Suzanne and I were the only ones who camped Friday night.  Probably a good thing.  The wind was terrible.   This is the 2^nd time I’ve camped in Canyon Sin Nombre, never again….Seems like the canyon acts like a funnel and only makes the wind harder.

 

At 8:45 we met Scott and Deena at the meeting place then went south on S2 to Ocotillo where Bill Cue was waiting.  Also one of our friends, Jack who lives in Ocotillo, met us there.  Jack had an appointment but said he’d catch up with us later so we started out for the trail.  We followed Old Hwy 80 and aired down at the end of the pavement then continued on the north side of the train tracks heading west before crossing over the tracks.  Continuing west we finally made the turn into the bottom of Devil’s Canyon.  We followed that to what appeared to be the end of the Open Area.  Kind of a turnaround area where people had parked earlier.   However there were no Closed Signs.  There was a moderate obstacle there which may or may not be what people call the Gate Keeper however it didn’t appear all that difficult.  Still, we parked and started walking up the trail.  Along the way there were a few obstacles but none was too difficult.  We walked to just below the first (Westbound) Devil’s Canyon bridge.  About 100 yds below that bridge was a serious obstacle.  One would need to be pretty “tall” or would need to stack lots of rocks to get over and to squeeze between two very large rocks that are about 6 ft apart.  We didn’t spend a lot of time but perhaps there was another route.  We turned around and walked back to the parking area.  To that point there were no Closed Signs or any indication that the area is Closed to vehicles.  There were quite a few motorcycle tracks in the area.

 

After Devil’s canyon we proceeded to Dos Cabasas Springs then Motero Palms canyon and finally Piedras Grandes.  There three Jeeps caught up with us.  Jack and Susie, Lenn and Jane as well as Anne.  Then we were 6.

 

Since Jack lives in Ocotillo I had him take over as leader.  He showed us the petroglyphs in the area as well as what is said to be a “Fertility Symbol” carved into one of the rocks at Piedras Grandes.  From there we headed to Dos Cabasas water tower and then to Peipcorn Slot Canyon.  Jack took us to a spot he sometimes sees Big Horn Sheep but we didn’t see any.  We finally exited back out to S22 Via Mortero Wash.

 

There we said our goodbyes and everyone but Suzanne and I headed home.   Suzanne and I headed back to Canyon Sin Nombre to get our off-road tent trailer.  When we got there we found a note from a Park Ranger telling us our trailer was illegally parked.  However there was not citation so we hooked up and drove home to Crest. 

 

By the way, the Cholla cactus at the elevation of  Piedras Grandes are just getting ready to bloom.  That’s about 1900 ft. elevation.  Next weekend will probably be spectacular.  There were lots of unopened blossoms on the cactus this weekend with only a few open.

 

 Thanks to all who showed up and special thanks to the folks from Ocotillo who showed us the sites.

 

 

Roger Mullins

justruns@...