Sat, Nov 27, 2004
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Etymology White BM The Thimble Chimney Rock |
Story | Photos / Slideshow | Maps: 1 2 | Profiles: 1 2 |
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The previous night had been a full moon, so not long after the sun came up the moon
went down over the rocky hills to the west. In
the east the desert
lowlands were filled with a thick haze or thin fog (hard to tell which), leaving the
upper elevations clear for tens of miles.
The left boundary of the park is marked by a barbed wire fence making it easy enough
to stay in bounds, though it has a few jogs in it along the way.
Dogs could be heard barking in the early morning hour, and on
returning I found that private homesteads come quite close to the park boundary - one
would be ill-advised to hike outside the park for the first several miles from the road.
I hiked northeast then north, skirting Chimney Rock on the east and
then climbing the unnamed Peak 5,326ft. As advertised, I found a register atop and
promptly signed in - force of habit I suppose. It was housed in the standard red double
tin cans favored by the HPS, but why it had one at all was unclear. (Years later I came
to find this peak, known as 'White BM' is on the peak list of the Sierra Club's San Diego
Chapter.)
The Thimble stood out prominently to the northwest,
with
San Ysidro somewhat higher behind it. It was 7a and I was about halfway now, and it
seemed it would be a shorter outing than I expected. It began to occur to me that I would
probably have plenty of time for another peak after this one. I dropped off the northwest
side of the peak heading more or less directly for The Thimble.
I crossed into private property, cutting a corner on a direct route to The Thimble. On
the way across a flat section I came across an abandoned open-air commode. It was empty
(yes, I checked - curiosity got the best of me), and I could see no reason why one
would have such a thing out here - a desert mystery. Onward to The Thimble. One
trip report had mentioned a climb of this class 3 peak, and described some difficulty in
finding a route up. It didn't look so difficult from the southeast, and as I got closer
it looked easier still. Most of the southeast side is class 2, though I did find some
class 3 as I neared the summit - an easy climb though. I saw nothing of the mentioned
25-foot 3rd class chimney, and there seemed to be a half dozen ways to the summit on this
side alone. It was 7:40a when I reached the top and found another tin can register. Again
I signed in. I would get lots of writing practice today. I started my descent to the
north, in the direction of
San Ysidro. I expected some difficulty from the trip report,
and was not surprised when I ran into some cliffs on that side. I worked my way across
crappy slabs and then down a chimney on the northwest side. There looked to be other
ways up on the west and southwest sides, and later I could see a way up the northeast
side.
Some of the trip archives report bushwhacking on San Ysidro's south side, but there was
very little of that today. The whole area had been burned in the past several years, and
while it was making a fine recovery, it made for pretty easy cross-country travel. I
reached the summit of San Ysidro via the indistinct SE Ridge just after 8a. It was
fairly windy and chilly by now, particularly on the southwest sides from which direction
the wind was blowing. So I was in a bit of hurry to locate the highpoint. There are
three short rock towers at the summit, each no more than 10 feet high. Atop each of
them was a USGS marker, two of them furnished with arrows pointing to the proper one
used for triangulation of the surrounding region. The views off to the
east,
south, and
west were sweeping, as expected. Those to the
north
were not. There was another point
some hundred yards or more off that looked to be higher than the marked summit. Later,
a closer inspection of the topo revealed a larger contour at that second point, so it
seems likely it is higher, though it has a poorer line of sight than the marked
summit. After signing the summit register (this one in an ammo box), I headed north to
the other point along the ridge. If this was a county highpointing trip then it would
seem getting to the true highpoint was somewhat important. This wasn't such a trip, but
I had this need to wander over there all the same. Reaching the other point, and using
the horizon as an elevation guide (I could see the horizon above the marked summit), I
surmised that I was now standing on the highpoint of San Ysidro Mountain. Whoopity-doo.
I thought about hiking the ridge further, all the way down to Borrego Springs. It
would make a fine, long dayhike with some definite risk - all pluses. But I would also
then have to depend on hitchhiking my way back up the 12 miles of road to my car, and
this had less appeal on such a lonely stretch of highway. I decided instead to head
back and find another peak to climb. I headed down the southeast side of San Ysidro,
retraced part of my route back to The Thimble, down over the east side of the saddle
just north of The Thimble, and then south. I skirted Peak 5,326ft on the west this time,
crossing into more private property somewhat unintentionally. The HPS directions
tell one to cross over the unnamed peak as I had done on the way north, and now I
could see why. Though no real cliffs, the west side of the peak is fairly steep and
traversing the slope was pretty slow with a bit
more bushwhacking than other routes.
I was also looking down a bit too closely on
some of the
homesteaders in the area, typically a trailer or two in a clearing with
a pickup truck parked nearby and a dog barking from behind a fence.
I climbed up Chimney Rock on the way back for no other reason that it was a named point
on the map. It had no memorable features that I could recall. By 10:15a I was back at
the car and soon after I had my guidebook (Jerry Schad's Afoot and Afield in
San Diego County) out looking at other peaks in the area. Some
that came to mind were Volcan Peak and then possibly Woodson and Iron Mtn on my return
through Poway. Others were Whale and Granite Mtn, though those seemed to require
travel on dirt roads (I was in my mother-in-law's new Toyota, so I was somewhat concerned
about any driving off-pavement). I headed back west on S-22, then south on S-2. When I
got to SR78 and headed west towards Julian and Volcan Peak, I became aware of a cloud
front just breaching the top of the Volcan Mtns. The weather report had said there was
a 30% chance of rain, and it seemed I was looking at it. The thought of summiting a peak
with nary a view on the whole route was decidedly unappealing. I turned the car around,
drove back to the junction of S-22, and headed south. Granite Mtn it would be. At
least for the time being the entire mountain was cloud free, and I was hoping that the
rain shadowing effect of the Sierra crest to the west could keep the clouds at bay for
the balance of the afternoon.
I drove to mile 21.5 to the dirt road turnoff (actually I drove past it before even
noticing it), then drove west for a little over a mile to the end of the road. Signs
at the turnoff indicated high clearance and 4x4 recommended, but I had no trouble at
all negotiating the Corolla down the road - only a few rocks that were easily avoided
and no ruts. It was 11:10a when I started out, heading west up the dry creekbed. Though
no maintained trail exists, the route up the creekbed was well used and a fine use trail
could be followed. The lower part of the canyon is a narrow, twisty gorge, the creekbed
lined with sand and desert scrub. Every so often there were short waterfall sections
from five to fifteen feet high, all easily negotiated at class 2. The bedrock at these
places was metamorphic in nature, a curious blend of white and black shades twisted
together through eons of intense pressures. Schad provides instructions about
following a south branch, then a right branch where the creek forks into three. At the
first branch I followed the south branch briefly before deciding there was no trail and
likely no good route off that way. Turning back, I followed the north branch up along
the continuing good use trail to another branch. Again I turned south against my better
judgement (and the ducks directing me to go right) and started following it until it
too petered out. I gave up. The canyon was reminding me of the old computer game
called "adventure" with "twisty, turning passages that all look the same". I decided
that the guidebook left something to be desired on this one. Rather than hike back
down to the junction, I climbed the steep hillside out of the creek channel and onto
the ridge above. I figured one ridge ought to be as good as another in this area - there
weren't any real cliffs and the hillsides all seemed to have the same steep, but
climbable grades to them.
It was a good gamble. Though I wasn't on the recommended ridge (I was on the next one
south), it was easy class 1-2 hiking up. I was a bit confused at first as to which way
the summit lay (I had no map since I hadn't planned on hiking here originally). There
looked to be highpoints to both the left and right of the ridge to the west in front
of me. As I climbed higher, it became more apparent that the right side was higher, and
as I reached the ridgeline at noon I found that the summit was hidden behind the rise to
the right and was a good deal higher. I thought I might get up to the top even quicker
than San Ysidro, but that was not to be the case. The summit was deceptively far away
still. To the southwest I could see the
clouds piling up on the Laguna Mtns. To the
northwest they were piling up and over the
Volcans. Wisps began to run across the top of Granite Mtn, and I was unsure I would
make it to the top before I was immersed in the clouds.
There was nothing tricky in route-finding or climbing, just a long trek up
the hillside
to the rounded summit - what was beginning to feel like the standard HPS peak climb.
The clouds came whipping by more frequently and faster too as the wind picked up in
earnest. There was a definite change in the weather as the air grew colder, not so much
from the increasing altitude as the oncoming cold front. By the time I reached the
summit at 1:15p I had my jacket on and was mighty cold. As I feared, the clouds obscured
all views except for a bit of a hole down to
the east via the route I'd taken up. I
grabbed the summit register and ducked down on the leeward side of the summit rocks to
sign in. I stayed atop only long enough to add my signature, then took off back down. I
was a bit concerned that the clouds might make navigating the return trickier. I had a
compass with me, but preferred not to get too caught up in the clouds. I was lucky in
that I got down below the clouds relatively quickly and had no trouble on
the descent.
I even found a long series of widely spaced ducks that led me down the correct ridge. It
was a little easier than my ascent route, but not by much - I noted that the far northern
ridge might be another possible route and perhaps more interesting since the northern
escarpment off that ridge was more dramatic. I got only a few drops of rain the whole
afternoon, so I was at least spared that discomfort even if the views were lacking. I
got back to the car at 3p and drove on back to San Diego.
It didn't start raining until later that night, then it came down in earnest. While I was taking a shower I discovered a tick had lodged himself in my leg just below the knee - apparently I picked up a friend out there in the desert somewhere. I had been wearing long pants so he must have crawled up from my shoes a good distance before finding a succulent place to dig himself in. Removing him was a bit of a terror for the both of us, since once discovered I found the thing rather repulsive. The water and soap in the shower made it all a bit slippery and I had a tough time getting ahold of him with my fingers and tearing him out. Unlike the last time I got one of the buggers, his head came out attached to the body and I quickly discarded him down the drain. My leg had a little painful reminder for several days of a fun time out in Anza-Borrego.
For more information see these SummitPost pages: White BM - The Thimble - Granite Mountain
This page last updated: Fri Dec 5 17:26:14 2008
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