Mount Irvine
Elevation Profile Route
Mount Tom
Elevation Profile Route
Moonwalk Peak
Elevation Profile Route
Mount Tyndall
Elevation Profile Route
Olancha Peak Day Hike
Wes and I did our first big Sierra hike of the season on Olancha Peak a few weeks ago. Last year, I attempted this with my friend Ken but ran out of daylight. We started from the wrong trailhead and didn’t have the energy or the time to make the final 1800-foot scramble to the […]
Granite Mountains High Point
Drive to Blythe, make a left, and drive down a cruddy dirt road for an hour. You will find yourself at the base of Granite Mountains High Point – in the middle of nowhere. This long, cruddy dirt road turned a 3-hour drive into a 4-hour drive, giving us a late start. From the trailhead, […]
Jacumba Mountain
As the desert hiking season drew to a close, I wanted to get in a few more big ones while I could. In another few weeks, temps will start to reach into the 80s and 90s, and snakes are a real danger. Jacumba Mountain, nestled deep within the vast expanse of the Anza-Borrego Desert, seemed […]
Villager Peak
I wanted to keep the momentum going for the winter climbing season, and I was enjoying the Anza Borrego desert, so I put Villager Peak next on the list. At 5,000 feet of elevation gain, it’s a solid hike. Wes and I almost canceled because of rain in the forecast, but it looked doable if […]
Indianhead, Anza Borrego
From the trip reports I read, Indianhead looked like a sufferfest, so I decided to tackle this one well into the season when my fitness was high. I talked Manny and Wes into coming with me, and we were all excited about the challenge. The hike starts out on an easy trail into Palm Canyon, […]
New York Mountains High Point
Located in the heart of the Mojave Desert, what stands out about this peak is its summit castle that requires some exposed class 3 scrambling. Like many desert peaks, the trailhead is barren, burned, and ugly. The trail follows an old road no longer passable by car and leads to an abandoned Copper Mine. The […]