Anza-Borrego Rain Run (Black Canyon & Lower Coyote Canyon) - January 2008
Well, we got up around 11AM after getting home from LA a little after 4AM and decided it would make for a fun adventure to head out into the desert in the rain. I called my sister to let her know where'd we be if anything happened since they have a 4X4 Silverado. Cool thing is, they ended up joining us. On the way out just passed Ramona, we turned up Magnolia Ave and up Black Mountain Road, along Santa Ysabel Creek.
Looking across from Black Mountain Road to Santa Ysabel Truck Trail.
In Black Canyon, water amply illustrates its mindless yet artistic ability to sculpt stone. Every once in a great while, a gush of sediment-laden storm runoff tears through the canyon bottom, carving and polishing the bedrock slabs, drilling potholes ever deeper, toppling trees, and pushing rounded boulders downstream.
Near the junction of Black Canyon Road and Santa Ysabel Truck Trail is an old campground that closed over 30 years ago. I remember seeing an old overgrown road heading out somewhere in this area. One of these days I'll have to check it out.
In a normal spring season the stream of water in Black Canyon is often fairly placid: it happily splashes over small waterfalls, pauses in pools, slides along inclined slabs, and finds hidden passages beneath immense boulders.
Black Mountain Road.
Not finding any snow towards the top, we headed on down to Anza Borrego. Coming down the grade I noticed another jeep in front of me that was swerving a bit and moving just a little too fast. Next thing I see, it crashes into a sign, nearly plummets down the cliff side, spins out across the road and smashes into the hillside!
It didn't seem like the gal was even wearing her seatbelt. If she had gone off the edge, that would've been it. The two dogs inside were ok but she was bloodied up a bit. Some other folks drove up in a car who turned out to be her neighbors. They called the tow truck and helped the girl and her dogs. We continued down to Coyote Canyon.
Its a rare sight to see so much water flowing through Coyote Canyon Creek.
Yes, I know I had a headlight out...
We ended up turning around just before the third water crossing. With all the rain I didn't want to risk getting their truck stuck. On the way home we stopped in Julian for dinner. It was a great day spent with family out in the back country.
