Today, I was hanging out in camp when a law enforcement officer with the USFS showed up and chatted with me for a bit. I haven’t had a permit while staying here, and that is required. Caught! Ooops!
Category: Journeys
Hiking San Diego’s Red Hill, Mount Tule, and Carrizo Overlook
Yesterday, I decided to spend the morning and afternoon exploring on some hikes around Southeast San Diego. I returned to the Alverson Lava Flows nearby, with the goal of reaching the summit of Red Hill–the high point of the Volcanic Hills mountain range. Once completed with this, I also drove out to the McCain Valley Recreation Area, where I hiked to the summit of Mount Tule and explored some of the trails around the Carrizo Overlook, overlooking the Carrizo Gorge.
Hiking Mine Peak of the Coyote Mountains
Throughout the time that I have been staying on-and-off at the Carrizo Badlands Overlook in San Diego, I have been staring intently at the Coyote Mountains. After hiking down into Canyon Sin Nombre yesterday, I decided to go ahead and hike to the summit of these mountains at Mine Peak.
Hike in San Diego’s Carrizo Badlands and Canyon Sin Nombre
Such an awesome hike today! I dropped fro Carrizo Badlands Overlook in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, into the Badlands themselves. Traversing a system of washes through the difficult land, I made my way into Canyon Sin Nombre. Dwarfed by canyon walls and ancient Lava flows, I made my way, finding a slot canyon on the opposite side from where I started. I explored the slot canyon and found myself up on the larger canyon rim. All that before turning around and coming back through it all again! 6 miles of pure San Diego awesome! Every step I took on this hike changed the land around me, opening up entirely new views and revealing previously hidden beauties. Absolutely wonderful!
Quitting Smoking and Thanksgiving in Joshua Tree
My time around San Diego has mostly been continuing, leaving me without too much to post about on my blog. Dealing with dentist appointments and the usual of enjoying this location has been the majority of recent times, really. I also had the pleasure of spending Thanksgiving weekend around Joshua Tree with family, before returning to my camping location now. To top all of this off, I’ve also quit smoking, and I’ll discuss that a bit!
San Diego Sunrise and Badlands
Since my last update here, things went briefly downhill. I ended up leaving the wonderful boondocking spot I had in order to take care of some emergency issues. However, I was still determined to get back up there and get back out!
A Farewell to Arches and a Grand Way to San Diego
While staying outside of Moab, I made one more adventure into Arches National Park before heading out towards San Diego again. I didn’t get to see all of Arches or Canyonlands, but that just gives me more reason to return again some day! On the way, I stopped at the Grand Canyon North Rim, and headed home through Arizona and Imperial County, California.
Unplanned Beauty and Return to the Beast
As my allowed time at Rocky Lake came to an end uneventfully, I set off with plans to make it into Idaho for the next week. As the weekend unfolded, plans got changed quite drastically, and I found myself returning to Willow Springs, where I had quite the adventure back in June. However, it would take me getting through some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen to date before arriving at that final destination!
Ending a Chapter and a Terrifying Start to a New Chapter
The time finally came to finish with the Cascades, and I planned a nice finish. I visited Mt Baker and then headed through North Cascades on my way east, out of the Cascades. A couple of last nights with those wonderful mountains, and I was off to new adventures. And sure enough, adventure would certainly be one way to describe how I kicked off these new adventures!
To Washington! Mima Falls
I had enough of Oregon’s antics! Maybe I’ve only seen Oregon’s bad side or something, but it did not win me over. Newberry National Volcanic Monument was great, but didn’t really offset everything that I grew to dislike about Oregon. Maybe at some later date, I’ll give it another chance to win me over, but for now, I scoped out a wonderful spot in Washington’s Capital State Forest.