Rabbit and Villager have been on my bucket list for quite some time. The first time Speedy Steve went, he posted that his ass was kicked by a Rabbit, so I was understandingly nervous about undertaking this challenge.
Cindy picked me up early Palm Sunday (3:15 AM). We picked up Lindella in Bermuda Dunes and met Nei and Dagmar at Borega Springs at 6 AM. Drove back to the trailhead and started up through the desert at 6:30.
I was enthralled by the views as we climbed. Loved the area where the trail closely hugs the steep granite cliffs. We took short hourly fuel breaks and before long, we were traversing up through rocks to Villager. Every time I thought we were at the summit, the peak kept moving away -- arrgh. Finally reached Villager at 11 AM, cached some water and had lunch.
I had struggled the last half hour up to Villager and was beginning to question whether I could summit Rabbit. Our turn around time was 2 PM. Fortunately, I started feeling better as we descended down the ridge towards our objective. There is a significant amount of climbing and dropping on the ridge between Villager and Rabbit but the views of the Salton Sea are spectacular.
We finally reached the last big, steep climb and headed up. After grinding away, we finally reached the summit of Rabbit (~1:45 PM) and had our second long fuel break of the day. Loved the view of Toro from the summit. Alas, we had to go down, which required being very deliberate so we wouldn't have intimate encounters with rocks, brush and cactus. Then it was up and down the ridge back over to Villager. The Salton Sea was so blue and vast, it looked like part of the sky.
Once we retrieved our cache, we headed down. I was not looking forward to this section. It seemed that the rocks, yucca and cholla were strategically placed to thwart our attempt to descend unscathed. We had to be very deliberate and concentrate on each step, which is difficult when you're tired. At one point, I fell back and Nei caught me before I landed on my butt. This caused me to be extra vigilant.
The sun started to set after we had passed the steep granite section. The moon was nearly full and absolutely gorgeous against the backdrop of the desert landscape and plants. Put on our headlmaps and continued to descend and descend and descend....Where the hell was that desert floor? Finally the grade leveled out and we were going up and down desert gullies back towards the trailhead.
The pace increased significantly when Nei casually mentioned that we had crossed a canyon frequented by mountain lions on the hunt for big horn sheep. We rolled on through the sandy landscape, dreaming of our cars and food. Car lights and sounds tortured us for a good 15 minutes before we finally reached the trailhead. It was 9 PM, holy cow! Said exhausted goodbyes, loaded up and headed home.
We drove through Carl's Jr. in Bermuda Dunes. We were so shattered that we almost left without the food after paying for it
Cindy dropped me off at midnight. Thanks to both Cindy and Lindella for driving and to Nei and Dagmar for leading us -- could not have done this trip without all of you.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
