Sunshine and Balls, a well known long distance hiking father and daughter team, had their water cache stolen yesterday. Apparently other hikers stole it. This is beyond comprehension. I hope the thieves read this. My message to you is that your are less than scum. What goes around comes around, and I hope you get yours in the end. You can read Balls’ post here.
I often hear or see hikers post questions asking for help in reducing “chafing” when walking. I never have this problem when hiking, but I did have a “chafing” problem for a period of about a month when I was in my 30’s. What I learned may be of help to others.
Note: I am not a doctor or medical professional so this is anecdotal and based only on my experience.
Last fall I was visiting a client’s location in a small town in Pennsylvania. The weather was grayish and the temperature brisk, but it was the peak of the season’s autumn colors. The road in front of my client’s location look slowly rose to meet a small hill; a hill covered in multi-colored leaves. I asked a couple people how far it was to the top of the hill, “a mile or two,” was the consensus.
If you have read of my trip reports, you probably noticed that I rarely hike with others. And last year I posted an article titled, Solo Backpacking: Crazy and Dangerous?
Recently I read an article by someone who likes to hike solo, except in winter, where for him, it makes sense to hike with others. Nothing wrong with that. But in this article he explains that planning a trip required conference calls, agendas, posted gear lists and itineraries on Google Docs, and all kinds of collaborative endeavors. Seems like a lot of work and aggravation to go on a weekend hike. Giving it some thought, I realized that solo hikers generally need a certain type of personality to enjoy solo backpacking. This personality type is not superior to those who like to hike in groups. It is just what it is, and we would all probably be hard pressed to change our personality – or so to speak, to change who we are.
Last Thursday night I arrived home at the airport just before midnight. At the exit booth to pay my parking fee, I rolled down the window to the sound of grinding noise. The window motor was dead, and the window was stuck in the down position.
First thing Friday morning I took it to the shop. Later in the day the shop called and said it could not be repaired until Saturday. That eliminated any hiking for the weekend. Earlier in the week my friend, Ojas, had contacted me about doing some hiking in the next few weeks. After the bad news about the vehicle repair, Ojas inquired about us going hiking this weekend. Told him I would have to bow out – Joyce was gone for the weekend and I needed to stay at home and retrieve the vehicle when it was ready.
Saturday morning; 9 AM. Shop calls and says the vehicle is ready. Good news indeed – there would be time for a weekend backpacking trip. Since Ojas had probably already made plans, I decided to put a loop together that would include a trip to Carey’s Castle in Joshua Tree National Park. It has been over 30 years since I had visited the castle.
When I first located Carey’s Castle, I wasn’t looking for it. I had never heard of it.
I was spending some time near a spring in the vicinity observing a herd of Big Horn Sheep. When it was time to move on, I continued on my trip looking for a well, I found on my topographical map. As I trudged up a sandy wash, I came to an ancient road track that veered away from my planned route. Being sure it probably led to an old mine, I followed it for a few miles where it made a sharp turn in front of a small hill. To the left of this turn was Carey’s Castle – I almost missed it. Very little is known about Carey. During my visit I found many, many of Carey’s artifacts inside and around the vicinity. Also found some Native American artifacts. Of course, I left everything in place.
Curious about the house built under a boulder, I drove to the main ranger station and inquired. I was told it was Carey’s Castle, and the NPS discourages people from divulging information as they did not have the resources to protect it. Good enough for me. I have never told anyone how to get there.
Just like my trip last year to Chuckawalla Bill’s rock house, I decided to take the same gear I used when I hiked to Carey’s Castle in 1981. The only exception is that I no longer have the sleeping bag, and I used Aqua Mira tablets instead of iodine. Since I have extensively explored the area where the castle is located, for this trip I wanted to put together a two day loop, with the availability of water along my route. A quick look at some maps showed I could do a loop of around 30 miles and find water along the way. Perfect. There were a couple sections along my route I had not hiked before, so that would add some interest
Many of us who hike in this area are hesitant to share information, especially for sites of historical value. So I have no map to share with you. If you are diligent you could probably create the same trip. There is enough information on the Web to point you to the castle. That ticks me off. A place that was protected for decades by the hiking community has been over-run by the Internet hoodlums.
Here is an interesting quote from a twit who posted information on how to find it,
“Carey’s Castle is not the sort of site that needs to be hidden from the public. It’s not an especially sensitive environmental area (not a bighorn birthing place, for example), not especially dangerous (no crashed WW2 aircraft leaking fuel, for example), and it’s not private property. The hike in is hard enough it should serve well enough to screen out the casual, beer-swilling, fire-starting idiot.”
Really? Well… I think the author might be the idiot. What about all the artifacts that used to be there? I can now confirm that most are gone, probably snagged by souvenir hunters. And what about all the trash I picked up along the popular section of this route? Oh, Mr. Author, your Internet posting helped create this carnage! Luckily most of the rest of the route I hiked had little damage, so I shall not share that either.
Now to the next idiot – I shall not publish his name, because I do not anyone to buy his book and line his pockets with money. He is the same moron who published a hike to Chuckawalla’s rock house. Oh, and he could not find that hike, this hike, or the Desert Skyline trail on his own. He asked local hikers to take him, without revealing that he was going to publish a trail guide. And those folks who were tricked by him, have publicly stated they would not have shown him these hikes had they know he was going to publish them.
If you want to hike to Carey’s, see if you can construct a loop. I find traveling over the same real estate twice (out and back) to be boring. Go do the hike for the hiking opportunities, not some check box on a bucket list.
Usual disclaimer: Be prepared for earthquakes, boulder avalanches, landslides, flash floods, freezing temperatures, triple-digit temperatures, rabid rodents and mammals, poisonous snakes, poisonous insects and spiders, predatory packs of coyotes, man-eating tarantulas, nasty large biting lizards, no marked trails, probably no water, and GPS failures from activities at nearby Twenty-nine Palms Marine base.
Include maneuvering through boulder fields in the canyons to your hike route. You cannot avoid them unless you create a route north of Carey’s Castle, and no one that I know of has posted anything like that on the Web – but that is what I did in 1981.
The bouldering above was a little more difficult than it needed to be, since I was using an external frame pack. Would have been much easier with an internal frame pack.
Carey’s Castle
There is an ammo box with a couple journals dating back to 2005 on the lower shelf. Amazing how many people said it took them 2 or 3 tries to find the place. Lots of artifacts are now missing.
I was glad I brought this pyramid tent; it shed the high winds that blew most of the night.
Hiking staff doubles as tent pole.
The tent is large. Ample space to cook inside (vent tent of course).
Left to right, top to bottom (sort of):
Traditional blue foam pad
Kelty Serac backpack with Mountaineering frame
Western Mountaineering Ultralite
Gaz Globe Trotter Stove kit
(4) Nalgene 1 quart bottles
Food with spoon on top, plastic trowel, toilet paper, Duracell Durabeam flashlight
Chouinard Pyramid Tent
Stuff sack for down jackets
First Aid Kit and Personnel Care items in Zip Lock
Chouinard Expedition Sewing Kit
Compass and Knife on top of Topo Map
Clothing Carried in Pack
Sierra Designs Wind Jacket, REI Down Jacket
Poncho, military wool glove liners, military wool watch cap, polypro underwear
Worn
Ex Officio nylon trousers with built-in brief
Ex Officio long sleeve nylon shirt
Swiss Army Watch
Tracks Hiking Staff
Danner Mountain Light boots
Liner Socks
Wool Socks
Generic hat
Bring me men to match my mountains,
Bring me men to match my plains,
Men with empires in their purpose,
And new eras in their brains.
Bring me men to match my prairies,
Men to match my inland seas,
Men whose thoughts shall pave a highway
Up to ampler destinies,
Pioneers to cleanse thought’s marshlands,
And to cleanse old error’s fen;
Bring me men to match my mountains –
Bring me men!
Right now I am in Tustin, California for a couple days. Like I do on most business trips, I went for a little hike late Thursday afternoon; actually almost evening. I had to use the Photon II micro-light on my key chain for part of the route. Tustin is in Orange County, a heavily populated area. On my way to the client’s location this morning, I noticed a hilly area without any homes. When my work was finished, I drove to this area, parked on a residential street where I saw a trail at the end of a cul-de-sac, and went for a hike. As it turns out, the area is a regional park with about 350 acres of open space and lots of trails.
Feb 28 – Mar 01 2009
Note & Warning: this trip entails a lot of cross country travel. A good map, compass, and navigation skills are required, especially when traveling between Butler and Box Canyons.
This was a 1-½ day, 1 night backpacking trip in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The loop is 20 miles. Day one would be around 15 miles, and a return to my vehicle at the trail head at around noon March 1, 2009.
Elevation ranged from 984 feet to 2,809 feet. In addition, I wanted to test several items of lightweight backpacking equipment. Of particular interest was a quilt, instead of using a traditional sleeping bag. The other was a ‘soda can’ alcohol stove.
The trip starts at the trail head taking a trail up to Alcoholic Pass. The trail ends at the pass, and the rest of the trip is cross country and washers in the canyons.
Coyote Mountain separates Clark Valley from Coyote Canyon. To the south of Coyote Canyon is the sleepy village of Borrego Springs. Alcolhlic Pass is the only easy way through Coyote Mountain. In the 1800’s cattlemen would hike through Alcoholic Pass to get to Borrego Springs to drink at the bars, and hence the name Alcoholic Pass.
The picture above is a Google Earth picture of area, and the red line represents the route I hiked. Below is another Google Earth picture of the hike, but I turned it on its axis to provide a representation of the elevation of the hike. There is no water available on the loop, except for Coyote Creek, a perennial stream in Coyote Canyon. The water in this creek is hard to get to at the junction of the Box Canyon wash, due to thick reeds and is usually rather silty. It is best to hike up Coyote Creek, where the water quality improves. To avoid the extra mileage, I carried enough water to complete the hike, which was 3 liters.
Temperatures were in the mid 80’s during the day, and my camp at 2,300 feet got down to the high 40’s.
Flowers in the lower elevations where justing beginning their spring bloom. It will another month before things really bloom in the higher elevations, and it should be a good year for flowers, as there was quite a bit of rain and snow this winter. Joe and I experienced a lot of both in Butler Canyon last December.
Starting at 8:00 am, the hike immediately begins with a route up the slope to Alcoholic Pass. It is a good way to get the blood flowing and keep warm. The trail follows a rocky ridge with a quick gain of 600 feet. The Google Earth photos below provide a perspective of the elevation gain.
‘Real’ pictures of the flora and fauna at the start of the trail provide a realistic feel of the hike. Keep in mind that Google Earth is not a live feed of the earth, but archived satellite pictures. This accounts for the differences in color. Spring in the desert is often green, unlike the Google pictures. Also the satellite pictures look straight down at the earth’s surface from space, the the visual representations of terrain are computer generated models.
Above (top to bottom) Cholla cactus, Red Barrel cactus, Ocotillo, Ocotillo bloom, Arizona Lupine.
The pass connects Coyote Canyon to Clark Valley. It is the only easy way to cross Coyote Mountain. Originally, the Cahuilla Indians who traveled from the canyon to Clark Valley to harvest beans from Mesquite trees in the valley, which was a staple food item, used this trail.
In the 1800’s ranch hands would take the trail to Borrego Springs, which was shorter than traveling south through Clark Valley and around Coyote Mountain. Obviously, their activities in Borrego Springs were reflected in the naming of this trail.
Today Alcoholic Pass is all about the views.
Above: View of Clark Valley from Alcoholic Pass (top) and a cactus garden in Alcoholic Pass (bottom).
Google Earth pictures of Alcoholic Pass.
Descending Alcoholic pass into Clark Valley the hike becomes a leisurely cross-country walk down the western slope heading northeast. Eventually I took a wash down to the floor of Clark Valley and then turned left behind a small ridge which would lead to the mouth of Butler Canyon.
Google Earth view of route to the bottom of Clark Valley Google Earth view of route to Butler canyon on the left of picture.
Some of the wild flowers on this section of the hike:
Desert Dandelion
Chuperosa
Forget-me-nots
This section provided the only challenges of the trip. First was navigating the boulder fields at the beginning of the canyon, the second was finding a relatively easy route to the playa above the canyon. Both were of little concern.
Google Earth view of Butler Canyon and the Playa.
Hiking through Butler Canyon, I needed to locate way to climb out and over the side to a plateau that separated Butler and the Box Canyon watershed. The canyon walls are steep with loose rocks and talus. Finally, a possibility was spotted. A small side canyon with a reasonable slope would bring me just north of the playa. I was able to hike diagonally across the left slope of this side canyon, and slowly work my way around a small hill, which overlooked the plateau. It would be an easy walk down the hill to the plateau and the playa.
A playa is a dry lake bed. During the rainy season, they are wet and soggy or even become a small lake. It is uncommon to find a playa in a mountainous area like this one.
Descriptions of above pictures (top to bottom):
(1) This is the side canyon that would lead out of Butler canyon. I did not travel this canyon, but immediately headed up the slope on the left. Gradually, I worked my way up and around the slope to a hill, which overlooked the completed portion of the route and the plateau.
(2) Butler Canyon. Straight below the Ocotillo is the spot where the side canyon intersects Butler. The large open area in the center of the picture is Jackass Flat.
(3) View of the plateau with Clark Valley in the background. I had already passed through that area.
(4) View the playa in the center, with the San Ysidro Mountains in the background. The hike would continue between the two small peaks beyond the playa, into the Coyote Creek watershed and the ridge I would follow which runs parallel to Box Canyon.
Above: route out of Butler Canyon to the top of the hill.
After leaving walking through the playa and entering the Coyote Canyon watershed above Box Canyon, one must stay on the ridges above the canyon, until your are close to the mouth of the canyon. There are remnants of an ancient Native American trail, but it is more work to try to find the trail, than just hiking cross-country. As the picture shows, the area is rolling and rocky. However, I made excellent time, and before 3:00PM, I had already hiked around 15 miles. I decided to head away from the ridge of Box Canyon and locate a campsite with a view. About one mile south of the canyon, I found this spot. It would provide me ample time to test a couple pieces of new gear.
I have walked for decades using a single hiking staff, which weighs close to a pound. Today trekking poles have become popular, and a couple friends convinced me to try them. Supposedly, they help climb the steepest hills, are useful on descents, and steam crossings. What interested me the most were the multiple uses for setting up a shelter and hiking. I found a pair made from carbon fiber that weighed less than 4 ounces each. I suppose the jury is still out on their usefulness in hiking, but then 40 years of hiking with a single staff is a hard habit to break.
Self-portrait with the trekking poles.
Trekking poles used as tent poles for my poncho.
Camp.
My friend John Oldford, who works at MSX, suggested I try an alcohol stove made from a cat food or cola can. John has a lot of ultralight backpacking experience, as he hiked the entire 2,600+ miles of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2003. Extremely light and they use just about any kind of alcohol, but denatured alcohol works best. This set up will boil 16 ounces of water in less than 7 minutes. A nifty windscreen, called a Caldera Cone helps the efficiency of the can stove.
Above: Stove kit in sack; Stove Kit; Titanium pot/mug, alcohol fuel
bottle, stove, cone, titanium spoon, foil; close up of my Dr. Pepper can stove; Stove is in the cone and the pot slides in; and Tin foil pot cover, to save weight.
I bought a light polycro piece of plastic to use as a groundsheet. Wanted to see how it would hold up, and it did well. Only weighs 1.7 ounce. The sleeping pad is folded into thirds, and it becomes the ‘frame’ and back rest when in my pack. I also used a light quilt for this trip, instead of a sleeping bag. The quilt is open on the bottom to save weight, and the sleeping pad provides insulation where the quilt is open. Last is the bivy to protect from any moisture that gets past the poncho, should it rain or snow. The bivy weighs 7.9 ounces.
Folded pad on the polycro sheet.
The pad is only 30” long, to fit under my torso. I put my Pack under my legs for insulation/padding.
Here the quilt is upside down, to show the construction.
Quilt in sleep mode.
Finished set-up, with the quilt and pad in the bivy.
The Rest of the Gear
These are a pair of Solomon trail running shoes, which weigh 29.4 ounces.
Total weight of pack and gear was just over 6 pounds.
Last day of trip. I headed down a side canyon into Box Canyon, which drains into Coyote Creek. From there, it was a pleasant walk along the creek, up to Ocotillo Flats and then to my truck. Finished the hike at noon, and then drove to the Salton Sea to get a well-deserved beer!
Google Earth picture of the hike down into Canyon. You can see where I zig-zagged on that flat spot. I was following an old Indian path, and the map does not show the obstacles, which needed to be circled.
Junction of the side canyon and Box Canyon. The top of the picture shows the ridgeline above the canyon.
From junction, looking down Box Canyon.
Looking back after exiting Box Canyon.
“In reviewing, in the past 12 months, what has come out of (what used to be) the most exciting part of the ultralight backpacking niche – the cottage industry – all I can do is yawn.”
– Ryan Jordan, Backpackinglight.com (BPL)
This time last year I returned from a backpacking trip. Having been gone for a couple of weeks I was surprised to see an article on BPL titled, “Stagnation of the Cottage Industry and Recent Gems,” penned by Ryan Jordan, the owner of BPL. I was not surprised by the negative response from the readers and the cottage manufacturers of lightweight backpacking gear.
One would (or should) be truly happy if they went through life without any regrets. To never feel remorse or sadness for any action they took, or not squandering any part of their life already lived — leaving only excitement for what the future will bring.