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Talk about a trip you took out to Anza Borrego

Grapevine Mtn /Bitter Creek Canyon Messages in this topic - RSS

dsefcik
dsefcik
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9/19/2011
dsefcik
dsefcik
Administrator
Posts: 2609
The full TR with lots of pictures is on my website http://www.sefcik.com/2011/09/grapevine-mountain-bitter-creek-canyon.html

If you just want to see the pictures, look here http://www.darensefcik.com/Photography/Anza-Borrego-Desert-State-Park/Grapevine-Mountain-09-16-2011/19117034_fZLDMF

Finding somewhere to hike in Anza Borrego is never a problem, instead the problem is just trying to make up your mind where! I settled on hiking up to the peak of Grapevine Mountain using Jerry Schad's route as described in his book. I drove down Grapevine Canyon from the Ranchita area the day before and camped out at the starting area of the hiking route. The full hiking distance was about 6.3 miles and the elevation gain/loss was around '2500. This was a great hike that only took about 7 hours to complete and that includes 95 degree temps and lots of lolly gagging on my part. I would recommend a hike up thru Bitter Creek Canyon alone as I found it a fascinating area.

Google Earth map of the route I hiked


Stuart Spring had plenty of water and bees guarding it


It had rained heavily early in the day, the dirt roads were muddy and the morteros near Angelina Spring were filled with water


I am a sucker for scat...


Grapevine Peak off in the distance, no trail on this hike. It is all cross country


I love the blue juniper berries in this scat


The register, this peak does not seem to have much activity as almost all of the entires are months apart. The last one before mine was March 18th, seven months ago. If you look at the entry in the jar you can see it is from park ranger Robert Theriault dated 1985. I tried to find an entry from Jerry Schad but did not see one on any of the sheets. I did see many entries from the Monday Maniacs over the years, they seem to like this peak


Old survey markers at the top


View of the Volcan Mountains


Bitter Creek Canyon


Lots of honey comb up in the rocks


Bitter Creek Springs Resort Hot Tub


Pottery in Bitter Creek Canyon


My hiking partner


Anybody ever see these glyphs driving thru Ocotillo? Not much patina, probably fake

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Why do they always crap in the morteros? After it rains, some sink and some will float...


More pictures and TR on my website http://www.sefcik.com/2011/09/grapevine-mountain-bitter-creek-canyon.html

Daren

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dsefcik
dsefcik
Administrator
Posts: 2609


9/26/2011
dsefcik
dsefcik
Administrator
Posts: 2609
Also forgot, total mylar balloon count for this 1.25 day trip was 5. I think I am getting most of them as each trip yields less and less...

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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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