Another month almost without any escape, I left Riverside predawn to spend a few hours working on my Wonderland of Rocks Floor Is Lava Project before the heat of the day set in. I thought I would try to tick off some of the forbidding terrain north of Rattlesnake Canyon. I started hiking at Indian Cove's Rattlesnake Canyon trailhead before 8am. Recent thunderstorms meant the washes were moist, making better travel. Along the way I found a surprising number of pools and even more surprising number of small red-spotted toads hopping out of the way of my footfalls. On familiar terrain, I made it to the Rattlesnake Canyon talus cave in just over a half hour. This would be the last major wash crossing I would have to tackle on my traverse. Fortunately there were ample boulders strewn along the floor and in about 10 minutes I was able to find a route scrambling across to the north side of the wash. The game was afoot.
I scrambled steeply a few hundred feet up slabs and worked my way northwestward as best I could. In no time at all I felt the remoteness surround me. The humidity won over the early hour, resulting in drenching sweat. Puffy white clouds already began to form. The terrain was much less cooperative than I hoped and I soon came to realize that this area might be the hardest section to crack. I struggled to sidle around a sandy wash and when I finally gained the saddle I realized there was more sand. After only about 75 minutes in lava-mode I broke the route to beeline out, still requiring another 70 minutes by path of least resistance to regain my car. In the end I hiked a little over 4 miles in 3 hours. I was way too tired and my marathon through-trip felt a little further away than before. I would probably need to find a completely different route further west. The ultimate goal feels far away. Hopefully I can try to make some more progress over the winter months. It was nice enough to spend a few hours locked in deep wilderness.
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