Travelers Peak

[tekewin]

Travelers is at the southern end of the Santa Rosa range. I started hiking about a mile up Calcite Road at a convenient turnaround. It was a short hike up the road to the calcite mine, then the uphill started in earnest. There was a fine use trail above the mine. The terrain is made up of broken badlands and slot canyons. Almost no brush or cactus. Such barren! The south ridge was loose and crumbly. The mid-section of the hike has a couple of major bumps with some class 2. The trail faded out on one bump and I just did imaginary switchbacks to get over it. Near the top, there are a couple of narrow ridge sections and some semi-exposed class 2 on conglomerate sandstone. The views were spectacular on a clear day, north toward Rabbit, east to Salton Sea and badlands south and west. The benchmark is well preserved and there were two register books. The oldest went back to 1979. This is a true desert gem and one of my favorite desert peaks.


Travelers from S22


Just above the calcite mine




Class 2 bumps


crux section




north toward Rabbit


Salton Sea




Beatiful barren

[jfr]

Thanks for the TR!

I love Anza-Borrego and have been to the Calcite Mine, but not further. Looks like a fun hike with great views. And hopefully not as tough as Villager or Rabbit.

How many miles there and back? And what elevation gain? I might just give this one a try...

[Sally]

Thank you, tekewin, for the interesting and beautiful pics and TR. I guess the ocotillo must be a tenacious plant because it seemed to be the only one pictured in your photos. I keep telling myself that I need to do more exploring in the Santa Rosas! My daughter used to live in Brawley and I miss driving through the AB desert to visit her, imagining what it was like in those “hills”, and past the Salton Sea. (I doubt that she misses living in Brawley!)

[tekewin]

jfr,

The hike is tame compared to Villager or Rabbit. I drove one mile up Calcite Mine Road to a turnaround. From there, it was 4.8 miles round trip (would be 6.8 miles from the official trailhead off S22), 2300' gain, 4 hours. Because the terrain is loose above the mine, I wouldn't call it easy, but it's nothing extreme. Worth the trip if you are nearby!

sally,

The area was so barren, only a few small shrubs and some tough ocotillo. I learned recently that ocotillo is not a true cactus so I didn't see any cactus at all.