Gary led us on another great 4 day backpack trip that was a big loop thru Rockhouse Canyon, into Alder Canyon and over Buck Ridge and then finishing up by crossing Jackass Flat which led us back to our vehicles waiting at the end of Rockhouse Canyon. The road going into Rockhouse past the Butler Junction is the worst I have ever seen it, the first rock ramp is completely washed away and it just gets worse form there.My new little Toyota was able to navigate it without trouble but the other Toyota in our group needed to stop every few hundred yards to find a route thru the rocky mess.
Still trying to go as light weight as possible I purchased a brand new backpack, a Granite Gear Torso Blaze Ac 60. It weighs in at 2lb 14oz and has a 60 liter capacity with a 35lb carry capacity. It easily handled my 4 days worth of stuff and I broke it in the first day with no problems whatsoever, I totally recommend this pack.Here is the pack and my gear waiting to get stuffed in
Here it is in action on the 4th day
The night skies were perfect for watching the stars, we saw many shooting stars as well as the Andromeda Galaxy up near the Milky Way. I took my new Fuji XE-1 and and a new Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Ultra Wide Angle Lens and I was able to get some decent photos but I still need more practice. Here are a few of the better ones. The Borrego Sky Art photo was inspired by Ian over at http://www.lonelyspeck.com, thanks Ian!
These next photo is actually a panorama stitched together from several photos, you can see the Andromeda Galaxy at about 1'oclock in it.
One of the springs we fixed up a couple years was still in good order, just a few minutes of clearing it out and we had nice clear running water again, I was pretty happy to see it was holding up so well.
Some early morning sunrise colors on the Creosote and Tom's tent
You don't see these too often, mortars that have worn all the way thru
Heading up towards the Cottonwoods we saw some tracks I am still not able to identify and then later deer
The sunrise colors were beautiful this trip, here is an early morning view from the Cottonwoods looking south towards Alder Canyon and Buck Ridge
Gary watches after many of the trees in Rockhouse and this baby Cottonwood is one of them
After we jumped into Alder Canyon we climbed up Buck Ridge and got an incredible view of Jackass Flat and Borrego Springs with Coyote Mountain in the distance
This is a group photo of everyone coming down the ridge into Jackass Flat
Sunrise from Jackass Flat
I finished up the trip by staying one more night out near Henderson Canyon and took a few more photos of the Sky Art during the night and at sunrise
You can see more photos of this trip in my photo gallery here
It looks a great outing. You got some interesting and nice photos also.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see a Mylar balloon where it shouldn't be, I always think of you. Have you kept a running total of how many you've found?
No running total...that would be a good idea though...thanks!
DeleteLOVE your Milkway pic (I'm an astronomer, so a teensy bit biased)
ReplyDeleteI think I recognize that spring: called Stifferino in Diane Lindsay's book.
Didnt like the taste of the water, but it was a steady flow.
There's some interesting archaeology in that canyon as well as slightly up the hill
from the spring.
Impressive hike, I did a route into Rockhouse and Nicolias from 3rd Crossing
via Box Canyon--theres a faint, old, Indian trail up a ridge that gets you to Hidden Spring eventually. Then an easy hike to Rockhouse.
One very wet spring, I found some easy trails along the North side of the canyon, past Santa Rosa village site.
-elisha
Elisha, yes, yep and yeah....stifferino...wasn't looking like that a couple years ago though, we put in the double rock circle and it seems to be holding. We used remnants of previous repairs to make it happen though. Thanks for the comments!
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