Anza-Borrego Desert: Banner Lucky Strike Mine

Rating *****
Length 2.6 mile (Loop) - 2 Hour 15 minutes (Loop). Easy/Moderate.
Elevation 3260 - 3630 feet
Access Some ground clearance, 4x4 preferred.

From the start, follow a well defined dirt road west.
The road gradually heads towards Chariot Canyon. Eventually reaching the seasonal creek.
Following the creek is surprisingly easy, it only gets denser close to the exit point.

The start of the hike and creek are BLM, we enter private (abandoned?) just before point "Spring".

A detour is along a faint overgrown "road" up to the open Golden Sugar Mine.
The scramble up to the mine is very steep and there is plenty of Poison oak out there.
A steel cable in a drainage is north and below the actual mine.

Warning:
This is BLM, expect hunters.
Watch out for Toxicodendron diversilobum / Poison oak (shrubs with leaves of 3 green or reddish, leafless shrubs, with what looks like white berries.
This is one of the densest Poison oak areas we've ever seen, suspect every shrub, tiny or very large unless you know what it is.

How to get here:

In Banner close to the Banner shop (mile 64.8) head east on a dirt road.
After a short while a gate with impressive locks, but the gate is actually always unlocked.
The road may be a bit rough, you need a high clearance car, probably with 4x4, to drive it.
At the first crossing follow road 159 up to point park.
Disclaimer: Read this first before you start your hike. Contact: info/at/borregohiking/./com (leave out the /)
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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