Borrego Springs: Whale Peak South

Rating	*****
length	7.7 mile - 3 hour (up) 2 hour 30 minutes (down). Moderate/Hard.
Height	3130 - 5350 feet
Access	On the S2 mile 22-23. Butterfield Stage Route, Blair Valley. Take this well maintained dirt road, most of the time for all cars.
Other Trails
Data	To download these files, right-click the link and choose 'save as' |--| .GPX (GPS file) |-----| .KML (Google Earth file)

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This is one of the two ways you find here to go up Whale mountain. This one is the longest.
Follow the signs Pictograph Trail, as we use the same parking.
Start the trail along the Pictograph Trail, after about 0.7 mile turn left into another canyon, along the wash.
After another mile turn right into a small canyon with boulders, lots of them.
This is a boulder hike finding your way up, seeking left and right for the easiest route.
Not too difficult but you need some experience scrambling up and down boulders.
Just as you think this is a nice path there is always something there to surprise you.
A lot of huge boulders, a dry waterfall, dense scrubs, but there is always a way around.
You can take this hike either way up. But it is better to go right first, going out the canyon.
This is the more difficult part, the more direct route to the top, but more difficult (loose rocks) to go down).
This is the most difficult part... as the canyon is a bit blocked.
But the good part is: stretches of the hike are on a fairly good hiking trail, especially on the return trip.
A nice satisfying hike, but take care it is easy to fall, when you get tired on your hike. And it is a bit cooler than Borrego Springs, by at least 10F.







Disclamer: Read this first before you start your hike.
Contact: usa/at/e/f/m/e/r/.eu (leave out the /)
All hikes recorded on pocket loox (pocket PC) using gpsTuner(.com)
Hiking Hellhole Canyon Trail Borrego Springs Area (Anza-Borrego Desert State Park) California, Hike with gps, gpx and kml (Google Earth).