May 28-29, 2011
Once Scott and I got back from our trip to Vail, our training for Kili got put on hold as we prepared for an arts festival in the middle of May. After that craziness was over we decided to start getting back into the training and went on my first backpacking trip over Memorial Day weekend. We had thought about car camping but most places required reservations and since this was so last minute we couldn't get in anywhere. So instead we decided on backpacking through the Anza Borrego Desert, which is about 3 hours east of San Diego in the Imperial Valley.
Me at the start of the hike. We did the Butler-Coyote Canyon loop which is supposed to be about 18 miles total. Butler canyon was fairly easy with a small amount of bouldering. This part was about 4.8 miles. According to the hiking book there was supposed to be a trail marked by an old wooden cart. We saw no cart so we estimated based on our map where the trail was supposed to be. And we estimated wrong.
Off trail hiking through cactus fields for the next 7 miles. I still had cactus needles in my leg the next morning.
8 hours and 12 miles later we finally made it to Coyote Creek and our campsite for the night.
Scott the next morning. The hair is killer.
The route on the second day was much easier with a large portion of it on a Jeep trail. The picture to the left is a view looking back towards Coyote Canyon. You can see the trees that line the Creek bed.
Yes we have 2 of the same cameras, it's a long story.
A couple more views along the jeep trail.
After about 3 or 4 miles on the Jeep Trail we started ascending up over Alcoholic Pass which is an old Indian trail used to get between Rockhouse and Coyote Canyon. Things were going well until I took us down the wrong trail and about a mile out of our way. We finally made it back to the trail junction and started climbing a large bouldered washout because we couldn't find the supposed trail. After a while we said screw this and decided to climb up and hike along a ridge. And guess what, we found the trail.
On the trail and making our final descent back towards Butler Canyon and the car. By this point in the trip both Scott and I were totally exhausted but luckily this was an extremely easy route back. So to sum up the trip in Scott's words:
Day 1: Scott got us lost.
Day 2: Darci got us lost.
THE END!!!!
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| Panoramic view from the top of Alcoholic Pass Trail |
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