-Indianhead Attempt-

Elevation: 3,960 ft.

Date Hiked: 2-6-10

Trip Report:
I had wanted to start hiking the Desert Peaks Section (DPS) list for awhile. This was one of the peaks on the list and was supposed to be a good climb with solid class 3 sections on the SE Rib route. The route climbs over 3000 feet from the desert floor to the summit in just a few miles on this route. This was also the third weekend in a row I had gone hiking. On Saturday February 6th it was raining throughout San Diego County. Since this peak was in the desert I gambled the weather would be better there.

Indianhead Peak

I left Escondido later than I wanted and arrived at the trailhead at noon. It rained the entire drive up to the decent to Borrego Springs. It was cloudy so I was hopeful the weather would hold. I left right away and began the approach over the flood plain to the SE Rib. The SE Rib is the left-hand ridge in this photo below.

The SE Rib

The ridge was difficult from the beginning, the rocks were wet and the rain began falling. The climbing was mostly difficult class 2 with a few class 3 sections up to the top of the rib. I made good progress arriving at the top of the rib in about 45 minutes. By this time the rain was falling harder and the upper mountain was becoming obscured.

Typical Climbing Along the Ridge

About 3/4 of the way up the initial ridge I was fortunate enough to see a Big Horn Sheep. I made some noise and it looked directly at me before scrambling up the ridge. This is only the second time I have seen an animal while hiking in San Diego

Big Horn Sheep

The rock was poor for most of the ridge which made the scrambling slightly more difficult. The angle eased up slightly once I reached the top of the initial ridge. I could see the route which lay ahead of me for the first time. It took just about an hour to reach this point. I began navigating the ridge until it joins with the summit area of Indianhead. This ridge was difficult to follow at times and had a few short class 4 moves.

Remaining Route

The rain was constant along this portion of the ridge. The clouds often obscured the remaining route and desert below. This reminded me of being on a high mountain somewhere even though I was only 2500 ft above sea level. The clouds would pass over the ridge and onto the desert. It was a surreal scene.

The Ridge

It took an hour to reach final section around 3500 ft. By this time is was 2 PM and I knew it would take at least 45 minutes to reach the summit leaving only about 2 hours to descend in the daylight. I decided to turn around, I was disappointed I did not reach the summit but I knew that I could come back another time for a second try. I knew this was the prudent choice because it was wet and I was by myself. Here is a photo of my highpoint right at 3500 ft.

Highpoint

I began to descend the same ridge I had ascended. Just as I thought this took just as long as going up. The clouds were still streaming past the ridge and the wind was beginning to pick up. I could see Borrego Springs thousands of feet below.

Borrego Springs

The Ridge Again

As I descended the sun began to come out and warm things up. This was a nice change from the rain. At this point I could also see the upper portion of the mountain which I had yet to climb.

The Upper Mountain

I continued to descend and made descend time. The route was so steep it I had to make sure each step had proper footing. While I was descending the ridge I saw a rainbow over Borrego Springs, unfortunately my camera was damp so this is the best shot I got:

Borrego Springs Rainbow

I continued down the ridge and decided to try and descend the right ridge instead of the left ridge which I used to ascend (right and left in perspective of looking at the mountain). This turned out to be a mistake, this ridge was very loose. Everything I took a step down I seemed to take part of the mountain with me. I will know for the future to use the left-hand ridge.

I arrived at the car around 4 PM taking 4 hours exactly from when I had started. This route reminds me the Northeast Ridge of North Maroon Peak in the Elk Mountains of Colorado, which I climbed a few years before. Although the elevation is vastly different the climbing is similar. The rock on both is poor and the climbing is very steep. Here are some photos from that trip:

Repelling Down the Ridge