Imagination is more important than knowledge.
– Albert Einstein |
Our Spring 2001 Desert Trip to Southern California |
| For seven active days from 3/17 to 3/23/2001, Jennifer and I climbed 8 peaks
in Southern California and Baja California. Meeting friends in El Centro on
3/16, we drove a convoy of 4 vehicles into Baja and spent the night wondering
where in the heck the trailhead for our peak, Cerro Pescadores, was. We found
the trailhead the next morning and started up the peak late. This relegated
us to a hot ascent. For reference, turn west off Mexico 5 just north of (before)
the deserted Gun Club. Pescadores lived up to its reputation, and we got back
to the vehicles in the last light. |
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Heading for Cerro Pescadores in northern Baja, Mexico |
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Jennifer moving a desert tortoise out of the road en route to Black Butte |
| On the next two days we climbed Jacumba just north of the Baja border and
Black Butte in preparation for our feature peak, Rabbit on 3/20. Rabbit lived
up to its reputation as being one of the longest hikes to a peak on the DPS
desert peaks list. We spent the night before Rabbit nestled in the fragrant
lemon groves and started walking toward the distant goal at 5AM. Jennifer
and I each carried 5.5 quarts of liquid. It would not be enough. The sun found
our backs all too soon and we toiled up the huge hill for hours dodging Needle
Point Agave and Cholla. We found some bits of snow near the summit to supplement
our water supply. That helped, but was still not enough. Our companions, Charlie
Winger and Jon MacManus were speedier than Jennifer and I. They made it back
to the car before dark while Jennifer and I finished by flashlight at 7 PM
after a 14-hour effort up and down 6,720 feet of the cactus infested monster.
Too pooped to party, we slept in the lemon grove again. |
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Jennifer on top of the big Conejo at 1 PM |
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5 PM! The race against darkness is on as the lemon groves and Salton Sea wait for us |
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6,660-foot Rabbit Peak from the lemon groves at 80 feet below sea level near the Salton Sea in Southern California.
Gerry took this photo at dawn on 3/21/2001, the morning after our epic ascent. |
| The next day I looked through the heat haze for any peak that had snow on
it. I spied Santa Rosa Mountain and proclaimed that to be our destination.
When snow stopped our vehicles, we hopped with happiness, and postholed through
knee-deep snow for several miles to Santa Rosa’s summit. En route, we enjoyed
the Redwoods, which we do not have here in Colorado. |
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Santa Rosa’s cool summit |
| Over the next two days we ventured back to the desert peaks for more heat
and sun. My survival equation became “Early start, short peak!” This formula
worked well on Chuckwalla. On our last day we tackled Big Maria. On the middle
summit, we discovered that there is a debate about which of the three summits
is the highest. The register proclaimed, “Oh, Big Maria! With all these nipples
on your chest, it’s hard to know which is best!” After careful hand (level)
measurements, I determined that the middle summit is the highest. We climbed
the south peak as well just to make sure. This relegated us to a hot descent.
At the end of the trip, my feet felt like raw hamburger, but we were happy,
since Gerry had now climbed 60 of the 98 DPS list peaks and Jennifer weighed in with 54. |
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Jennifer on Big Maria's south peak, our last summit |
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Dueling ideologies on a DPS register can |
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Desert Guy |
| On our return to Boulder, we took a
detour to Arches National Park where we visited Broken Arch and Magic Mystery
Arch. Broken Arch sees thousands of tourists each season, but nearby Magic
Mystery Arch sees very few visitors. |
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The La Sal Mountains watch Jennifer on top of Broken Arch |
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Inside Magic Mystery Arch |
