5 Day Backpack Canebrake/Potrero/Inner Pasture

5 Days of backpacking with Craig was a blast, we did a big loop from Indian Valley, thru Canebrake, over to Potrero then straight over to Agua Caliente and finished up going thru Inner Pasture back to Indian Valley. We spent a full day exploring the upper reaches of Potrero Canyon and found some good running water. Beautiful weather and clear starry nights and some wildlife...a perfect trip!

My new Sil Nylon tarp up on Egg Mtn for the looming rain the first night but never got any. We met up and spent the first night (of 6 total) car camping on Egg Mtn


Anybody see these new wind turbines in Mexico? I just noticed them this trip driving thru Jacumba, Looks like the Sunrise Power Link is right there with them


Another beautiful sunset over Sombrero Peak, hard to get tired of these


Kicking it with some beers at night we had a small kit fox poking around our camp, we threw him a couple pieces of fresh bread and he seemed no stranger to getting handouts




Also hard to get tired of beautiful sunrises, here the moon is joining the sunrise near Carrizo Mtn


And turning around you get Sombrero Peak again


Out in Canebrake


Saw several tarantulas this trip, does anyone know how to tell male/female?


Even had a baby crawl up under my sleeping bag for the night


Some nice flora






A cool micro inch worm


I thought this was cute, a Mama and a baby wind blown brush team


Never know what you will find out in the desert


A couple nice projectiles




Here is Craig heading up the saddle from Canebrake to Potrero


Up at the top you can look north and see Toro Peak way off in the distance, a pretty cool view!


Found another old ranchers/cowboy camp. This one had a shower, tub and a makeshift kinda kitchen with faucet


Hey, what can I say...? You notice my new Dirty Girl Gaitors? They are awesome!!


Some gorgeous starry nights


And even a shooting star


Milky Way


An interesting combo of scat on the trail


Found an ejection seat from a military plane. I have heard rumors of a plane wreckage in the area, that may be another trip to find the rest of it




The last day sunrise on Redtop before we head back into Indian Valley where my truck was parked



Total Mylar Ballons this trip - 12 (1 not pictured)



More photos on my gallery here, way too many to show on this post...hope you enjoy!

Sombrero Peak 07-11-2011 - ABDSP

Sombrero Peak is an iconic peak when you enter Anza Borrego Desert State Park from the south. It is visible from the S2 highway from Ocotillo until you pass the Bow Willow campground. There are a few different routes up to the peak, the two most popular being the shorter approach from Indian Valley and and the longer less steep approach from McCain Valley. Neither approach is easy and you will need some cross country navigation skills to get there. The views from the peak are incredible, you will get 360 degree views of the entire Anza Borrego desert and also of the McCain and Imperial Valleys.

You can download a Google Earth KML file of my trip here.

You will need to plan your own route and be confident in your route navigation skills before heading out to the peak, my GPS tracks alone will not get you there and back.



This trip was mostly to capture panoramic images of the desert from the peak. I had my camera packed away knowing I would make better time if I wasn't stopping every second to take pictures. As a consequence I missed several good wildlife shots. I saw a large coyote, a fox, a 4' rattlesnake, several Turkey Vultures, two large Red Tail Hawks and countless smaller birds.

There are always the intriguing rock formations in McCain Valley that can take whatever shapes your mind can think of, mostly faces for me.

Here is "Boulder Man" East and West side views



You can follow mostly old jeep trails up to the last 1.7 miles to the peak, after that you will need to use your navigation skills and maps to the peak.


1.7 miles to the peak from here, not much trail after this


If you look close enough you can find pottery sherds along the way (please don't take home)


You can see the Jacumba Mtn Peak and the Goat Canyon Trestle from Sombrero Peak


The panoramic views are awesome from the peak. Here are a few panorama images you can check out.

Panorama from Sombrero Peak looking north-east-south-west. This is a very interesting panorama, you will need to download and zoom in 100% and pan around. You can see so much from here, including the Goat Canyon train trestle. This was shot at 75mm focal length.



Click here to download (28MB)

Here is a panorama at 300mm focal length mostly south from Tule Mtn to the west of McCain Valley


Click here to download (24MB)

Panorama of Ocotillo from Sombrero Peak


Click here to download (5MB)