COYOTE MOUNTAIN, 3192 FEET

Come with us on a day hike.  Our original plan was to take a nice long hike with our friends, Jim and Lynn.  We figured maybe 4 to 5 hours at most with a picnic lunch somewhere on the trail.  Saturday morning Jim called to say that Lynn didn’t feel well and wouldn’t be joining us, but the three of us went ahead with our plan. 
This is what Coyote Mountain looks like out our window.  Our “walk” starts from the left side of the nearest ridge across the desert, proceeds to the peak in the center and then descends to the right back to the desert floor.  The starting elevation is roughly 600 feet above sea level.  The top of the peak is 3192 feet.  By the map, our trail scales out at 10 miles.  By Jim’s GPS we walked more than 13 miles.
We left a car at the south end near our old earth oven on Rock House Road.  Then we drove to the north end, left the second car at the head of Alcoholic Pass Trail, and started climbing.  The first part of the trail is moderately steep, but well defined.  It climbs through a beautiful cactus garden.  At the top of the pass, we left the trail and picked our way across the desert heading for the mountain, 5 miles away.  Funny how things seem so close, but are really a long way away.   Hiking cross country in the desert is not without it’s hazards.  One of which is avoiding cholla cactus.  Marlene got too close to one of them and it jumped out and grabbed her.
  Fortunately I was carrying my Leatherman tool and I used it to pull out the 20 or so imbedded spines.  She was pretty stoic throughout the ordeal and was left with the look of someone who has had several injections at the same time in one spot.  We headed out again and stopped an hour later for lunch on a bench overlooking Borrego Valley.
   
Lunch time was decision time.  The climb ahead would be steep and rugged.  The walk back to our car would be long and rugged.  We decided to go to the top.  
Partway up the steep pitch, we climbed above two Bighorn Sheep who wondered who was disturbing their afternoon nap.
Notice the slope we were climbing!  We still had a ways to go.
Six hours after leaving the car, we finally made it to the top.  Jim reached it first found the log book, and beckoned us on.  
  
From the top we could see the Salton Sea as well as Borrego Valley and the dry Clark Lake bed.
Now came the hard part.     Three and a half hours of treacherous down hill and then an hour down a dusty road back to our car.  We didn’t stop to take pictures of the descent because we were worried about getting down before it got dark.  As it was, we reached the bottom of the dry lake just as it got too dark to see.  Fortunately the half full moon gave us enough light to see the road and we hiked the last three miles without a problem.  We arrived back at our motor home at 7:45 PM, eleven hours from the time we had departed.  What a day!