Topic: Great Southern Overland Route of 1849 (11/27/09)

[FrankB]

Did a bit of exploring along parts of the Great Southern Overland Route of 1849 yesterday (otherwise known as San Diego County Road S-2, and Blair Valley and parts of Vallecito Creek) in Anza Borrego.

I met up with Travis (XSnoopy) at way too early in the morning, the plan was to get in a few hikes before meeting Brian (Xtoolbox) at the Super Secret Meet Spot in Blair Valley. Actually it worked out well, the weather was perfect, and we are out on the Pictograph hiking trail in Blair Valley by around 8:00AM.





From the Pictographs we headed over to the Morteros hiking trail, and some of the guys got in a bit of climbing practice.









Brian showed up and we all headed south on S-2 towards the Vallecito Creek area.



Not long after the intersection of Hollywood and Vine Travis and Brian turned off into Arroyo Tapiado to check out the Mud Caves, then off to Arroyo Seco del Diablo, the Drop Off and into Fish Creek.  I stayed on Vallecito Creek Wash for a ways, then turned south into Canyon sin Nombre and back out to S-2.



Vallecito Creek is a wide sandy wash, the partial clouds made for some nice landscapes.





Canyon sin Nombre gets narrow in places, but the geology seems different to me than say Sandstone Canyon.



There is a small slot canyon you can hike up at one point.

[FrankB]

Canyon sin Nombre is an easy drive, with some colorful rock walls along the way.



You can also enter the canyon from S-2, at a small turnout from the highway.





After lunch I stopped back at Blair Valley for a few more photos, then called it a day.






You can see a few more pics here:

http://frankbaiamonte.smugmug.com/So-Cal-Explorations-Day/Blair-Valley-Canyon-Sin-Nombre/

[Goldfish]

Great pictures as always Frank. Thanks for sharing.

[Bobby B.]

Looks like a good time.

[SuperSlideStyle]

nice!

[4x4forfun]

My brother and I just road our enduros through there and on the grapevine trail a couple weeks back. Real nice trails. Took a side road up the back way to the observatory. We also did the stage route that ends up in Banner.