Another year, another beautiful, rough hike in the Santa Rosa mountains.

Final Stats:

13 miles, 5500 ft

Click for more stats

After hiking Villager and Rabbit peaks last January, I didn’t think I would be making it out a year later to hike another peak just to the east. The long drive (~3hrs) each way wasn’t really pleasant even with a night of car camping. However this time, a planned car camping expedition by Kathy and the peakbaggers meetup group for both Friday and Saturday nights allowed for a nice hike on Saturday without the long drive.

Rosa Point is likely less climbed than its neighbours to the west, but it is brutal and beautiful on its own.

We started out at the Thimble trailhead – the same starting place for Villager peak – and headed northeast toward Palo Verde canyon. Our plan was to take the standard route (hps route 1) up, and possibly route 3 down. Route 1 requires ascending the ridge just west of Palo Verde. Route finding can be challenging so you want to start off correctly.

We found a slight use trail and took that up heading NE then slightly NW to the first bump, where we then headed generally north.

Cholla are everywhere, and their ability to ‘jump’ was witnessed by many during the early part of the hike. The pain of them stabbing you in the leg and hands helped improved awareness, and cholla related incidents reduced dramatically as the hike continued.

At a bump at ~3530 ft and 3.5 miles in, we veer NE again following the use trail. For a while I accidentally headed east along the ridge and we had to correct back (should be able to see this on the map), so heading NE should be the proper route. We dropped down to a rocky wash and crossed over. A steep climb up to 3650′ saddle brought us to the junction with route 3. From here we headed north up a very steep and rocky ridge. A good ascent culminating in a ascending Rosa Point – the high point just east of the ascending ridge.

Rosa Point gave great views of the area. It was just another really clear day in the desert. We enjoyed a long lunch on top and looked through the old register entries, and decided on doing a loop and bagging Pyramid Peak on the way down.

Hiking down in this area is probably worse than even just west on the Villager / Rabbit traverse. The terrain is very steep and very rocky. Not only did we have to really concentrate all the time, the pounding on the feet and knees from rocks with no give was not too pleasant!

Back at the saddle, we headed SE all the way to Pyramid. The use trail here seems in better condition than on the way up. At Pyramid, we continued south and pick up the long ridge heading SW then S to the area where there are supposedly “Natural Rock Tanks”. Sadly we did not see any and were probably too tired to really do any extra exploration.

We picked up an old miner’s trail that was well worn and followed it out to the trailhead.

Hike Description

This hike will take us into the Anza-Borrego wilderness area and the Santa Rosa mountain range. As John Robinson says, “It is one of the testpieces for the serious Southern Calilfornia day hikers. This extremely strenuous hike features a remarkable variety of cactus and yucca.” Apparently there will be lots of desert flora to see.

I’ll keep the description brief, and leave you to read the links provided to read more about what this hike entails. We’ll be doing this as a dayhike although we may car-camp the night before.

This hike will begin just off the Borrego Salton Seaway and head north. We will first ascend Villager Peak, which by itself is 6 miles one way with 5,000 ft elevation gain.

After bagging Villager, we will traverse the ridge between it and Rabbit Peak. This ridge will only be 4 miles in length but has several bumps that will give an additional 1800 ft elevation gain. On the way back, there will be another 1200 or so feet of elevation gain.

The terrain will be rocky, and there will be portions of bouldering and possible scrambling, so you should be comfortable with this as well.

For people who are interested but aren’t sure about doing the whole extreme hike, I would like for a secondary group to form who would only ascend Villager Peak. Hiker Tim, who has done this hike before, has stated that much of the nice views were seen just from the ascent to Villager, so I think it is worthwhile alone. That part of the hike alone would be about 12-14 miles and 5000 ft gain, no slouch. But I’ll need someone to volunter to ‘lead’ this group who will be prepared with knowledge of the path.

For either group, the plan would be to start early. For the primary route, I’m thinking we are going to start at like 5 am, so car camping the night before might be ideal, although not mandatory. Whatever way you choose to arrive at 5 am is fine, but keep in mind this is a pretty long drive from Los Angeles, about 3 hrs. Ideally we will be able to complete the hike around sunset, though we may go a bit past. Headlamps will be necessary.

Links

John Robinson write-up

Sierra Club Description

SummitPost

Jerry Schad

A good description

Tim’s Photos

Photo Gallery #2

Hike Details

Primary Option:

Distance: ~ 21 miles rt

Elevation Gain: ~ 8000 ft

Gain / Mile: 800 ft / mile

Estimated Time: ~ 14 hrs

Terrain: Cross country, ridge, rock bouldering

Difficulty: 11/10

Secondary Option:

Distance: ~ 13 miles rt

Elevation Gain: ~ 5000 ft

Gain / Mile: 1000 ft / mile

Estimated Time: ~ 9 hrs

Terrain: Cross country, ridge, rock bouldering

Difficulty: 9/10

Difficulty MUST READ

For those in great condition. Should be exercising regularly.

You must have hiked with me before – you then know the difficulty that I’m describing. If you haven’t, you’d better message me.

via SummitPost

Getting There
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State on the Meetup site where you are coming from to contact people to carpool with.

Trips are canceled in the event of rain (unless trip leader states differently). So assume it is canceled if it’s raining the morning of.

The trip “leader” is a volunteer and not a real leader (i.e. not liable for the group). Think of it as hiking with a group of friends.

Joining LA Hiking hikes is entirely voluntary and participants assume the full risks associated with the activities. It is each hiker’s responsibility to ensure that s/he is in sufficient fitness and health to participate in a strenuous hike, with the appropriate water, food, clothing, first aid, and navigation equipment for the conditions. The LA Hiking Group and the individual organizers make no warranties about the safety or supervision of these activities.