The Salton Sea and the Laguna Mountains

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Geo: 32.8722, -116.418

On Saturday we left the motel around
9:00 AM and,since we only had a relatively short drive
to the village of Pine Valley where we would spend
the next two nights, we took the scenic route via the
Salton Sea area. We had never been to the Salton Sea
before and, having read a little about it, were interested
in checking it out.

The Sea itself is, at its lowest point, only about 5 feet
above the lowest point in North America in Death Valley,
California. It is currently fed by several small rivers but
has no outflow, thus water is lost only through evaporation
resulting in very high saline content. It was originally
formed by the Colorado river which at one time flowed
through the valley. For thousands of years, the
Colorado has flowed into and out of the valley alternately
creating a freshwater lake, an increasingly saline lake,
and a dry desert basin, depending on river flows and
the balance between inflow and evaporative loss. The
most recent inflow of water from the now heavily
controlled Colorado River was accidentally created by
the engineers of the California Development Company
in 1905 in an effort to provide water for farming in the
valley, which at the time was a dry desert. The river
flowed into the basin for two full years filling the historic dry
lake bed and creating the modern sea before repairs were
completed. In the 1950's, the area had some brief success
as a resort area but today only a sad remnant of the
previous resort remains. In Salton City along the shore
of the sea, we drove around a bit over roads with names
reminiscent of the resort days like Marina Drive, Yacht
Club Point, Yacht Club Drive, Flamingo Avenue, etc.
Sadly there are no yacht clubs, marinas, or flamingos
to be found there today.

We drove on from the Sea through the Anza Borrego
Desert State Park to the village of Mount Laguna where
we were able to check in with the visitor center for the
Laguna Mountains Recreation Area in the Cleveland
National Forest of San Diego County. We purchased
a trail map and got some good advice from the nice
lady volunteer at the VC, then drove on down the
mountain to Pine Valley and our motel for the next two
nights. After checking in, we got our daily miles in by
walking around the community trail system near the
motel. This area is only about 50 miles from the densely
populated San Diego area and is, as we found out,
a very popular spot for those huddled masses to escape
to on a nice weekend.

On Sunday morning, braving the crowds for the trail we
had selected for our first hike, we parked at the Penny
Pines Trailhead and picked up the Pacific Crest trail to
the spur trail for Garnet Peak. We passed an initial crowd
of hikers and others at a tented area which seemed to be
set up to provide refreshment to thru hikers on the Pacific
Crest trail. Once beyond that we still did not have the trail
to ourselves as we encountered numerous other couples
and groups on the way to the summit. This was about a
4 mile round trip from trailhead to the summit and back
with only about a 500 foot elevation gain but was
rewarding for the 360 degree view from the somewhat
crowded 5,900 foot summit. Once back at the Penny
Pines Trailhead, we drove a short distance to the Storm
Canyon Overlook where we parked and again picked
up the PCT which passed right under the overlook
platform. Following the map we had gotten at the VC,
we hiked about another 6 mile loop going south along
the PCT to the Big Laguna Trail that allowed a return
to the highway and then a short walk back to our car.
This portion of the PCT was one of the more scenic
sections as we were hiking along the top of the Laguna
escarpment above the Anza Borrego Desert with views
of the San Jacinto mountains to the north, the Salton
Sea to the Southeast, and Mexico in the distant south.
We stopped at a viewpoint called Foster Point for lunch,
then hiked on along the PCT passing two peaks,
Monument and Hayes peaks, that we would hike to on
the next day. Hiking south along the PCT, we met quite
a few thru hikers heading to Canada, only some 2,600
miles to the north. At the junction of the Big Laguna trail
and the PCT, we turned right and walked about a half
mile back to the highway and a short mile walk back
along the road to our car.

The next day was Monday, and what a difference a day
made. We returned to the Big Laguna Trail and hiked
back to the PCT for a short distance before branching
off onto the access trail for Monument and Hayes Peaks.
The only other hikers we saw on Monday were thru
hikers with their large backpacks trudging north on
the PCT. The views from both of the peaks were jaw
dropping to the north, east, and south with Hayes being
the prettiest even though it is slightly lower in elevation
than Monument. Monument is covered with quite a few
large antennae that detract from the natural beauty of
the mountain.


We returned to our car after this short 3+ mile hike and
drove back to the visitor center where we changed out
of sweaty hiking clothes into dryer ones for our short
50 mile drive to San Diego and our last night before
flying out on Tuesday morning.

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Photos

Along the road to the Salton Sea
From an overlook.

The Salton Sea
The sea is drying up. This used to be the shore line which now can be seen in the distance.

Pine Valley, California
Some of the horse rings in Pine Valley which were part of what appeared to be a large boarding facility for horses.

Taken from Garnet Peak
The tallest peak in the distance is Monument Peak. Hayes Peak is the one slightly lower just to the right of Monument Peak.

Monument Peak summit
Not the most attractive summit.

Garnet Peak
Garnet peak was the one we climbed first on Sunday, with lots of other people. Taken from Foster Point.

The Anza Borrego Desert
Taken from Hayes Peak.

The Big Laguna Trail
This was a short half mile part of the Big Laguna Trail. the whole Big Laguna Trail is about a 10 mile loop, which we did not do, that includes a portion of the PCT.

Garnet Peak
Taken from the highway on our walk back to the car.