-Whale Peak-

HPS: #11
SDC: #16

Elevation: 5,350 ft.

Date Hiked: 1-30-10

Trip Report:

This was a trip done with the omegameaniacs from The Omega Group. I had wanted to hike Whale ever since I first saw it from Monument Peak. This mountain is located in the center of the Anza Borrego State Park and is a literal island in the sky.  It rises over 4000 feet above the surrounding desert and has pine trees at the summit. This peak also happens to be both an SDC and HPS peak

Granite Peak #2 from Pinyon Mountain Rd and S2

We started around noon with a drive to the trai/lhead through rough 4WD trails. We were the only ones at the trailhead and began to climb the 400 ft wash to the first flat sandy area. This was an enjoyable scramble over rocks and all sorts of desert plants.

The Trailhead

It did not take long until we made to the top top of the first wash. On the top of the first wash there was a large sandy flat area. This would make a fine camp site in the future. From the views began to open up. I could see the Santa Rosa mountain range was now clear of snow unlike last week.

The Santa Rosa Mountains

The First Sandy Wash

Once the first sandy wash is reached the route is well marked with various ducks. The trail follows the wash to another incline which was an enjoyable scramble. This if followed by several more flat washes and inclines until the final climb is reached. This is described in Afoot and Afield as the final scramble to the summit.

Halfway up the Final Incline

The summit was a flat area in which the highpoint was located around 100 yards from the top of the final incline. The broken sign displaying the peak name and height was there along with the HPS summit register.

Summit Benchmark

Broken Sign

Cuyamaca Middle and North Peaks

San Ysidro Mountain

Indianhead Peak and Borrego Springs

Toro Peak

The views from the summit were amazing as I thought they would be. We could see the Laguna Mountains and Cuyamaca to the west, the San Ysidro mountain range, San Bernardino mountains and San Jacinto range to the north, the Santa Rosa mountains including Villager Peak, Rabbit Peak and Toro Peak to the east and finally the Salton sea to the east and south. This was an enjoyable hike that I would recommend to anyone.