Nobody

At this point were a go! (my wife, 2yo daughter and I) what are the nighttime temps this time of year?? 50's?

monkeynuts

got you down on the headcount, mark. glad to see the numbers are still climbing.

as far as the weather goes... the weather channel's site says that the annula average for those dates has a avg high of about 80, and an avg low of about 58. not a bad time of the year to be out there.

sschaefer3

We will arrive around noon on Friday and leave in the afternoon on Sunday. Any runs planned yet? I would imagine that Saturday will be the "big" day.

rimpainter.com

So are we just meeting at the above mentioned camp ground? Are we all camping in the same area?

C'mon Scott, let's get with it! You are the official coordinator right?

monkeynuts

i am hoping to get there thurs afternoon or evening and gab a good spot to camp. as far as runs go...

one trail i have heard a lot about and seen a lot of photos from is south coyote canyon. it is supposed to be a good trail, some rocks, water, sand...i have been thinking about the exact same thing for a while now, and i may have a good idea for sat. it involves a few trails that all start very close to where the others prior finishes, and covers quite a bit of the desert out there.

i'm gona put together some maps from my gps now, i'll post them in a short while.

Tacoma Dude

Any 2WDs going???

rimpainter.com

You better be coming Peter!

Tacoma Dude

Or else a pummeling from your thick massive arms?
Or do you plan on kicking my butt with your thick tree-trunk like legs?



I got to see how everything goes here at work. That and it'd be an awful waste for you guys to babysit me if I was the only 2WD to show up.

rimpainter.com

I will put you in my roof rack, how about that?

Tacoma Dude

COOL!!!
I'll bring a lazy-boy and some ratchet tie-down straps
WOOHOO!

monkeynuts

ok, here is an idea for some a good part of saturday. this would take up a majority of the day. anyone familiar with the area feel free to chime in with your thoughts.

fri or sun might be a good day to try and tackle heart attack hill and the squeeze, for those who want to. there are also all sorts of other places to go out there

the general map of the trails:


on this map you can see the area where we will be camping at. to get to some of the trails on the north end, we can cut either take the highways around (boring) or we can take the arroyo salado trail which starts where we camp and cuts across the desert up to the s22.

(1) arroyo salado trail (apx. 14 miles, <2.5 hours)
http://members.cox.net/bigfatmonkeyn...ages/map_2.jpg
this trail cuts from camp, up to the truck haven trail, which leads to the S22

(2) truck haven trail
http://members.cox.net/bigfatmonkeyn...ages/map_3.jpg
from where the arroyo salado trail ends, you can go east or west on the truck haven trail. i have been west, and it is pretty flat, but going east is supposed to be a little more fun. going east on this trail also leads right to the calcite mine trail.

(3) calcite mine trail (2 miles, 45 minutes one way)
http://members.cox.net/bigfatmonkeyn...ages/map_4.jpg
this trail starts across the street from where the truck haven trail ends. it cuts along the side of the mtn and is supposed to be challenging. (i have never been on this trail)

(4) fonts's point wash (4 miles, 20 minutes one way)
http://members.cox.net/bigfatmonkeyn...ages/map_5.jpg
this is a sandy wash (sand can be pretty soft and deep sometimes), only takes about 20 minutes, but the view at the end is worth it. it overlooks the borrego badlands and would be a nice break on the way to coyote canyon.
photo of borrego badlands

(5) south coyote canyon (13.2 miles, 2.5 hours one way)
http://members.cox.net/bigfatmonkeyn...ages/map_6.jpg
this trail is supposed to be pretty difficult. this is the one that i have been wanting to get to, but i haven't yet.
some photos of coyote canyon
more pics of coyote cnyn


-scottmore coyote canyon

Nobody

Coyote Canyon looks to be alot of fun!!
Dont know if there is any new info in this
writeup...at least a bunch of good pics..
http://67.122.16.97/lars/4runner/tri...NZA%20BORREGO/

Seems Lars has had a lot of fun there....

Lookin forward to the runs!

monkeynuts

i've seen that page on lars' site too. coyote canyon is supposed to be one of the better trails out there from what i have heard. lots of different types of terrain. whenever i search the internet for anza borrego photos, i always end up finding this place.

in regards to my last post with all of the maps and junk, we can always start from the opposite dirrection, also. we can head west on the 78 from ocotillo, head up to borrego springs where coyote canyon is, then hit all those other trails after that.
what does everyone think?

rimpainter.com

Don't make me use my sliderz!

We're in man! We'll be there Friday evening. I like my steak well done. j/k

Sounds like a lot of fun!

RobT2k

I think we're going to have to "prerun" the area and find the best trails and routes. Plus it's a good excuse to get out there and 4x4. Hopefully Marc, Mike, and some other people can "help" too.

Aurora Sandman

It sounds like you have a good plan. The Calcite Mine is usually pretty cool (it changes from season to season). Very interesting terrain.

Suggestions (for what it's worth):

You might want to consider taking Truckhaven to get over to Font's point from the Calcite Mine, right by the Palm Oasis. The scenery is pretty cool, like being on the moon. (Now it may be that your plan is to go through this sme area on the way to the Calcite Mine. I couldn't tell.) If you go that route, you'll come onto Font's Point via (I think) Short Wash. Look at a map, and you'll probably find an obvious route. (If you need assistance, PM me.)

To head out toward Borrego Springs, there's a very cool trail that comes at the end of the wash just west of Font's Point and ends at the Borrego dump. On the way, you'll go through a narrow wash with sand dunes on each side which are a lot of fun to drive up and down. The dump is just off of S22, so you'll come out close to town.

To get over to the Calcite Mine in the morning, you might want to consider an alternate route on the south end of the park where they have actual bubbling mud pots. There's also a lot of fun hills to drive up and down in a free-for-all area over there. From there, the road to the Calcite mine is straight because it's a telephone pole access road (i.e. you can make good time on it).

Coyote Canyon is pretty tame. Probably a 5 or 6 on the Colorado scale. The attraction is that it's one of the few places in the park with rocks. But even so, it only has one hill with rocks.

You probalby won't have the time, but the hill at The Slot is pretty cool. Huge moguls and covered with beach sand. Quite the challenge to get up. (I couldn't last time I was there.) And there's a fun, mellow sandstone rock-crawling obstacle at the base of it. It's farily close to your base camp.

The problem is, AB is so large, it takes a long time to see it. Doing a pre-run might be a very good idea. You might be able to check out some of these alternate routes I've suggested.

If you have any questions, or are interested in discussing it, by all means feel free to PM me. Leave a phone number and I'll call you this weekend (or I'll give you mine). I practically grew up in AB, so I've been most everywhere.

BOY I WISH I COULD JOIN YOU!

MNBOY

Looks like I'm 99% sure on this one. I have to be in Moab the week after, and back in Joshua tree the week after that, so I'll hope for a drop in gas prices between now and then. I'll try to post from somewhere along the way if I can't make it.

monkeynuts

mike,

i assume you are talking about the gas domes in ocotillo wells svra. i have wanted to see those. i have taken Pole Line Road for a majority of that distance, so that wouldn't be a bad idea to get to the calcite mine trail. this would definitely be an all-day run. there is gas in borrego springs, where the coyote canyon trail starts.

-scott

rimpainter.com

Scott-

So what does the roll call look like now?

-Christian

Aurora Sandman

Yeah. It's really strange. There's two mud pools with gray mud, of all things. (All the surrounding ground is light brown.)
Yeah. It's hard not to have all day runs around there! I may be suggesting more than can be accomplished in a day.