Cabazon Peak

Thursday May 27, 2010

Camp 25: full moon at Ojo Spring

Camp 26: very windy camp on mesa

Exhausted.  We began our day with an off trail adventure as we missed the CDT cairns (or lack of) somewhere along the way.  We headed East/NE and found the trail within an hour. All morning we hiked on top of a mesa with sweeping views of the arroyo before us.  The clouds rolled in furiously around noon as the trail dropped steeply into the canyon.  By the time we got down the sky was dark and ominous, thunder growled from the clouds and lightning flickered around us.  The adrenaline helped us pick up the pace and the huge rain drops pelted us as we stopped to filter from a spring.  We could see for miles watching the sheets of rain fall in the distance.  Our shoes collected massive amounts of mud and it felt like cement blocks were strapped to my feet.  As we dropped down and crossed the arroyo the views were stunning.  The clouds cast shadows, illuminating various features around us and the sun filtered through creating brilliant contrasts in the landscape.  A rainbow appeared and lingered above Cabazon Peak and the scene became increasingly dramatic as we skirted the canyon edge.  A brilliant sunset topped off the evening as we searched for a place to camp around 8:30pm.  Unfortunately the winds picked up making the task of setting up our tent was much more difficult than we had hoped.  We settled for a cold dinner of Nutella and bagels and my feet ache from 12 hours of intense hiking.