#55 Pinto Canyon
13 miles | +2000’
There’s an article in the June 2009 San Diego Reader entitled, “Stay Away From Pinto Canyon.” I don’t recall if this was where I first heard of it, but hiking Pinto Canyon had been a goal for some time now. The canyon’s palm oasis, difficult terrain, remoteness, and petroglyphs appealed to my sense of adventure.
The aforementioned article also said that because of the canyon’s proximity to the international border there’s the risk of running into “mules” carrying drugs, or “coyotes” leading groups of migrants into the United States. I feel that there’s some fear-mongering going on when it comes to some of the border areas. I’ve never had a bad run in with anyone or ever felt unsafe. However, it’s still probably good to be cautious and hike in groups. Hikers have occasionally come across the remains of those who perished in this harsh terrain. In 2009 a group came across the body of a 12 year old girl, and in 2012 a solo hiker discovered a human skull partially buried in the sand.
Our 13 mile route was quite challenging, with soft sand slowing our stride, large boulders to scramble up and over, dry waterfalls to bypass, and sharp stabby plants to avoid.
This area also has a rich archeological heritage ands nearly every surface of this arid land yields evidence of past human inhabitants. One of the highlights of this trip are the Native American petroglyphs, one in particular shows a single-mast ship with a striped square-rigged sail. According to the Maritime Museum of San Diego, the ship depicted in the rock carving could be from “the expedition of Francisco Ulloa in 1539, the expedition of Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602, or the expedition of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542.” But who really knows? Perhaps it was some wayward vikings! It’s important to show these sites the respect they deserve... look, but don’t touch.
