Villager and Rabbit Peaks

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 5:24 pm

After completing my 3rd Skyline on Saturday, Tinaballina and I headed down to Patti's house for DELISH lasagna dinner and a rather short night of rest before heading down the S-22 to the TH for Villager and Rabbit Peaks.

The participants of this hike were:

Norma, Tina, Robin, Steve, Patti, and Me.

We made our way through the darkness, across the sandy flats before crossing the drainage and heading up the foot of the ridge that makes its way up to the two peaks. In the dark it can be a bit confusing trying to find the start of the switchbacks. Luckily, Steve and Tina had done the hike before and pointed the rest of us in the right direction.

The initial section switchbacks for a few hundred feet before becoming a series of rolling hills that rise steadily until arriving at Villager Peak. The trail stays almost directly on the spine of the ridge and at one point hugs a very steep cliff-side with visible signs of erosion. We snacked atop Villager and cached our extra water before beginning our trek across to Rabbit Peak.

Directly after Villager the trail drops down and follows the continuous ridge towards Rabbit. There were about 5 "humps" between the two peaks.

*Word to the wise, pace yourself and keep in mind you're going to have to make the elevation again on the return trip. *

The steepest portion is right before the summit. The summit itself is nothing too special. I was disappointed that there weren't any good views of the Salton Sea, being obstructed by trees and the dome shape of summit. We ran into another group of hikers at the top of Rabbit.

The descent went smoothly, everything started to blur, all the cactus, sand and rocks begins to look the same after a while. We reached the bottom of the wash right as the sun set and were back at the cars in no time. Good times.

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 5:36 pm

Looks pretty awesome!

HJ

lilbitmo · Post by **lilbitmo** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 5:56 pm

Nice work everyone (key word here is work) that's one long day hike, great picutres.

norma r · Post by **norma r** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:55 pm

Zach, i could have sworn i was there too????????????? next time i WILL touch your sunburned legs dude... with an Ocotillo whip.

Post by **Taco** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:23 am

The views in your pics are really beautiful. Looks like Tatooine.

I used to go to Anza Borrego as a wee lad, that brings back memories.

simonov · Post by **simonov** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:24 am

Hard core.

Attempted twice, defeated twice.

Must try it again someday.

TracieB · Post by **TracieB** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:37 pm

Ive been wanting to do this hike, dang I missed it. Nice pix

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:57 pm

norma r wrote: Zach, i could have sworn i was there too????????????? next time i WILL touch your sunburned legs dude... with an Ocotillo whip.

you'll have to catch me first

MattCav · Post by **MattCav** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:44 pm

Great tr, Zach! I'm not familiar with Rabbit and Villager peaks. Are those in Anzo Borego? What are the distance/elevation specs on that hike, if I can ask?

Great pics... I'm feeling the urge to check that one out, esp with this colder weather...

Johnny Bronson · Post by **Johnny Bronson** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 9:25 am

Good times =D

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 9:51 am

MattCav wrote: Great tr, Zach! I'm not familiar with Rabbit and Villager peaks. Are those in Anzo Borego? What are the distance/elevation specs on that hike, if I can ask?

Great pics... I'm feeling the urge to check that one out, esp with this colder weather...

I believe it is 7 or 8 to get to Villager and 11 to Rabbit with the total round trip distance being about 21 miles. If my memory serves me correctly I believe the total elevation gained is 7800ft. It's nearby the Anza Borego Desert but not inside it.

norma r · Post by **norma r** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:07 am

Zach, you are pretty spot-on with the stats. That was one beast of a hike and everyone except Steve was complaining of pain on the way down. But we did it! We beat that Swilly Wabbitt! Great views, beautiful desert terrain and a heck of a long hike to do when most of us had already down a good sized hike the day before or in my case 3-days before.

Ocotillo bloom in the morning alpenglow

Tina trying to destroy the competition

Desertscaping

Robin, Tina and Zach on Villager summit. it's only been 4 hours and we're still feeling frisky.

Steve taking a hydration break courtesy of Patti

Wabbitt on Rabbit

Get a room!

Chafing, one of the miscellaneous complaints today

Robin thankful the hike is almost over

rest of my pix are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ryan.norma ... verse21311#

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:21 am

Awesome shots, Norma (as usual).

Don't know whether I like the Wabbit on Wabbit (

) or the Robin sunset one. All good.

HJ

rokclimbr · Post by **rokclimbr** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:53 am

in one of your photos I noticed it said the peak is closed except for the months between October and December. Is it a water access thing or a cultural thing?

Elwood · Post by **Elwood** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 12:54 pm

Y'all are cute. Nice pictures and report.

TracieB · Post by **TracieB** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 1:27 pm

Nice photos, Norma. So.....if its closed all other months besides Oct - December....I have to ask...

MattCav · Post by **MattCav** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:08 pm

Awesome! I'm adding it to the hike queue.

RichardK · Post by **RichardK** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 6:42 pm

Congratulations on one tough hike, probably beyond my ability at this point. Maybe I will try just Villager one of these years.

Dave G · Post by **Dave G** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:28 pm

rokclimbr wrote: in one of your photos I noticed it said the peak is closed except for the months between October and December. Is it a water access thing or a cultural thing?

I'm pretty sure that refers to the "voluntary Bighorn Sheep closure" and applies more to the route from the Salton Sea. I think the most popular way to do it is the way Zach & Co. did, starting at S22 and tagging Villager along the way. Not particularly difficult (all class 1), but loonngg and dry. And then there's avoiding the Jumping Cholla, which may be the actual crux of the trip (at least it was for me).

Good job you guys!

Post by **Taco** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:17 pm

Is it wabbit season yet? Better watch out, Norma.

Dominik · Post by **Dominik** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:53 pm

Amazing,

I was looking though my hiking book this morning thinking to myself, I need to do this hike! More so, I need to do this hike and scout the Rattlesnake Canyon that is just to the East of the hiking trail.
Sounds like a long day even without the inclusion of scouting. Hmmmm, at least now I have a reference. Thanks for posting the TR!