Sheep and Martinez Backpack Santa Rosa Wilderness

Wilderness Travel Course season gets pretty busy with most weekends being tied up in class outings but we do have the occasional opportunity to get out.  This trip was snuck in between the Orange County Joshua Tree and Snow Travel weekends.  In addition to just being a good excuse to get out and backpack in the local mountains was as an I Provisional for Jen Jones and had the added benefit of being a variation of something I'd done before that I'd wanted to scout as a potential WTC Experience Trip.

Unlike most trips where we drive out the night before and hike in in the morning our plan was to do the initial 2.5 miles Friday night to a known water source and then fill up in the morning and do another 2.5 miles to a dry camp near Cactus Spring.  We'd then dayhike Martinez, return to camp, and then Sunday do Sheep before hiking out.

And as an added bonus we had a winter storm sweep in dropping the temperatures to a low of 27.  Fun!


As it turned out the hardest part of the weekend was everyone getting out of work early enough to meet at 5 pm at the carpool lot.  It's usually rushed getting there for our "normal" 7 pm departure so you can imagine the chaos.


And the traffic.  Leaving right at five meant we went straight into the teeth of the evening commute along the 91.  The only saving grace was the new -ish express lane along the 91 which dumps you out on the 15 south...and right into more traffic.


Despite all of this we eventually all ended up at the Sawmill Trailhead a little before 9 pm.  And it was already chilly.

The issue I have with most desert backpacks is that you generally have to carry all your water in.  In this case there's actually a water source that's almost always running about 2.5 miles in but a report from an HPS group a week ago said there was very low flow.  So just in case we planned on carrying a fair amount of water and two filters just in case.


So we were all loaded down a bit more than usual we set out at about 9:30 pm but it just felt good to be out backpacking again.


The hike in was surprisingly pleasant and we were in camp and set up by a little after 11.


The campsite stretches along the stream right before the trail climbs up and out of the canyon.  There was more than enough spots for everyone and there looked to be more further down.

It's a really nice camp and it's a shame it's 2.5 miles from the junction of the routes for Sheep and Martinez because otherwise it would have made a nice base camp.  The biggest issue is just finding suitable places to go to the bathroom away from the water which requires hiking up the trail out of the canyon.


Far from barely running the water was plentiful and looked clean enough I didn't bother filtering (though others did). We were topped off and ready to go at 7 am.



We followed the trail up into Little Pinyon Flat where Jen picked out a campsite near the (currently dry) Cactus Spring.  We set up camp on the pleasantly soft sand and by 9:20 am we were ready to set out for Martinez.




We went past the wash leading to the gully we planned to use to climb Martinez which led to a bit of interesting bushwhacking along the way.  (For those reading it's highly recommended to stick to the wash)


Once in the gully it was all 2nd class boulder hopping up to the pleateu.


Once up top we had bitterly cold winds that kept us from dallying too long.


We were up top by 2 pm and eager to head down if only to get out of the wind.


We came down the same way though we stuck to the wash to regain the trail which made for a far easier time.


On the way up Victor and Lubna had inadvertently left their sandwiches on a rock.  Apparently it was cold enough nothing was around to mess with them.


We were back in camp a little after 5 and people went about getting set up before we had a chilly happy hour.



The next morning we left camp at 7 am and headed north towards Sheep.


As an addition nav challenge Jen had a more circuitous route planned swinging around to the east which she followed precisely.


We were on the summit by 9:30 am and followed a slightly more direct route back down to camp.




The hike out was all on trail and of course we had significantly less water so it felt like it went a lot faster.


A bonus of coming in Friday night was that all the views looking back at the peaks were brand new.


We made it to the cars just before 3 pm and headed into Temecula to eat lunch at the rather excellent Aztec Tacos.

I've done these two peaks before as a long day hike which is perfectly doable (assuming you're in shape) but I will say the backpack was a nice way to get out early in the season and the navigation involved for both peaks made for a strong Sierra Club I Provisional.  Which Jen passed with flying colors!