JohnTheLuck's Adventures Thread

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 9:

Start point: Brawley CA
End point: Brawley CA

Distance driven: 330 km
Distance hiked: 5.0 km

Today, we explored the most southwestern portion of our route, around the town of Ocotillo CA.

Our first destination was Painted Gorge-Carrizo Mountain Road. The road travels through Painted Gorge, a very colorful gorge, before climbing Carrizo Mountain overlooking the desert. However, in order to protect the endangered species of bighorn sheep during their calving season, the road is closed to motor vehicle traffic between January and June. We drove up to the gate and then hiked the remaining of the gorge and climbed a small section of the mountain.

Back to our vehicle, we headed for the McCain Valley Road, an easy road climbing over 5000 feet. The presence of clouds and showers was a pretty bad sight at Sacotone Overlook, but we did see some of the bridges and tunnels of the Impossible Railway. Unfortunately, the Goat Canyon Big Trestle is not visible from this place.

Further down the road, the Carrizo Overlook still offered a nice view.

As we still had a few hours before sunset, we headed to the Yuha Desert to travel the road of Juan Bautista de Anza, lieutenant of the Spanish army mandated to discover and colonize this part of California in the name of the King of Spain in 1775.

On this road, we first saw the Anza Overlook, then the Yuha Geoglyphs, drawings on the ground similar to the famous lines of Nasca in Peru but much more modest. These were unfortunately vandalized in 1975.

Farther, the Yuha Wells are the remains of ancient water wells of different periods. Anza is stopped there to replenish themselves during his expeditions in 1775.

As the day was drawing to a close, the sun managed to break through the cloud layer to make the landscape around us shine.

Tomorrow, we leave Brawley to go to the heart of Anza-Borrego Desert SP in Borrego Springs CA.
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 10:

Start point: Brawley CA
End point: Borrego Springs CA

Distance driven: 224 km
Distance hiked: 6.7 km

Already day 10 ... Today was a full day of improvisation; we had originally planned to drive the Sunrise National Scenic Byway, traveling through the mountains of the Cleveland National Forest and overlooking the desert, but the clouds and the high risk of precipitation forced us to change our plans. We stayed rather lower in altitude.

Our first stop was at the Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge to hike the Rock Hill Trail, overlooking the Salton Sea. This immense lake was completely dry when a human error caused the breakage of a breakwater in 1905 during work on the Colorado River. It then spilled for nearly two years before the huge gap was repaired. Of note, its surface is 72 meters (236 ft) below sea level.

Continuing our route west passing south of Salton Sea, we crossed a huge area of crops. The presence of solitary palms reminded us of the common sight of large trees bordering Quebec fields, but palms are more exotic.

We stopped at Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area Discovery Center to get some information. The volunteer informed us about the blooming of several species of flowers at this time (thanks [MENTION=172784]final[/MENTION] for also pointing it out). A short botanical trail around the Discovery Center allowed us to see several specimens.

Continuing our improvised day, we decided to drive the easy-moderate portion of the trail. At the bottom of the canyon, we decided instead to go explore the Palm Wash South Fork in the east direction with the sight of flowering areas. This picture shows a Jeep going up the Calcite Mine Road, the clouds over Borrego Springs, and beautiful flowers.

After turning around, we decided to also explore Palm Wash South Fork in the west. We thus joined the mouth of a very photogenic canyon slot.

Back on the S-22 toward Borrego Springs, some more flowers and the side of the road.

We will stay in Borrego Springs for the next five days, exploring Anza-Borrego Desert SP and Ocotillo SVRA. That looks promising!
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 11:

Start point: Borrego Springs CA
End point: Borrego Springs CA

Distance driven: 144 km
Distance hiked: 7.7 km

We spent the whole day in Anza-Borrego Desert SP. We stayed in the eastern part to escape the ever-threatening clouds closer to the mountains. We got up early to see the sunrise at Font's Point, a rocky promontory overlooking the Borrego Badlands. We had to wait for rare periods of sunshine between very present clouds.

Then, we began crossing the Borrego Badlands from north to south along roads winding in washes. The first road, Truckheaven Trail, starts in an area where flowers are blooming these days.

Continuing on Arroyo Salado Road, we reached the Seventeen Palms Oasis, a very picturesque place with its California Fan Palms bands.

A mailbox, containing messages from visitors is located in one of the groups of palms.

Then we reached another group of palm trees, the Five Palms Oasis.

We then crossed an area of badlands to join Tule Wash Road. The road was then somewhat winding with many ups and downs.

We then forked on Tule Wash Road to see a unique geological curiosity, Pumpkin Patch. This landscape is the result of wind and water that continually erode the surface soil and reveal global concretions of sandstone that look a lot like pumpkins in size and shape. Such concretions are thought to be formed by the natural cementing of sand particles on a small object such as a shell, a grain of sand or even an insect.

After turning around at Pumpkin Patch, we headed for Cut Across Road.

We made a second detour via Butte Pass Road to access The Slot, a slot canyon accessible from both ends. Although a little less colorful than Palm Wash South Fork, it did offer more textures. It was a fun and relatively short hike.

Near the lowest end were we were parked, there were pretty hills formed of rocks pierced by wind and water. We spent some time exploring a bit randomly waiting for the sunny periods that were becoming increasingly rare.

We then took the road in the opposite direction to reach the upper part of Butte Pass Road because the very steep slope is a one way down. Beautiful landscapes appeared one after the other.

Once on the upper part of Butte Pass Road, several viewpoints allowed to see The Slot that we had hiked previously.

Tomorrow, as the weather will stay about the same as today, we will head toward Ocotillo Wells SVRA for another fun day of discovery while weeling!
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[final]

Spectacular scenery! The wildflowers look beautiful and make the pictures even more beautiful. Glad that someone was able to see them in bloom! Thanks for sharing.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Spectacular scenery! The wildflowers look beautiful and make the pictures even more beautiful. Glad that someone was able to see them in bloom! Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome. More to come tonight!!!

 

[MAST4R]

Fantastic pictures, really informative, too!

This is among the best threads on the forum.

 

[lakerman]

you escaped just in tme

Love your pics, getting me through each day, went to work and it was -40C without the wind this morning, weather should be hitting your hometown real soon.:nono:

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Fantastic pictures, really informative, too!

This is among the best threads on the forum.

Thanks!

Love your pics, getting me through each day, went to work and it was -40C without the wind this morning, weather should be hitting your hometown real soon.:nono:

Thanks! We left right between two major snowstorms. We hope than when we go back in mid-March, the snow will have melted away. Realistically, there should be a lot less snow and ice then. Hopefully!

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 12:

Start point: Borrego Springs CA
End point: Borrego Springs CA

Distance driven: 174 km
Distance hiked: 1.5 km

Even today, the clouds were very present above Borrego Springs (which I call the City with perpetual rainbows). When we left, a clearing in the sky encouraged us to go to see some of the many metal sculptures of Galleta Meadows. These beautiful sculptures are located in the fields, which adds to the realism.

So we decided once again to head east to escape this greyness. Our first stop was at Hawk Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert SP, a place we had been suggested and which is really beautiful.

We then joined our main destination of the day, Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. This place is for lovers of all-terrain vehicles of all kinds, and it is allowed to circulate at will, matter of releasing a little testosterone. We went through a loop linking several attractions of the place.The first point was Blowsand Hill, a sand dune blocked by hills.

Then we joined Shell Reef, containing oyster fossils.

Between the points of interest, the landscapes were very varied, going from areas without reliefs to others with pretty hills.

Then, we joined Gas Domes, a strange place where small springs arise at the top of small mounds. When it rains, water entering the ground in the mountains creates a pressure that then gushes water into the lower valleys, including those of Gas Domes. In addition, gas bubbles regularly escape, originating from molten lava in the earth.

As we had completed the loop we had planned, we decided to take Cross Over Trail through the park from the center to the north. To get there, we drove in Tarantula Wash, a very clear space composed mainly of sand. The wind has risen, so we were a bit eager to cross this flat area; 60km per hour in the sand, eh I had a lot of fun !!! I wanted to take a video, but an operator error made that nothing was recorded ...

The Cross Over Trail being behind us, we traveled Tectonic Gorge and Gettysburg Road, forming a loop. Geology was interesting.

Back in Borrego Springs, we still had a few minutes before sunset, we went back to see other sculptures.

Tomorrow, the sky should be cleared so we will stay around Borrego Springs.
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 13:

Start point: Borrego Springs CA
End point: Borrego Springs CA

Distance driven: 213 km
Distance hiked: 8.6 km

Ahhhh, finally the sun !!! Taking advantage of the rising sun in a cloudless sky, we went back to see the Galleta Meadows sculptures. What quality of work to produce these exceptional works.

We then headed to the mountains and the Grapevine Canyon Road. This fairly easy road crosses very different vegetation zones because of its great elevation change.

Towards the top of the road, the winter we wanted to avoid while making this trip to the south rejoined us.

Once Grapevine Canyon Road completed, we made a small loop in the mountains.

We came across the town of Julian located in the mountains, recommended by [MENTION=137107]Ray Dunakin[/MENTION]. Snowfall of the last days added to the charm of this small western-inspired town. However, we did not linger too long because I do not like KO2 tires in the snow and ice and the risk of precipitation was still present.

We then traveled the Blair Valley Road, in the mountains but much lower in altitude.

This easy road leads to some archaeological and historical sites. The Pictographs Trail leads to drawings dating back more than 2,000 years, and further to a point of view at the top of a dry fall.

Also on Blair Valley Road, we hiked the Marshall South House Trail, the ruin of a writer's house in the 1930s. He built this house on top of a mountain to live with his family for many years in this isolated place, without water or any convenience of modern life.

His house being located on a plateau, this site offered an extraordinary view of the surroundings. To the south, we could see the badlands where are located the Canyon Sin Number Road, Arroyo Seco del Diablo Road, and Arroyo Tapaido Road that we traveled a few days ago. The view towards the north overlooked Blair Valley.

Tomorrow we will explore the north of Borrego Springs. And the weather should still be good. We feel very lucky, despite the fact that we came to enjoy the heat but today it was only 11C with very strong winds.
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[Ray Dunakin]

I haven't been able to keep up with the forum the past couple weeks, but had to come by when I saw that you had posted some pics from the trip. Great photos and report! Really makes me long for a chance to get back out there again.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

I haven't been able to keep up with the forum the past couple weeks, but had to come by when I saw that you had posted some pics from the trip. Great photos and report! Really makes me long for a chance to get back out there again.

Thanks! Get back in shape and go! The desert is a place for the 4Runner!!!
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[MAST4R]

Thanks! Get back in shape and go! The desert is a place for the 4Runner!!!
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I have to say you have done an impressive job creating those routes.

Btw, I saw a post you made like in 2015 about KO2 psi on and offroad. What psi did you find to work best for you? Like 38-40 on road and 20sh off? In principle an LT should be run at around 44 but I doubt many do that.

It seems that the KO2 is now available in LTD in 265 70 17, so you may want to consider going that route to avoid the penalties of E load while still getting a 3 ply sidewall.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 14:

Start point: Borrego Springs CA
End point: Borrego Springs CA

Distance driven: 169 km
Distance hiked: 8.9 km

We have now completed two weeks of our trip, already. We were blessed again today with a completely clear sky, without any cloud during the day.

To start the day, we got up very early to see the sunrise over the badlands at Font's Point in Anza-Borrego Desert SP. The rays of the sun made the cliffs glow. This reminds me Bryce Canyon a bit.

Then we hiked the beautiful Borrego Palm Canyon Trail, climbing up the canyon to an oasis of California Palms. The stream was flowing, following snow flurries of the last days higher up in the mountains. As you have probably noticed, there is a lot of greenery on the ground because the winter is quite watered this year.

Then, while returning to Borrego Springs, we went to see other metal sculptures, including this impressive dragon spanning more than 100 meters, on both sides of the road.

Another sculpture served as an introduction to our next destination of the day.

Our next destination was South Coyote Canyon Road, a road leading to the southern border of Coyote Canyon Wilderness. This road has three crossings of Coyote Creek. Our research before the trip indicated that the second could be problematic because of the level of water that can be quite high. Luckily, we were preceded by a pickup and we could see that the stream was passable. We were able to pass those crossings without any problems.

After a short visit to an historical marker about the expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza during is 1775 expedition, we stopped to explore another oasis.

We had almost reached the Wilderness boundary but the presence of big rocks slowed us down and it was getting quite late. So we turned back.

On the way back, my wife was pleased to see more closely agave in bloom. We were told that it was quite exceptional for this time of the year to see this plant bloom as it normally does rather in mid-March. Of note, the plant is so exhausted in producing its impressive flower stalk that it dies.

As for the forward trip, the second crossing went smoothly and without worries.

As there was a little time before sunset, we went up the mountain by a winding road. A group of cars stopped on the side of the road caught our attention; a group of bighorn sheeps feeding on the side of the mountain.

Sadly, tomorrow will be our last day in Borrego Springs.
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[JohnTheLuck]

I have to say you have done an impressive job creating those routes.

Btw, I saw a post you made like in 2015 about KO2 psi on and offroad. What psi did you find to work best for you? Like 38-40 on road and 20sh off? In principle an LT should be run at around 44 but I doubt many do that.

It seems that the KO2 is now available in LTD in 265 70 17, so you may want to consider going that route to avoid the penalties of E load while still getting a 3 ply sidewall.

On the interstates on our way to California the KO2 were at 38psi. This gives a fuel consumption more acceptable.

Now, I keep them at 32psi on highway since we don't do too much distance. On the trails I air down at 25psi, but on the sand dunes I went to 22psi.

Today, I was too lazy and kept them at 32psi since there was no deep sand.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Day 15:

Start point: Borrego Springs CA
End point: Indio CA

Distance driven: 238 km
Distance hiked: 5.6 km

Today was our last day near Borrego Springs. We loved so much the surrounding that we will be back again in the future.

After hiking the Elephant Tree Trail in Anza-Borego Desert SP, we drove the Fish Creek and Sandstone Canyon Trail. This is an incredible and fun trail with a lot of hiking opportunities and geologic curiosities.

At the beginning, the road passes through a narrow passage dug by Fish Creek in Split Mountain over the years. The wall is composed of rounded rocks, probably brought by ancient streams and forming an alluvial fan.

Continuing the Fish Creek Road, we reached a curiosity, a fold made in sedimentary layers caused by the fall of an immense piece of rock (partly visible on the right), all solidified in the current mountain.

Further on, we saw strange shapes in the sedimentary layers eroded by the recent action of water during flash floods.

Colorful landscapes appeared at every corner.

A little further, a flower nestled in a beautiful slot canyon elegantly carved by the water caught our attention. We stopped to explore the surroundings.

We then entered Sandstone Canyon, a very narrow canyon carved into sandstone from ancient sand dunes. On several occasions, we had to maneuver the 4Runner slowly to pass some fairly tight passages.

After a while, fallen rocks almost blocks the canyon. It might have been possible to continue, but the risk of damaging the vehicle and the time was running out. So we wisely decided to turn around.

On the way back, we stopped to hike the Wind Caves trail, a section of sandstone carved by the wind that formed very photogenic caves.

Finally, we went on the road again to reached Indio, CA. It was again a really enjoyable day exploring amazing places.
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[JohnTheLuck]

Day 16:

Start point: Indio CA
End point: Indio CA

Distance driven: 402 km
Distance hiked: 2.0 km

It was one of these days... Rain, snow, blocked road, navigation error, ...

Our first destination of the day was the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm, a windmill field being one of California's three major facilities.

Next, we wanted to hike the Canyon Loop Trail in the Whitewater Preserve, now included in the new 2016 Sand to Snow National Monument designated by President Obama. We only covered the beginning before sustained rain began to fall, making the appreciation of the landscape impossible. We will try to come back tomorrow.

Then we wanted to travel the Palms to Pines Scenic Byway, but given the high elevation of the mountains it runs, the rain of the valleys rather fell in snow up there. It will be for another time.

We then headed for Box Canyon Road, but a navigation error brought us to the north end rather than the south end. We knew that this road was completely destroyed during a flash flood last October. Watch the following YouTube video:

YouTube

We were hoping she can be repaired now, but this is obviously not the case and she is still not being repaired.

After making the long detour to the south end, we found that it is also closed almost at the beginning. Luckily, access to Painted Canyon Road was not compromised. What a spectacular canyon!

Then we took a road along the Coachella Canal bringing water from the mountains to the area.

Further along this road we joined the Bradshaw Trail, a historic road from west to east to Blythe CA. As this road is quite long (128 km), we have only covered the western section. We will travel the rest later in the trip.

The section we made joins the old Eagle Mountain Railroad, now abandoned.

Our point of return was the railway bridge spanning the wide wash in which we were traveling. It is a very popular place as a destination for off-road vehicles. When we arrived, at least twenty other vehicles were present, and people socialized while listening to music and drinking a little.

Tomorrow, we will continue exploring around Indio, probably doing a lot more hiking (wifey request...!)
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[MAST4R]

Another round of amazing pictures, Painted Canyon is definitely worth it!

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Another round of amazing pictures, Painted Canyon is definitely worth it!

Oh yes, Painted Canyon is really amazing. Today, we hiked there. Post coming shortly!!!
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[MAST4R]

Great! I do appreciate your thread a great deal. I do not personally post any pics publicly but we do maintain a private site for friends and family.

It is sad to see the "like" button go. In addition to expressing appreciation, it was a good way to keep track of the few worthwhile threads.