HomeCompleted Trips

Talk about a trip you took out to Anza Borrego

RockhouseValley (north) backpacking TRIP Messages in this topic - RSS

hikerdmb
hikerdmb
Posts: 423


11/25/2014
hikerdmb
hikerdmb
Posts: 423
This was my third trip out to Rockhouse Valley. The first was about 20 years ago. The last time I was out there was March 2012. I have also been out that road to visit Jackass Flat a couple of times. I can say the road out to the trailhead is much worse than ever before. The last section from Butler Canyon to the end is definitely four wheel low. We didn't start hiking until a little before 3:00 PM and made it up through Rockhouse Canyon into the valley just as the sun was hitting the top of the Santa Rosa Mountains. It made for a nice sunset.

Here is a pano from our camp site near the lower rock houses.


I headed over to the lower rock houses for a couple of pics as soon as I dropped my pack.


The weather was forecast to be windy but it only blew off and on for part of the night. Since we were outside the park boundary we took the opportunity to have a small campfire. In all my trips to the far northern part of ABDSP I have never seen another person in this area so I was quite surprised to see some headlamps across the valley from our camp. It was a wonderful night to sleep under the stars


In the morning we had a quick breakfast and packed up our packs. Then we headed back over to the lower rock houses to take a couple of pics.
Here is one of the ruins looking north across the valley toward Toro Peak we would be hiking up that way to visit the old Santa Rosa Indian Village Ruins on this day.

We followed a wash most of the way across the valley and then picked up the old Indian trail the last bit of the hike up to the village site. When we were near the ruins we noticed some movement up on the hill above and saw three hikers. We figured these were the people whose lights we had seen the night before. Imagine my surprise when we got to the ruins and ran into Daren, who I had hiked with before, and Tom from this forum. They were with a group of six doing a multi night trip. It's a small world. Even in one of the most remote parts of ABDSP.

Here they are as they were leaving the village site.


Here are a few pics from around the largest ruin.




And here is some of the other ruins in the area.


After looking around the village site for a while we headed back to our camp and picked up our packs for the hike back down through Rockhouse Canyon.

Here is a parting shot looking back up toward Toro Peak.


The hike through the canyon is very nice with lots of interesting rock formations. Here is my buddy at the top of the 30' (estimated) dry fall. This gives a nice perspective on the canyon. Don't worry though, there is a nice bypass trail around the fall.


Stopped by Hidden Spring on the way out and found a nice bit of water at the base. Last time I was though here it was dry.


Got back to the jeep and had a nice ride out. Made it home around 7:00. This was a great hike and I got to take my brother and a buddy and show them a part of the desert they hadn't seen before. The hike was a little over 15 miles round trip with about 2,000' of elevation gain to reach the village site.
edited by hikerdmb on 11/25/2014
link






Powered by Jitbit Forum 8.3.8.0 © 2006-2013 Jitbit Software