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Split Rock
The Sunday November 3rd 2002 hike to Split Rock allowed 16 hikers from the San Diego area to enjoy a nice hike to Split Rock out in the Anza-Borrego desert. You leave Rd 78 at mile marker 80.0 and travel south on Pinyon Wash Road (NAD27, 564429E, 3665891N), bearing left at the fork ( 564063E, 3663615N) to the trail head at the end of the road (566603E, 3659977N) where there are places to park your vehicle. From there it is about 3 miles of cross country hiking upward through a rock canyon, through fields of cactus, a ridge climb, and then dropping down to Split Rock (566522E, 3657072N). This year we followed a line directly to Split Rock and then returned on the jeep trail more to the West of the direct route.
Since over half of our group are amateur radio operators, we were able to
coordinate via radio the actions of the smaller groups and one of our group
that was off looking for another location of Indian paintings which were not
found.
We were able to wind our way though fields of cactus with only one reported
impression. There were jack rabbits (big ears) spotted but no birds.
On arriving at the Split Rock we rested, observed the Indian paintings on both
halves of the rock, noted the morteros for grinding seeds, and had a leisurely
lunch. Several of the more adventurous in the group climbed the 20 foot rock
by wedging themselves in the crack and working their way to the top. We were
joined at the rock by several of our group who had come in from the south via
4WD. We hiked back to the Trail Head via the old jeep trail. We left Rd78 at
8:30am and returned to Rd78 around 3:00pm. Many in our group enjoyed pie and
ice cream at Santa Ysabel (Rd78/Rd79).
The hikers were:
Joe (kayak builder) 100%
Heather (Spanish, Guatemala) 100%
Taylor (4th grade, mud cave expert) 100%
Carly (2nd grade, mud cave expert) 100%
Don (new hiker, surfer, kayaking) 100%
Christina (new to the group, French 100%
Ed (mirror flashing extraordinary) KF6DXX 100%
Terri (guest) 100%
Stan (tennis, ping-pong, canoeing) W9FQN 100%
Barbara (Spanish, education, tennis) KA6FPS 100%
Bernie (fisherman, Serraman, Spanish) N6FN 100%
Al (sailing, canoeing, computers) W6GNI 100%
Paul (cameras, floating binocs) KB5MU 100%
Bill (PCT, Boy Scouts) AA6J 100%
Jeff & Julie (off road, hiking) KG6AXR KG6BPP 100%
TOTAL = 16
This was a 1st time hike with us by Don and Christina and we hope that they
will be able to join us on future hikes into the deserts and mountains of
San Diego County.
The drive from Rd78 to the trail head was further than I expected and took a
long time with only one vehicle "testing" the holding power of the sandy
road going up Pinyon Wash. There was a good area to park at the trail head.
From there we traveled up the canyon through piles of rock that required
some climbing.
Once out of the canyon it was a direct walk (if one can ever walk directly
through fields of cactus) to a ridge which we needed to climb up and over to
get to split rock. Last year we did not take a direct route like we did this
year so we had more of a climb this time but the view from the top of the
ridge was worth the effort. Last year we hiked more to the west of the
direct line path.
As we approached Split Rock we spotted Jeff KG6AXR and Julie KG6BPP just
arriving in their 4WD vehicle which was a surprise since we did not know
that they were anywhere near "our" area. It was rather disgusting to have
them pull out their "lounging" chairs and relax from their "hard drive" to
the rock while the rest of us had to sit on the ground or hard rocks.
We had a leisurely lunch and explored the rock and surrounding area.
Taylor(4th grader) and Carly(2nd) were all over the rock and even wedged
their way upwards inside of the slit. Only a few of the group actually
worked their way through the narrow slit.
After lunch we returned to the cars via an old boring jeep trail for an easy
return to the vehicles.
I am going to assume that sometime soon we might be able to see some
pictures of the hike taken by Paul KB5MU on his web site.
73, Stan
Valley Center, CA 92082-4806-11, 760-749-0276 W9FQN@Juno.com http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/keep_moving/ ( my web site last updated October 2002) |
This page was last updated on July 06, 2003. |
