DECEMBER, 1971 50c - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

Tra/7 0/ //>«• 15-mile hike led through Salvador Canyon (above) and into unmarked
areas (right) where the hiking party (left to right, Huie, McKinnie, Scharn
and Hesemeyer) checked their topographical map, and finally to the end and a
well-earned rest at Coyote Canyon. Photos by the author.
TUCKED INTO the extreme northwest
corner of the half-million acre
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California's
San Diego County is a vestpocket
wilderness area nearly trackless
and unexplored by modern man.
So when Park Supervisor Jack Hesemeyer
called me one spring morning
and suggested we take a hike in a remote
area, this area came to mind.
"How about hiking down Salvador
Canyon?" I asked Jack.
"Why don't we hike up?" he countered.
"That would be more of a challenge."
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After much discussion, and my persuasive
and naturally lazy nature, I
finally convinced him it would be much
easier to hike down canyon.
"After all it's 90 degrees out there
now and hiking uphill in that heat would
kill us," I told him. So plans were made
and the date for our hike was set for a
few weeks later.
The big day of the expedition arrived,
but the warm weather had disappeared.
A steady west gale was blowing and the
temperature hovered just around the
goose pimple mark.
In addition to Hesemeyer and myself,
HIKIN
OF
our party consisted of Fish and Game
biologist Harold McKinnie, and friends
Jim Huie and Hal Scharn.
We began our adventure near Warner
Springs on State Highway 79 in San
Diego County. Our plan was to cover
about 15 miles in the two days ahead.
The trip would take us from the pine
belt, down through oak-studded meadows,
lower into brush-covered hills,
then into gradually more arid canyons
until we would end up on the desert
floor in Coyote Canyon-
Our purpose in hiking this wilderness
was not only to explore a untouched area