2008-12-20: "Momollie" Anza Borrego Tour Report

[BlueFJ]

Ok, guess I'll start this out! Had a really fun day of wheeling today. We all met at Dudley's at 7AM and gassed up in Santa Ysabel. There was a lot of snow and it was around 30 degrees as we went thru Julian and down
banner grade. We headed down the Great Southern Overland Stage Rd and over to Arroyo Tapiado to the Mud caves where we explored one of the caves. From there we back-tracked to Arroyo Seco del Diablo to Diablo Dropoff to Fisk Creek Wash to Sandstone Canyon, where we stopped to have lunch. On the way in I gave 'er a bit to much gas getting up the little waterfall and ended up sliding over and getting hung up so Ollie had to give me a tug. After lunch we continued up fish creek past split rock and found some more snow. We turned around at a point that would make it pretty hairy to get back thru and headed back to Fish Creek and out thru Split Mtn. We then headed West on the 78 and cut across on Butte's Pass. There was really thick, slicked, gooey mud along the pass that made for lots of spinning, sliding and fish tails... what a blast! We made it out to Font's Point just in time for the sunset... always a gorgeous sight! After gassing up in Borrego Springs, we said our Goodbyes and headed for home. All in all, another great day of wheeling and company. It was good to meet some new folks too!

[gon2srf]

Ollie, thanks for leading a most memorable day in Anza Borrego. Today had to be one of the most beautiful days of 4 wheeling I have ever experienced. From snow covered pastures and mountain ranges to winter wonderland high desert panoramas we experienced it all today. Oh and mud caves, mud filled washes, snow ball fights, slippery drop offs, falling sandstone and UFO's? A day to remember for sure. I have hundreds of good pics but I can post just few until tomorrow, have to be at work in 7hr 45min.

Need a photo for your Christmas cards? And they say we don't have seasons in California.


Southern California or Alaska?


30 degrees in Julian


The photographer








Trail Meeting


Mud Cave

[OLLIE]

Thanks for getting this thread started. I had a great day in the deseert with everyone. Momollie had a most memorable day. I want to tank everyone for the hospitality you showed her. We had it all out there. Snow, mud, sand, no wind, snowball fights, mud caves, mud bogging, and great people. I took a lot of pics a lot of pictures of everyones rigs throughout the day and will get them posted up later today. I need to clean up the rig and get on the road. I'm taking mom and my son to see the Midway today.

[Frogeye]

Guys, this was THE BEST trip out to AB I've been on to date. Like G2Srf said, the conditions, the people, the scenery, it was all absolutely perfect! And, we saw a UFO! I'll post up pictures later today/tomorrow. It was nice to see old friends and meet some new ones. I'll always remember this run and a huge TY to everyone that came along and shared this incredible experience.

[BoBoNel]

....and i missed it. dang. looks like a great time. cant wait to see the pics of the UFO??!!

p.s.....if anyone thats posting pics can link a photo album (if you have your pics hosted somewhere)......so i can view the full pictures. (right side cut off)

[BlueFJ]

Bobo, if you use Firefox, you can right-click on the pix and choose View Image to see the whole thing!

[BorregoWrangler]

A big thank you to Ollie for setting this up! It was a great time out there and good to meet Ollie's mom. The snow, sand, mud, caves and cold; we enjoyed it all. Seeing the snow mixed in with all the cactus was pretty cool! We wanted to head on up Pinyon Mountain Rd to the bottom of Heart Attack Hill but along the way we ran into an obstacle that would have held us up for a while, especially in the snow. We'll have to head back again. I still have to clean all the mud off my Jeep. Most of my pictures are almost uploaded so I'll post em up soon. It was great seeing everyone again as well as meeting some new folks.

[BlueFJ]

Here's my GPX file of the run, starting at the trail head off the Great Southern Overland Stage Rd.

12-20-08_MomOllie_Tour.gpx

(398.03 KiB) Downloaded 418 times

[BorregoWrangler]

FJ's in the desert and a Jeep shall lead them!

We met here.


It was cold in my mostly open-top vehicle!


Yay, everyones here! Let's go!


It was a winter wonderland going through Julian.










Lined up and airing down at the trailhead to Valliceto Wash.


Ollie, making tracks in the mud.


Parked at one of the big mud caves in Arroyo Tapiado Canyon.


Into the cave.




Skylight at the end.




Muddied up and ready to go.


Diablo dropoff.








Fish Creek.




Sandstone Canyon.






Ranger checking up on us.


Lunch time.




Split Rock.








Hey, how'd he get up there?






Jump!




Hangin' out.


We had to stop here.

[sdnative]

Looks like you guys had a great time. I sure wish I could have made it. I had family in from overseas, so it wasn't going to happen.

Why didn't you go through Oriflamme?

Was Sandstone closed? How far did you go back? How were the conditions? I really want to get out to that area before new years sometime, but am concerned about the rains up in the canyons.

Oh, and section between split rock and the bottom of Pinyon dropoff is really fun

Where was this? I don't recognize it.