Anza-Borrego Desert: Lute Fault Scarp

Rating *****
Length 5.4 mile (return) - 2 Hour, 15 minutes (return trip). Easy.
Elevation 760 - 1200 feet
Access All cars, there is a parking close to mile 30.1.

This hike follows the Lute Fault Scarp, first in the Rattlesnake canyon and on the return along the ridge.

Follow the terrain with sand dunes and burrows of Kangaroo rats? and Rabbits.
Your foot can easily disappear without any warning in one of the tunnels.

Once in the Rattlesnake wash you see plenty of Palo Verde trees.
At the end of February 2014, some looked dead others healthy, but they did somehow bloom, even without rain for about half a year.

Keep close to the scarp, a short stretch with small rocks.
Keeping out of the wash is the best option.

At the end of the fault scarp turn back West but now over the ridge.
Follow the ridge up to the "peak" and head back toward the car, staying more or less parallel to the road, far away.

About the Scarp:

At the south-eastern end of Clark Valley stands Lute Ridge, a strike-slip pressure-ridge fault scarp two miles long and about 1200 feet high.
Lute Ridge is said to be the largest known fault scarp on the North American continent existing in unconsolidated sediments
(Remeika and Lindsay Geology of Anza Borrego, 1992, pp. 47, 102).

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Hiking the Borrego Springs Area (Anza-Borrego Desert SP, Cuyamaca Rancho SP, Imperial Sand Dunes (Algodones Dunes), Jacumba, Laguna Mountain, Warner Springs) California, Hike with gps, gpx and kml (Google Earth).

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