I had a big day planned in the Mescal Bajada area of Anza-Borrego SP, tagging five summits in two loops. We would manage only three of these, partly because we had an injury enroute to the first summit, partly because seven people is a few too many to move quickly, and mostly because it was overly ambitious - I have doubts as to whether I could have even managed it on my own. We'd spent the night camped at Stag Cove, a primitive campsite on the western edge of Mescal Bajada, piling into the three jeeps in the morning for the drive up sandy Pinyon Wash, only a few miles away.
Bighorn Canyon Peak/Nolina Peak
It was after 7:30a by the time we'd driven the Pinyon/Nolina Wash system to its southern end. We
parked where large boulders blocked further access up
the Nolina Wash
and started from there. Unofficially named Bighorn Canyon Peak is the most
prominent summit in the Pinyon Mountains with more than 700ft of prominence,
and our first stop. We hiked up the wash only a short distance before turning
right to start up one of the 
subsidiary ridgelines
rising to Bighorn Canyon's
NE Ridge. Matt and Patrick had turned off almost from the start, taking the next
subsidiary ridgeline to the north that proved a bit longer but still workable.
As usual, the group began to spread out as we climbed higher. Myself and Bill
were out in front, with Tom, Iris and Karl below us on the ascent. Upon reaching
the NE Ridge, we came to find that 
our summit
was still almost half a mile way,
much further than it had first appeared. While Bill and I were making tracks
across the rocky and agave-filled terrain, Tom was just about to reach the NE
Ridge when a large rock he was scrambling over gave way, resulting in an
uncontrolled tumble with the rock coming to rest on his head and shoulder
blades. Iris watched the accident unfold with alarm just in front of her. Tom
was desperately
calling for her to remove the rock that was pinning him down in a most
awkward position. With some effort, she managed to dislodge it, noting the
beating Tom had taken from the fall. He had cuts and scrapes to his scalp, legs
arms, and torso. She called loudly up the hill to Bill and I but we were out of
hearing by this time. Karl was the only other member of our party nearby.
Nurse Iris went about cleaning and patching Tom up with her first aid kit.
Battered, but no so badly as to lose his sense of humor, Tom commented, "You
know, Bob would want you to take pictures."
Meanwhile, Bill and I had arrived at 
the summit, wondering what had
become of the others. We found a register left by Mark Adrian and the Monday
Maniacs 
in 2017, dubbing the peak, "Bighorn Canyon Peak". Bighorn Canyon
borders the summit
on the west side, much like Nolina Wash does to the east. After some time, Matt
arrived and then I got a text with no words, just four pictures of the various
injuries Tom had sustained. From this I surmised that Tom had taken a fall which
I guessed couldn't be too serious. A few minutes later I got a Snapchat
video from Iris, saying calmly but briefly, "If you get this, you should come
back." Bill and I immediately packed up and started off, Patrick just arriving
from another direction. We left it to Matt to explain to him
what had happened. Bill
took off at such speed as to lead me to believe he was just toying with me
during the ascent earlier. We found Iris at the junction of the NE Ridge, a
few hundred feet above where Tom and Karl where waiting. After a brief exchange
with Iris to assess that it wasn't too serious, we suggested she and Karl should
go to the summit while Bill and I help Tom back down. Karl wouldn't leave Tom
until Bill had arrived, but was soon convinced to join Iris. Tom almost seemed
interested in continuing as well, but he was hurting enough that it didn't seem
the wisest choice - better to see how it goes descending back down before
planning the rest of the day. Nurse Patrick arrived a few minutes later with an
even more elaborate first aid kit, but it appears Iris had done most of the
patching up already. Patrick produced a can of Pringles as "medicine" which
Tom 
promptly devoured. Bill had a large bag a salty, white chedder corn
puffs, more medicine that was passed around - can never have too much medicine,
it was proclaimed. After more discussion and 
photo taking, we
started back down, going
slowly to accommodate Tom's injuries. The original plan had been to head more
directly to Nolina Peak, but prudence suggested we go back to the cars and
assess Tom's condition.
It was 10:30a by the time we'd returned to 
Nolina Wash and
the jeeps. We spent about 45min taking more medicine disguised as
lunch, 
patching Tom up a little
better and working out a plan for the afternoon. Tom decided he was well enough
to continue hiking while Patrick decided to take a break so he could monitor
his solar farm for maximum efficiency. Six of us headed south up Nolina Wash
once more, this time heading for unofficially named Nolina Peak. We hiked about
3/4mi up the wash before turning left onto Nolina's NW Ridge. Matt and Karl
continued up the wash for more than a mile, choosing an alternate route up from
the southwest side. 
The NW Ridge
proved to be a fairly 
enjoyable climb, not too
steep and much less agave and other nasties to watch out for. It would take us
until 12:30p to reach 
Nolina's summit where we found a
smattering of snow,
much like on Bighorn Canyon, left over from a brief storm a few days earlier.
To the southeast, the higher Whale Peak had significantly more snow and we were
quite happy our summit wasn't of equal stature.
The register came in three parts - an older, two-sided sheet dating
to 2007, a small pad of 
Post-It notes, and a third register
left by Mark Adrian 
in 2017,
the same day he'd left the one on Bighorn Canyon. After the usual
rest aloft,
we started back down. I had been intriqued by Karl's glowing report of their
ascent route and went off the west side to explore the upper reaches of Nolina
Wash myself. The others all went back via our ascent route which we'd agreed had
been a good one. The west side goes steeply down to the wash, but no more than
class 2 with some care. 
The wash itself was a fun bit of easy class 3
rock scrambling mixed with class 1 walking in the 
sandy, flat portions.
After some time in
the wash, I neared the end and spotted the others high on the hillside making
their way down. I took up a postion atop a boulder on the opposite side of the
wash to watch them 
come down in turn. There was a moment of hilarity
when Iris returned to the wash and found a tick on her jacket. She screamed and
ran from it like a scared rabbit, which prompted the rest of us to
start taunting her about it for the rest of the day. When we 
got back
to the cars around 2:20p, we found Patrick relaxing in a beach chair, all smiles
from a successful solar charging session.
Peak 2,997ft
We wouldn't have time for the other loop hike I'd envisioned, so I suggested we could still have time for an abbreviated version by visiting the easiest of the three. Even Patrick was game for this one, so we were back to a group of seven. We drove back out to
the junction
with Pinyon Wash, then drove southeast up that wash 
nearly to its end,
about 0.9mi due west of Peak 2,997ft. It would take us about 45min to make our
way to 
the summit, climbing some 800ft along
the way. Mark Adrian had not left a register here on his visit 
in 2016,
but there was one from 2018 by Larry Edmonds, with three other parties visiting
since, all familiar names from the usual suspects. We spent more than 20min
at the summit, enjoying halloween candy from Iris and other snacks
before 
starting back down.
It would be after 4:30p by the time 
we returned. Though we still had
nearly an hour of sunlight remaining, it was a good time to call it quits while
our shower water was still warm. We returned back to Stag Cove where we
showered and enjoyed a BBQ/campfire courtesy of Matt and his baby Weber. There
was far more meat consumed in one night than I normally would have had in a
week, and I went to bed that night with my stomach feeling more full than it
had been in a very long time...
Matt's Video
Continued...