4/29/2023 Topic: oldBayHiker oldBayHiker	Howdy, Chula Vista resident. Moved here just a couple of years ago. Have done quite a bit of hiking in the coastal mountains and through the Lagunas, looking to expand out in the desert. Have done just a couple of hikes and camping trips. Have a Tacoma 4x4, so able to get off the beaten path. So far have camped in Tamarisk Grove and June Wash and hiked Whale, Diablo, culp valley, and pictographs. From Culp Valley Loop, my first time into Anza Borrego. Look forward to learning more about this great place in our backyard!
4/29/2023 Topic: June Wash Camping/Diablo Hike (April 2023) oldBayHiker	Camped June Wash first weekend of April. Three dads and three teenage boys. Our first camping trip in the desert outside of a campground. Went out Friday afternoon. Took two trucks. F-150 and Tacoma. Both 4x4. We turned off S-2 and made our way up the wash. We went to the end, which quickly narrows. Able to turn-around and 4x4 was handy for that. Picked a flat spot off a side wash and set up camp. Sunsets out here were quite nice, though different from San Diego. Friday night was spent just exploring our area, cooking supper, and enjoying a fire. We used a solo stove. Saturday we headed up to Diablo Benchmark. Didn't have much info on it, just that it was a peak nearby and found a path off of PeakBagger to use. The path was up a wash for a goodways, but sooner or later, you have to climb to the ridgeline. It was a short, but steep climb (30-40%) up to the ridge. Once on the ridge, pretty smooth going. Did see a jackrabbit hiding in a bush. The trail out there is mainly a cholla forest. We had pants and boots, but routinely had to stop to use pliers to pull cholla out of soles or pants where it had jumped too. Diablo has a geodetic marker, but it isn't at the peak. The true peak is the northern peak, maybe another 100 yards further. Good views back into Sandstone canyon from peak. Peak did have blister beetles on it. We came down the west face. It's less steep, but a longer route. Made our way back to camp for supper and evening fire. Wind picked up Saturday night. My son's scouting skills paid off as his tent was the only one not blown down or blown away. Tent anchors would have been handy. Settled for rocks. There were a few other campers in the wash. Couple of RVs were closer to the paved road. One camper we could see, they were using a roof-top tent. Would have been nice if there had been just a little farther away, out of sight. Sunday packed up and back to civilization.
12/27/2023 Topic: Indian Gorge Campout oldBayHiker	Late posting this. Tried back in November, but the forum wouldn't accept it. First weekend of November, my 11 year old son and I went to Anza Borrego Desert State Park. We live in Chula, so just about two hours. We've been there a few times, but this was his first time to spend the night. We were supposed to have been camping on a different desert, the beach at Carlsbad. However, that trip fell apart at the last minute, so we decided to go to the desert. Found a place called Indian Gorge that I wanted to explore. To get there, we turned onto the dirt road off of S2 and entered the gorge. The road enters the wash and follows it through. I drive a Tacoma, and did use 4 high as it would start bogging down in the soft sand if you got out of the track. A few rocks made having high clearance nice, but they were navigable. I do subscribe to the theory that no matter how difficult a 4x4 road is, a Subaru will be on the other side. At the end of the gorge, another canyon comes in, Torote Canyon. We briefly stopped, read about elephant trees, then continued. Past this canyon, Indian Gorge opens into Indian Valley. The road splits to north and south. We decided to explore North first. We only passed one other car on the road. Didn't see a camp, so assume they were hiking. The road dead-ends at some cool rocks. Definity a campsite, though the toilet paper in the wash is nasty. We climbed around and checked out the palm spring. I think these are weird looking in the desert, yet totally appropriate. We then explored the south valley. Shortly after we started, I saw what looked like a great camping site. Then I saw the sign saying "sensitive area, no camping." Bummer. Seeing a cool rock cave, we decided to explore. We found out why it was sensitive. The cave had scorch marks in it. Looks like Indians would have had a fire in it then slept towards the outside to stay warm. Walking around the rock we found the kitchen. At some point this rock fell off the bigger rock. It made for a good mortar for Indians. Continuing around, we found the current resident. My son wanted to pick it up, but I know not much about snakes other than they are bad, so I told him no. Turns out it being a boa, probably the best snake he could play with. We continued to the end of the road where another palm spring was. There was of course a Subaru parked there. We started back up the road looking for a campsite. We found a good one, just south of the Indian camp. We set up camp, climbed the rocks, then ate lunch. Sandwiches all around. The sunshade was the real MVP. Though we only needed it a few hours, it would have been torture without it. We then discussed what we wanted to do that afternoon. My son did ask at the cave "any paintings on the rock?" So I gave him three options, one, go look at pictographs, two, go explore Terote, three, stay at camp. He chose Terote, so we headed back up to the edge of the gorge. We did about 2.5 miles, following the canyon up until the next valley. Took about 1.5 hours with stops. Nothing too difficult, but the catclaw was the biggest obstacle! We headed back down and complained about catclaw while wanting to find an elephant tree. I looked up on the ridge and found it. The marker at the mouth of Terote says they have a distinct, yet hard to describe aroma. Absolutely agree! Cool plants. They can hold a years worth of water in their trunk, hints the name, so they are slightly squishy. Headed back to camp and made supper. Burgers. Had a pound of meat, so we had double cheese burgers. Wasn't no Whataburger, but certainly better than this California In-N-Out crap. Enjoyed a beautiful sunset from camp. We started a fire in our Solo Stove and of course had smores. We enjoyed the stars, saw about a dozen shooting stars, and even a Starlink sky train. We slept that night in our tent, Coleman Oasis 4 man, with no rain fly. Was in the 50s so even in a 1-2 season bag, it was still warm. But anytime I woke up, the stars greeted me. Next morning I got up and the the sun greeted us with light on Sombrero Peak first. I decided then that I'm coming back in the spring to camp here again and then climb Sombrero with my teenager. Great trip, even the 11 year old said so. The worst part though? Cholla. It is the most evil plant on earth. If you get within 10 feet of it, it'll get on you. Those tuffs fall off and litter the ground, so you soles always have them and they will go through the shoe. Because it is on your sole, occasionally you'll kick it up into your calf. But it is also everywhere. We were throwing the football and I catch it, well the cholla got on the ball and now I have needles in my hands. I get in the truck and the floor board is covered. The tires of the truck, nothing but cholla. You want to lay down on the ground to look at stars? You can't because of cholla. You want to dig a cat hole and take care of business? Cholla.

---