Split Rock

Hikers & non-hikers,

Yesterday Tom and I met at Dudley's then drove down 78 to the trail head at Pinyon Wash in Anza-Borrego Desert S.P. We were able to drive all the way in to the head of Pinyon Wash, about 4.5 miles from highway 78, using Tom's 2-WD Blazer. There were a couple of soft areas about a mile in and they had become even more plowed up by other vehicles by the time we came back out. We parked and started our hike about 11:00 am in low 60 degree temperatures. Looking back to the north from several points on the lower trail we could see Mount San Jacinto and Toro Peak, each with a nice cap of snow shining in the sun. Starting up the canyon there are some large and very slick boulders so we had to do some minor rock climbing to get over them in two spots. Tom said he really liked that part !! Maybe a mile or so up the canyon (Tom can correct me) we came out of the canyon, which by the way, is the prettiest canyon hike I've ever done in Anza-Borrego. From that point we came into Harper Flat. "Flat" in this case being a relative term as the ground is still at a fair uphill grade and we were actually in a braided wash. There were a lot of Smoke trees in stages of greening up both in Harper Flat and on the drive in and there had obviously been some recent rainfall. Continuing up the wash we did a bit of route finding and started seeing more tracks from off-road vehicle activity. This wash is what the topo map describes as a jeep trail. Along there I saw the same beautiful Phainopepla nitens or its' mate as we came and went. When we got closer to Pinyon Mountain there were a few small pinyon pines and more recent vehicle tracks. When we got almost to the crest of the ridge separating Harper Flat and Hahapa Flat the trail became quite steep. Cresting the ridge at 3100 feet and continuing southward we got a break from climbing and hiked down hill on a gentle grade for maybe a mile and soon came within sight of Split Rock !! at about 4.5 miles in from the trail head. We arrived at the Split Rock at 12:45 pm at which time my little Garmin 12XL GPS read: "bearing 0.0 degrees, distance 0.0 miles", this was a pretty big deal to me since I've wanted to do this hike for a lot of years. We took a lunch and photography break and climbed around on the nearby ridge a bit to explore and get a better perspective of the area. There is an office desk-sized boulder next to the big rock. It contained two mortreros with water in them beside which there were three shallow cupped depressions in a row. We headed back at 2:00 pm and arrived at the car at about 4:00 pm. So about 3 hours in and 2 out or ~ 1.6 mph in and 2.25 mph out for a total hike of ~9 miles. Tom commented that this was a very pretty and enjoyable hike, I agree completely. 73, Ed, KF6DXX