Had a late start on Wed. The goal was to bike up Mt. Palomar to the observatory and camp around the peak. Sadly I wasn't able to get pedaling until 6pm and only made it up 3/4 of the way. I took the back fire roads up. Wished I did some research on the road conditions because on a fully loaded bike I was only able to pedal 10% of the time, the other was 90% hiking. I did enjoy the scenery which made the time go by quickly. I set up camp on an overlook / turnout. It was a beautiful evening with a lot of stars and a slight wind to keep the tent cool.
Day 2 I biked down a very unused old fire road and hit a slight road climb towards Anza. I followed a section of the stagecoach route, with a lot of hike a bike to get to Anza. Around noon I got to Anza and was going to depart towards Coyote Canyon. Common sense told me to wait a couple hours as biking in the desert mid day when it's almost June was probably not the wisest move. I ate lunch at sunshine market and enjoyed some banter with the local characters. The decent into Anza is a treat, sandy, rocky, but bike-able.
The ride in the wash was another story, some fantastic hard packed sections with a clear route to follow, other times just slogging along trying to find my way with the least sandy part and avoiding cacti. This process repeated itself until I got to Bailey's cabin. I had intended on spending the night here, but I had a hurricane wind at my back and decided to push on. I rode for a couple miles then hiked, and repeated the process until I passed a few beautiful oasis / springs. I stopped for the night just shy of Borrego Springs as there were some photographers setting up shop to photograph bats for the evening. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch, sadly it was too windy and they had no visitors in the night. In the AM I woke up and caught a ride back to SD, and biked 20 ish miles via the road to my apt. All in all a fun day n a half out east. I'm definitely going to head back to Hike around Borrego Springs, and hopefully wrap up the stagecoach route once and for all finally from Borrego Springs to SD. Hopefully with some company next time.
Couple of quick gear reviews for the trip:
Revelate Designs Jerry Can + feed bag = awesome
Green Guru stem mount bag = awesome
Garmin gps 62s = awesome, catches a signal super fast, and loads the gps tracks super fast
marmot Zeus 1/2 zip snagged online for $80 on sale, = awesome, great way to take the evening chill off when walking around camp, although I wouldn't hike in it, it doesn't appear to be the least bit durable.
Platypus hydration bladder / filter combo = fantastic, easy, will never use a pump again.
If you're planning this trip skip Palomar, it's not a fun ride loaded, even unloaded I can't say it'd be fun, it's more of a hike than a bike.
Riding from Anza to borrego springs is great, a nice gradual decent which makes the sand washes tolerable. you truly appreciate the oasis' that you encounter. Although if the 30mph winds were in my face I dont know if I'd have enjoyed it as much.
Things changed to the set up for next time: I'd ditch the rear 20L bag for my OMM Sherpa with 2 small Ortlieb panniers (about 20L total carrying capacity). I liked having the simplicity of no rack and just a bag hanging on the seat. The foam block in the pictures keeps the dry bag from rubbing on my thighs. But I did not like having all my gear in 1 bag, I like the ease of access with panniers and the organization. The dry bag was an ok Idea, it works ok, to all of you who have a dry bag strapped to the seat just duck tape a foam block to the seat and problem solved no more thigh rubbing. The only trade off I've found with the rear pack is it's a pain in the butt to have to get to something which I don't seem to read about very often with the nicer seat packs which are sold by revelate and others due to their engineering and superior sewing skills. If I was racing I definitly see the advantage of spec'ing out your bike with a full customized light weight kit, but when you're just strolling around and taking in the sights like I was all that matters is to pack all that you need to be comfortable while keeping the weight load manageable and not bringing the kitchen sink (all to high of a temptation with panniers).
Future set up for the CT in August will be: dry bag up front with all my camp gear, gas tank under seat as a pouch for my tubes and tools, jerry can for credit card / tooth paste / batteries and other miscellaneous items, mountain feed bag holds my 20oz steel mug (never full while riding merely a luxury for making tea during camp), and rear rack with 2 bags, prob 3/4 full each with clothes and my water bladder in its zip up pouch on top. I'll post up a gear set up with more details prior to my CT departure in August. I'm hoping by keeping the rear panniers small I'll avoid the inevitable over packing and weight penalty.
