Coyote Mountains Wilderness - Trail Report

The Coyote Mountains are a fish hook shaped mountain range, and they make up 40% of this BLM-managed wilderness area located south of Anza Borrego Desert State Park in Imperial County, California. Part of the Carrizo Badlands lie within the northern portion of the wilderness, their narrow and twisting gullies giving the landscape its austere, forbidding appearance. Motorized vehicles are not permitted within the wilderness boundaries.

A group of unusual sandstone rock formations/wind caves, believed to be six million years old and known to locals as Domelands was our destination on this hike. The area is also extremely rich with marine fossils, including sand dollars. This is the world renown Imperial Formation, and collecting is prohibited. Despite the regulations and remoteness of the area, vandals have done enough damage in past that the area has been declared an "Area of Critical Environmental Concern".

The rare barefoot gecko is known to make its home among the mountain ridges, and the endangered Peninsular Bighorn sheep live here.

The BLM rates this hike as an 8 on a scale of 10 (with 10 being the most strenuous) due to the steepness of the trail and the elevation gain.

Bill hates dry camping, so we spent the night at the campground at the Vallecito Stage Station in Anza Borrego State Park. It's rumored to be haunted. Our reserved spot was taken by another camper, so with the ranger's permission we found another spot with a little bit of shade. Not as private as the one we had originally reserved, but it had a great view of the haunted building.<br />
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The temperature was still in the 90's overnight and the winds were gale force (notice the flag) down here. Setting up the tent was almost impossible, and by the time we got it done we were so hot and miserable that we debated heading home. But we decided to stick out and it was quite an adventure. After Bill made a run to find more ice, we managed to cook dinner and collapse in the tent, exhausted. But I was holding on for dear life all night long, sure that the wind was going to pick up the tent and blow us away. We had all of the flaps wide open for circulation, but it was still hot and miserable. But I was still glad to be inside a tent; our neighbor at the campsite next to us told us that he slept in the open air, and in the middle of the night he awoke to find a coyote sniffing him!<br />
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I wanted to do more hiking the next day, but Bill had enough of the 100+ temperatures, so we head back home to wait for some cooler weather.

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Bill hates dry camping, so we spent the night at the campground at the Vallecito Stage Station in Anza Borrego State Park. It's rumored to be haunted. Our reserved spot was taken by another camper, so with the ranger's permission we found another spot with a little bit of shade. Not as private as the one we had originally reserved, but it had a great view of the haunted building.

The temperature was still in the 90's overnight and the winds were gale force (notice the flag) down here. Setting up the tent was almost impossible, and by the time we got it done we were so hot and miserable that we debated heading home. But we decided to stick out and it was quite an adventure. After Bill made a run to find more ice, we managed to cook dinner and collapse in the tent, exhausted. But I was holding on for dear life all night long, sure that the wind was going to pick up the tent and blow us away. We had all of the flaps wide open for circulation, but it was still hot and miserable. But I was still glad to be inside a tent; our neighbor at the campsite next to us told us that he slept in the open air, and in the middle of the night he awoke to find a coyote sniffing him!

I wanted to do more hiking the next day, but Bill had enough of the 100+ temperatures, so we head back home to wait for some cooler weather.

Vallecito Vallecito Station Vallecito Stage Anza Borrego state park desert haunted ghost history stagecoach California 2007 building historic 3029