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Backpacking in Bighorn Canyon

hikerdmb

Posts: 423

12/13/2010

hikerdmb

Posts: 423

I have been in other areas around the Pinyon Mountains but Bighorn Canyon would be a new destination for me. I did not go solo. I met up with Daren from this forum and also a friend of mine joined the trip. We met at the junction of Pinyon Wash and Nolina Wash on Saturday afternoon. We then drove up Nolina Wash a half mile or so and found a place to park off the dirt road. We shouldered our packs and headed west across the desert toward the mouth of Bighorn Canyon.

It was a beautiful day. I can't remember a December day like this in the past few years. It was actually hot as we made our way into the canyon and there was very little wind. It was nice to get into the canyon and hike in the shade provided by the walls to our west. The hike up was pretty uneventful, mostly hiking on sand with a few boulders to negotiate every so often. When we got up towards the end of the canyon we spotted the low pass to the east that lead to Nolina Canyon. We knew we were close to the watering system below Blue Spring and the search began. We went up the wrong part of the canyon and ended up scrambling up and down a couple of ridges before we spotted the tanks. In the main part of the canyon just like it showed on the topo map.

We hiked a bit further up the canyon above the water tanks to look for any sign of Blue Spring but didn't see anything. We did find the old way of collecting water from this canyon.

The upper part of Bighorn Canyon is very nice. There are some nice rock formations and signs of waterfalls that flow during heavy rains. If you look to the left of this rock formation you can see one of the many dry falls. This one looked to be about 20+ feet tall.

Afer spending a few more minutes looking around this part of the canyon we headed up the final feet toward the low pass. Daren had spotted a fairly level area on the pass during our scrambling around time looking for the tanks. Here is a view back down into Bighorn Canyon from near the pass.

We did find a nice campsite just as the sun was going down. We had dinner and sat back to look at the sky show. The Perseid meteor shower was to be at its peak in a couple of days so we were hoping for a show. We saw a few shooting stars but not as many as I had hoped. The next morning we awoke to another great desert sunrise.

As my buddy and I had breakfast, Daren scrambled up the mountain to the east for a better view. After he returned we packed our gear back into our packs and started our descent into Nolina Canyon. This canyon was quite different than Bighorn Canyon. There were many many animal tracks in the upper parts of the canyon. We also passed many willow trees in this canyon. There must be water just under the sand. We also saw some Pinyon Pine cones on the floor of the canyon. This is very odd because when you look up and all around you cannot see any of these trees. I know they are way up high above this canyon so these cones traveled very far to rest in the sand here. There were some nice stands of Cholla along the sides when the canyon opened up a bit.

It was a pretty easy hike down through here with only a few spots with boulders and rocks to negotiate.

After about an hour or so we made it out of Nolina Canyon and proceeded on down the wash and back to our rigs. There was a great view looking to the north as we exited the canyon. We could see the Santa Rosa Mountains, Toro Peak, and all the way north to San Jacinto Peak. It was another perfect day.

The shade of Nolina Canyon made the hike out very cool. But once we left the shade of the canyon walls it was a bit warmer. It was a great trip! A nice loop hike with some scrambling up and down rocks and ridges, easy hiking in two fantastic canyons, a calm, clear, warm night with lots of stars, and good hiking partners.

edited by hikerdmb on 12/13/2010
edited by hikerdmb on 1/2/2013

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Backpacking in Bighorn Canyon