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After dropping my wife off at the San Diego airport in the early morning, I
headed east on Interstate 8 to the Laguna Mtns on the western edge of
Anza-Borrego State Park. I planned to spend three days in the area visiting
summits along the Pacific Divide, a long-term
project of mine. It was a bit too warm in the lower reaches of the park for
comfortable hiking, but around the 5-6,000-foot level, it was quite pleasant.
Most of the In-Ko-Pah Mtns are found on the east side of McCain Valley. It
would have been better had the mapmakers left it to these lower elevations, as
it is primarily a desert range. For whatever reason, they included other
mountains on the west side of the valley that would have been better as part of
the Laguna Mtns, whose elevation, composition and flora they more closely
resemble. The highpoint of the In-Ko-Pah Mtns are found in this western section
on BLM land, sandwiched between indian lands to the north and south. I've been
wanting to do this one for more than a decade as it's a CA range highpoint, but
so far had not found the opportunity to do so. There is an all-public route from
National Forest lands to the west, and it was this route I used, described in
some detail by Michael Sullivan in his PB report. From Interstate 8, the La
Posta Truck Trail climbs into the National Forest heading northeast for 6-7mi
to Thing Valley where a private ranch inholding is found. Any vehicle can
navigate this well-graded road. A gate blocks access into Thing Valley. About
a quarter mile before this gate, where the road goes over a saddle, there is
gated utility road forking east. This is the
starting point. The goal
is to follow and eastern boundaries of
to reach an old trail/road on the hillside east of
the property. Hunters use this route semi-regularly, leaving a decent use trail
through most of it. In his report, Michael mentions going "out of bounds" which
I take to mean encrouching on the private property. I think this is not true.
Some of the fencing is outside the property boundary, used to keep cattle in
their intended areas, rather than to keep people out.
Starting from the utility road at 9:25a, I spent the first 30min on a leisurely
stroll around , passing through an unsigned
on the south side of the property, around the end of another
fence near the SE corner, and over in the dry creekbed
on the east side. I think it would be fair at this point to continue north along
the creekbed to pick up an old road that connects with the hiking trail, adding
an extra half mile each way, but removing any need to bushwhack at this point.
Not knowing this at the time, I did what Michael did on his return by ascending
a grassy gully found shortly after the last fence, heading northeast. The grass
give way to about 100yds short of the trail. It's an ugly
stretch, but I got through without much damage to skin or clothing. It took but
10min in the brush before I popped out overlooking Thing
Valley to . The then climbs to
and down into an adjacent drainage. After 30min on this, I
reached a junction and onto a more overgrown spur road.
This heads for about 25min to
on the west side of Pt. 5,664ft. Here the road becomes a very overgrown
that for another 20min or so, until due
west of the highpoint. I left the trail here where is
not nearly as bad as it initially looks. Michael describes some of this as
"stiff nasty brush" that
"bruised and cut up my legs even with pants on", but I didn't think
it was that bad at all. Still, it took about 40min once I left the trail to
cover about , fairly slow going. If I learned anything from
years
in the Ventana chapparal, the brush dictates the pace for you. If you try to
go faster, it is usually to your own detriment. Near the highpoint, I did what
Michael had done, following from one to the next. It not
only made for less brush, but it added some scrambling challenges for variety.
I reached just after noon, 2.5hrs after starting out.
During a short break taking in , I left on
the highest rock outcrop, then carefully back the way I'd
come. It was only marginally faster in the reverse direction, taking another two
and a quarter hours. I made two deviations from my ascent route, but neither
proved valuable. I tried a different line from the
trail to the grassy gully, and then another option when traveling around the
south side of the ranch. This second part proved obviously worse - better to
stick closer to the fenceline on that side. Upon , it wasn't
yet 2:30p, leaving me time for more adventuring.
Cleveland National Forest HP
I spent almost 45min driving back down to Interstate 8, then west to the Sunrise
Hwy, taking that scenic road up into the Laguna Mtns. The highpoint of the
Cleveland NF is on a minor bump of little prominence near the ex-HPS summit of
Cuyapaipe Mtn (which lies to the east on Indian lands). A dirt road (Thing
Valley Rd on the topo map - it connects to La Posta Rd but goes through the
ranch property not open to the public) goes south, paralleling the PCT. I drove
to a point west of the highpoint. There is a turnout on the west side just
before the PCT crosses the road from the east to west side. I parked here and
started north . The route isn't very long, less than half a
mile. I used a Garret Stoops GPX track from PB that was helpful. Upon leaving
the PCT, the cross-country , but eventually reaches the
forest edge where the slope steepens some and the chapparal takes over.
can be found to mark an old use trail that can help significantly
in finding your way through the brush. With care and a slow pace, there should
be very little heavy brush to wade through. It took me less than 20min to find
my way to the rock outcrop serving as . A red can held
three small register pads, one left by Terry Flood , a second by
Richard Carey , and a third by Mark Adrian .
There are some views offered from the summit, to Cuyapaipe
and to Peak 6,260ft. It was to this unnamed, but more
impressive summit that I would next turn my attention after returning to the
Jeep.
Peak 6,260ft
It was 4p when I returned to the Jeep, leading me to believe I had plenty of
time for a last summit. Peak 6,260ft is a P400 lying on the eastern edge of the
Laguna Mtns and the NF, overlooking desert BLM and state lands to the east. I
had been on most of the route back in 2018 to visit the nearby Sawtooth Mtns
Wilderness HP. Without bothering to save a track or reread the TR, I brashly
assumed I still retained all the information needed to reach Peak 6,260ft. My
overconfidence would be my undoing and I would be rewarded with impending
failure. I at the Desert View Picnic Site I had used previously,
and made my way south to a water fountain at the
NF/Indian reservation boundary. I passed through the
and made my way southeast along
. Soon after this I made my major blunder by turning
onto the remnants of another firebreak . I followed this
for about 15min until it turned downhill and disappeared. Realizing my mistake,
I chose to rather than backtrack since I knew the trail to
be a short distance on the other side of the brush-filled gully I was descending
towards. Big mistake. I thrashed through some of the thickest brush the area
has to offer, taking far too much time and expending far too much energy before
actually reaching the old trail. I spent another 20min or so following along
the correct route, finding it progressively harder to follow, my pace getting
progressively slower. It had been quite windy most of the day but it had picked
up considerably on this last hike, so much so that I was blown over several
times while trying to work my way through the brush. I still had more than
, it was after 5p, and I realized I would probably be
returning in the dark. My pants were already partially shredded and I had to
acknowledge I'd messed this one up. Better to return now and try again the next
day. I via the correct route, and visited
as consolation since it was only a short
distance off the route. It was 6:15p when I got back to the Jeep. It was far
too windy and cold (about 48F now) to take an outdoor shower. I was happy to
find that I could use the bathroom at the picnic site, featuring a drain in the
concrete floor. Still cold, but at least no wind. Later, I found a quiet place
to camp off the Sunrise Hwy where I could spend the night with cell coverage,
even...
Continued...