Iron Hiker: Split Mountain East

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Split Mountain East

Hiked: 12/8/2017
Distance: 4.1 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 1690'
Elevation Gain: 1700'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.36
Round trip time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Recommended water: 48 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Fish Creek Wash Jeep Trail
Difficulty: Moderate (navigation)

The remote trailhead for Split Mountain East (SDC #89) is the same as for the wind caves. From Ocotillo Wells, take Split Mountain Road south about 8 miles near the end of the paved road. Turn right on the Fish Creek Wash dirt road after the sign "Fish Creek Wash Area, Split Mountain". From there, it is 4 miles of dirt road winding between Split Mountain East and West. The first couple of miles can be driven with a sedan, but the road gets rougher and the sand gets deep. High clearance and 4x4 is required to safely navigate all the way to the trailhead. I drove to the parking area and headed toward the wind caves on the way to Split Mountain East. The sign says the wind caves are 1 mile away, but they were only half a mile. After checking out the cave geology, I followed the use trail that continued up past the caves. There were a few different trails and I guessed at which one wound through the jagged, other worldly terrain to connect with Split Mountain East. The trail generally followed a deep wash of dried mud, but faded in and out. Whenever I lost it, I went higher until I spotted the continuation. This added unnecessary gain. From the top of a ridge, I realized there was no connecting ridge to Split Mountain East and that I needed to cross one of the washes.

Wind caves trailhead

The wind caves

Elephant Knees formation and the badlands

I had to back track a little to find the crossing. All the terrain was crumbly and I prepared for anything I stepped on to break loose or slip. On the way to the crossing I found what looked like dried, salty mineral deposits. A class 2 dirt descent got me into the wash and I climbed out the other side to start the final assault on Split Mountain East. Only now did I get my first glimpse of the summit. It was a straightforward ridge climb the rest of the way. The register went back to 1994 with the first entry signed by Paul Frieman. This peak doesn't get many visitors. Greg Gerlach was the last one to sign in more than nine months before me. I took a break on the summit, then descended more directly back to the truck dropping in and climbing out of the major gully as needed. I was going to stay in the gully all the way out, but ran into a 25' dry fall I could not down climb. I left the gully and climbed over a high bump to bypass it before angling back down. Despite extra rambling, the round trip only took 3 hours and 15 minutes. When I got back, I loaded up more water and made an attempt on Split Mountain West. The trailhead was only a half mile away so I just walked to it instead of driving. I had a perfectly good GPS track, but my Garmin topo (and the USGS topo) had peak 1477' marked as Split Mountain. The San Diego Peaks listed Split Mountain West is actually a mile further and about 200' higher. Instead of trusting the track I downloaded, I veered off to the Garmin marked point picking up the wrong peak. There was a fresh register there placed in November, 2017 by Robert and Beth Ramsey. I didn't document the debacle since I plan to return this month to properly bag Split Mountain West.