Finally, a sunny day. That seems such an odd thing to be saying in the desert, but it's been a busy February this year, weather-wise. Today would still be cold due to 10-15mph winds, but a welcome change from the overcast skies and rain. We were camped in Pinyon Wash in Mescal Bajada, just south of SR78 in Anza-Borrego SP. Patrick wanted to dry his gear out as the sun came up, so three of us set off an easy hour-long effort to Perpendicular Bluff before the bigger efforts later.
Perpendicular Bluff
This is a delisted peak from the San Diego Sierra Club's list found on the north side of SR78, at the far eastern end of Yaqui Ridge. It doesn't have much prominence, but still requires a 650-foot climb from the highway. It was about a mile and a quarter from where we camped, so we simply started from there. Just after crossing the highway one first crosses dry
San Felipe Creek, interesting just after the rains as it was
evident there had been significant water flowing in it recently, all the
old animal and boot prints having been washed away. We then ascended
green slopes, saturated with water to make for soft footing. A large
barrel cactus had just 
fallen down in the past few days, its roots no
longer able to hold the weight of the bloated cactus in the soft ground.
We found our way to 
the summit by 7:45a where we found nice views
overlooking 
Borrego Valley to the north. There was snow on all the
surrounding hills down to 4,000ft - the Santa Rosas to the north, Sunrise
to the southeast, Whale and Granite to 
the south, Pinyon Ridge to the
west, a scene unlike any we'd seen in Anza Borrego before. Along with
the benchmark, there was 
a register left by Mark Adrian back
in 1995. As I was photographing its many pages, I noticed
my own entry from 2011. I
had thought I had climbed this summit before, but my GPSr was
telling me otherwise. It was not until I saw my signature that it dawned
on me that the algorithm I had used to create the peak list on my GPSr
had a error. And then it dawned on me that two of the summits I climbed
two days earlier were also second visits, unbeknownst to me at the time.
God, I was feeling old and feeble at this moment. After the wind drove us
from the summit, we descended by a slight variation, the three of us
taking 
different routes before reconvening back in
San Felipe Wash. By the time we 
returned to Patrick,
he was all smiles, having successfully
dried out all his gear and deploying his solar array to charge his
lithium battery to 80% capacity.
Lizard Peak
Leaving most of our cars in Pinyon Wash, we piled into Patrick's Grand Cherokee and headed to Stag Cove, a few miles west along SR78. Our goal was the most prominent point in the North Pinyon Mtns which we would come to find is called Lizard Peak in the register. We parked at the southern end of the Stag Cove camping area where signs bar further driving, and headed up the ridge
on our right. The peak has a great deal
of rock 
jumbled about with cholla and other sharp spiney things that
made this route a real chore, one none of us really relished. The
NE Ridge
went on much longer than we expected or wanted. Whining aside, it was
about an hour before we 
topped out (not all that long). For our
troubles we were rewarded with a nifty little class 3 
summit block,
climbable from two sides. We grabbed a register we found at the top and
ducked off the leeward side of the peak to get out of the cold wind. It
had been left 
in 1997 and had many pages of entries. It appears to have
been added to terracache.com which would explain some otherwise random
visitors from states on the other side of the country. Not wanting to
return the same way, we chose a steeper route 
down a gully on the east
side in order to take advantage of the 
sandy wash system below. This
worked out to be a far more pleasant route, and we found footprints
enroute that seemed to suggest others had discovered this before us.
Yaqui Peak/Yaqui Pass Peak
We next drove up to Yaqui Pass where we parked at a small turnout as our
starting point for unofficially named Yaqui Peak, about 2mi to the
west. Worried that the rock looked as troublesome as Lizard Peak, I had wanted
to climb it from the south, a shorter distance but another 400ft of gain
that could take advantage of some sandy wash/gullies. Karl had favored
the 
East Ridge from Yaqui Pass which is the route we went with and it
turned out to be pretty enjoyable. After an initial steep climb to gain
the main ridge, it became a pleasant albeit cold walk
along the ridgeline
that had less rock and cactus, though still plenty enough to keep us on
our guard. It's a somewhat longish ridgeline, taking us about an hour and
a quarter to reach 
the summit.
There is a good drop continuing west before
the ridge rises higher to Wilson BM, an SDC summit that was sporting a
non-trivial amount of snow. There is a nice view of Borrego Valley and
the spread-out community of Borrego Springs below to 
the north. The
register was a busy one, dating 
to 1997.
We couldn't find a peak anywhere
in the park without a register, it seems. We sat on the least
windy side for a short while until the cold drove us back down the ridge.
We split up on the way back, Patrick jogging part of the way back to beat the
rest of us handily, Matt lagging behind to do some videography as is his
wont, Karl and I trying slightly different descent routes. As I was crossing
the highway near the end, I got the idea to stealthily visit Yaqui Pass Peak,
what I thought would be a quick stop on the other side of the highway, just
above where we'd parked. The summit turned out to be a bit further and it
was anything but stealthy. When Karl returned and asked Patrick where I was,
Patrick pointed up the hill where he'd seen me go off. Karl then headed off
after me, also tagging this PB-only summit. It had no register and little
prominence, with two points of nearly equal height (we visited both).
Yaqui Ridge
After we'd all
returned
to Patrick's jeep, I suggested we could easily do one
more, even though it was nearly 3:30p. Yaqui Ridge is the highest point of
the ridge on the east side of the highway, not far from Yaqui Pass. We drove to
a more convenient starting point less than 1/3mi from the summit, and made
short work of 
the steep climb, taking less than 10min. Mark Adrian had
left 
a register
only a year earlier, with another four parties signing in since
then. Finishing up around 4p, we decided to reward ourselves with dinner in
town. We first drove back to our other vehicles at Pinyon Wash, showered, and
repositioned them at Stag Cove where we'd spend the night. We then drove into
town for dinner at Keslings Kitchen, a nice pub with a decent bar menu. And
of course there was more fun on the menu for tomorrow...
Matt's Video
Continued...