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 […]
San Ysidro Mountain
While descending Indianhead last week, I remember looking at the long, steep ridge leading up to San Ysidro Mountain directly across from us and commenting on how miserable that hike must be. “I wonder what peak that is?”, I thought. I didn’t realize at the time that it was San Ysidro Mountain, and that it […]
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, […]
Eagle Mountain, Joshua Tree
After Pinto Mountain, I talked Manny and Wes into hiking another nearby peak in Joshua Tree: Eagle Mountain. It was fun but not hard. It was only a few miles away from Pinto Mountain. The hike was a long slog across an open desert that led to a drainage that led to the large boulder […]
Pinto Mountain
Pinto Mountain is one of the prominent mountains toward the less-traveled south end of Joshua Tree National Park. Manny, Wes, and I tackled this one together. What stands out is the long 4-mile+ hike across the open desert to get to the peak. It felt excessively long today for all of us. There was much […]
The King, Queen, & Jack
My brother, Mark, has always been more athletic than I have. Not surprisingly, when I invited him on a hike, he quickly jumped in, not knowing what to expect. I picked a loop of three small peaks near his house in Henderson, NV, from one of my main sources of desert adventures: Stav Basis’ blog. […]
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 […]
Mount Morgan: The Last Climb of the ’23 Season
After Lamark Peak, Sean and I decided to get out to the Sierras one more time before the end of the summer hiking season. Nighttime temperatures were already well below freezing, but we had not experienced any early Winter storms yet. Starting out from the trailhead was pretty cold. I brought light gloves and quickly […]