Distance: 7.8 miles round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 3567'
Prominence: 707'
Elevation Gain: 2390'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.9
Round trip time: 5 hours 15 minutes
Recommended water: 88 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free in Nolina Wash
Difficulty: Moderate
Bighorn Canyon Peak is an unofficial peak (P3567) between Bighorn Canyon and Nolina Wash in Anza-Borrego. With prominence of 707', it deserves an official name. There were only 4 claimed ascents in Peakbagger (and 4 in listsofjohn). I planned a trip over Bighorn Canyon Peak, down the other side to visit the guzzler at Blue Spring, then back via Nolina Wash. To get to the starting point, I drove south in Pinyon Wash from highway 78, then into Nolina Wash that branched right (west) from Pinyon Wash. There was a wooden sign at the junction, but it was behind a bush and not visible.
I pulled off the dirt road near the start of the ridge and began dodging cactus. At the top of the first bump is a plateau where I was surprised to find a guzzler with several tanks. I think these were set up by the state park to capture water for wild life. There was a toolbox near one of the tanks. After checking it out, I scrambled up a class 2 slope filled with boulders. Above the boulder slope, I found a radiosonde device. These are NOAA weather balloons. It said "harmless weather device" and a return envelope was attached. I'd heard about these before but this was the first one I found. The rest of the ridge was gentle, though agave was thick. I passed over a couple of false summits, then tried to discern the high point between three groups of rocks that all looked about the same. After visiting all of them, I judged one to be the highest and marked a waypoint. Apparently, a local San Diego hiking group called the Monday Maniacs had left a register somewhere, but I didn't find it. There was no benchmark. I took a break and soaked in the nice views. The main guzzler was further south at Blue Spring, so I started to think about how to get down.
Unexpected guzzler tanks above first bump on the ridge
Boulder slope
Weather balloon
The rock pile I thought was highest on the flat summit
Looking west, Granite Mountain in the distance
I didn't want to backtrack too much so I started down the south ridge. I was prepared to climb back out if I cliffed out. It was very steep but was not technical. My blood starting pumping when I reached a cliff about 400' below the summit. However, I was able to drop down a steep gully into Nolina Wash. I think there was also a safe descent path on the other side to Bighorn Canyon. I climbed up Nolina until it met Bighorn Canyon, then dropped in and looked for passage to Blue Spring. Because of a storm the day before, the ground was slightly muddy. As I headed toward the guzzler, I passed through a boneyard. First, just bone fragments, then a full spine and rib cage with a bighorn skull. A little further, I found more bone piles. Two jawbones with teeth, another spine with scattered ribs, leg and thigh bones. There was also a partially decayed deer carcass that was stinky. The guzzler at Blue Spring was overflowing with a strong stream coming out the top of one of the tanks. A trailcam was strapped to a wooden pole and labelled "State Parks". I waved at the camera while walking around. After finding a few more bones, I started back. It took about 15 minutes to get back to Nolina Wash where I began a slow, easy walk out. Nolina Wash was very sandy didn't have many obstacles. I stopped once to check out a small cave. It went back further than my flashlight, but was only big enough to crawl through. I thought briefly about exploring it before caution prevailed.
Starting down the south side
Looking back while descending into Bighorn Canyon
Hypnotizing horns of ram
Bighorn Canyon Peak from the guzzler
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