Day Trip Hike to Carrizo Palms

We left the coast on a sunny Sunday morning and pointed the LandCruiser east out to one of our favorite areas of Anza Borrego. A quick stop at Starbucks and Subway to fuel up and we were our way. This time we had a couple of Anza newbies, our friends Steve and Haeja.

Late April the temperatures begin to approach triple digits out in the Anza Borrego Desert so we knew this was one of our last trips of the season. Our plan was to hike from the East Fork of Carrizo Gorge out to the seldom visited Carrizo Palms. The palms are located in a remote location below the Carrizo Gorge Railway and are a bit difficult to get to.

Our hike began with a short 4wd trip up the Carrizo Gorge/Creek wash to reach the East Fork turnoff. 4-Wheel drive is not really necessary for most of the drive althoughyou have to make sure to stay clear of the softer sections of the trail. Tubbs our new diesel Landcruiser had no problem traversing the sandy wash in 2 wheel drive and we occasionally slipped him into 4 wheel drive to test it out.

We parked and rigged up the Brunton Solaris to run our Engel Fridge while we were hiking. There is pretty much nothing better than a cold beverage after a hot, dusty desert hike and the solar panel lets us run the fridge with no fear of killing our battery. Water bottles were filled, hiking boot laced up and we were off.

The hike up East Fork is relatively easy although it is slow going due to the soft sand and the ever so slight incline. There are numerous dry waterfall sections to navigate but nothing too technical.

There was a decent breeze which made the 90' heat bearable and after about an hour and a half we arrived at the first group of palms.There was a substantial amount of water and suddenly Steve looked down and announced, "Hey there's a frog in the water!". After picking him up, we quickly realized it was two frogs and scolded ourselves for disturbing their intimate moment.

After an hour of relaxing in the shade of the palms we decided to head back to the truck. Unfortunately, the breeze that had cooled us on the hike up had now subsided and the temperature felt much hotter. Our pace quickened as it was now a race to get down the trail to the waiting lunch and cold beverages.

Until next time....

Bob

Pictures Are Here.

Exploring Canyon Sin Nombre in Anza Borrego

The Anza Borrego flower season is coming to a close so we decided to take a day trip out to explore the Canyon Sin Nombre area with a group of friends. Canyon Sin Nombre translates to "Canyon Without a Name" which makes it sound a bit more ominous then it really is. Sure there are some deep sand sections and some boulders to negotiate, but in general a stock 4WD can traverse this section of the Carrizo Badlands without any problems.

We left behind overcast skies on the coast and by the time we reached the Tecate divide the sun was shining and the sky was a brilliant blue.  

Our first stop was the overlook just south of Canyon Sin Nombre, which offers a specatcular view of the Carrizo Badlands. The wind was cranking at the top and didn't subside until we jumped back in our vehicles and started descending down the jeep trail into the canyon. I opted to put the transfer case in low range to get a feel for how low the gearing is. I was impressed at the snail like pace the LandCruiser was able to maintain without stalling. The common theme in all of the LandCruisers we have owned (5 in all), is how comfortable they feel once the pavement ends. 

We arrived at the mouth of one of the larger slot canyons and parked our vehicles. What initially started out as a wide trail quickly turned into a twisting, rock scrambling hike up a narrowing gorge. In a few places the walls were so tight you actually had to twist  sideways to squeeze through.

The crew did great negotiating the trail and we eventually arrived at the top which gave us a chance to take in the view of the surrounding badlands area.

After hiking back down to the canyon floor, we sat in the shade, had lunch and watched the "Dust Devils" whip by.

It was a bit hard to keep the sand out of our sandwiches due to the wind, but hey isn't that what the Desert is all about? 

Pictures are here.