack and my gear waiting to get stuffed in

Here it is in action on the 4th day

The night skies were perfect for watching the stars, we saw many shooting stars as well as the Andromeda Galaxy up near the Milky Way. I took my new Fuji XE-1 and and a new Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Ultra Wide Angle Lens and I was able to get some decent photos but I still need more practice. Here are a few of the better ones. The Borrego Sky Art photo was inspired by Ian over at http://www.lonelyspeck.com, thanks Ian!





































These next photo is actually a panorama stitched together from several photos, you can see the Andromeda Galaxy at about 1'oclock in it.


 One of the springs we fixed up a couple years was still in good order, just a few minutes of clearing it out and we had nice clear running water again, I was pretty happy to see it was holding up so well.

Some early morning sunrise colors on the Creosote and Tom's tent

You don't see these too often, mortars that have worn all the way thru

Heading up towards the Cottonwoods we saw some tracks I am still not able to identify and then later deer

The sunrise colors were beautiful this trip, here is an early morning view from the Cottonwoods looking south towards Alder Canyon and Buck Ridge

Gary watches after many of the trees in Rockhouse and this baby Cottonwood is one of them

After we jumped into Alder Canyon we climbed up Buck Ridge and got an incredible view of Jackass Flat and Borrego Springs with Coyote Mountain in the distance

This is a group photo of everyone coming down the ridge into Jackass Flat

Sunrise from Jackass Flat

I finished up the trip by staying one more night out near Henderson Canyon and took a few more photos of the Sky Art during the night and at sunrise

Total Mylar Balloons This Trip - 26!

You can see more photos of this trip in my photo gallery here