We awoke in a beautiful place. Looking up Sheep Canyon revealed some excellent scenery and some nice palm groves. Looking downvalley revealed far-reaching views of fault-bounded ranges. I was looking forward to exploring this seldom visited corner of Anza Borrego. Cougar Canyon is perhaps one of the least visited canyons in southern California for its high quality. The canyon drains a significant portion of the Anza highlands, which combined with abundant springs, supports year-round surface water. With the rains we had recently been having I was hoping for an little extra boost of water while in the canyon. In all we had about ten rappels and many downclimbs to surmount in this hidden gem of a canyon.
With the cool conditions and comfortable hiking temperature we were able to go light with our packs. Sara carried her canyon gear and some water in a collapsible backpack that could be stashed in mine once we suited up. We hiked up the gentle alluvial fan of Indian Canyon, said hello to a lone backpacker, then turned up the narrower, steeper, and rougher Valley of a Thousand Springs. Care was needed to avoid the overabundant cat's paw, which ripped at skin and clothes without discretion. Often it was tempting to traverse the side of the canyon, but eventually we found that bushwhacking through the wash bottom was often the best. The further we hiked the denser the vegetation and the larger the boulders. A thousand foot scramble out of the canyon just left of a prominent skyline notch brought us to the ridge with Cougar Canyon, then a mild 250ft down brought us to fresh following water in Cougar. I happily dumped our remaining water, since we could use a straw filter whenever we wanted in the canyon.
A short bushwhack down Cougar we reached the first rappel and so suited up in our neoprene. From here on it would lightly rain intermittently but the water temperature was fortunately warmer than I was expecting and so body temperature was pretty easy to manage most of the day. The canyon had a nice mix of chockstone rappels and fluted granite. Generally I was impressed with the beauty and sculpting of the rock. This was a real canyon! More water flow would have been appreciated but the amount we had was great- much more than photos I had seen from previous trips. Although bushwhacking was prevalent for brief intervals throughout the canyon it was never enough to detract from the beauty of the canyon.
The canyon continued to deepen the further down the canyon we went. At one point a nice rappel dropped us into a hanging palm tree oasis, inaccessible from any other route. Here it was clear that this canyon sometimes receives serious flood events and in the right conditions holds deep swimming pools.
Each rappel seemed better than the last. Admittedly we did have issues pulling ropes using some of the anchors we had found, but nothing we were not able to eventually remedy. Smeared mafic enclaves were nicely highlighted in the smooth, wet granite. At intervals we also spotted some nice pegmatites complete with tourmaline and garnets.
The canyon continued. The day ran on and I began to wonder when it would finally end. The last narrows was probably the best, with several interesting rappels down the most fluted and colorful sections of rock. One of the last rappels was down a narrow slot which gave us a good drenching (frontispiece).
With the very last of the daylight we reached the end of the canyon and the final bit of rock scrambling and cactus avoidance back to Indian Canyon. Although the light was almost completely gone, the light decomposed granite of the trail was just enough of a guide that we made it back to the car without using a headlamp. It ended up being a much bigger day than I expected, but also a much more satisfying one. Though I could easily enjoy another night at the remote campsite here, knowing that significant rain was forecast to follow, we de-suited, turned the ignition, and powered onward. Thankfully I made it back down Boulder Alley without drama and we were soon on pavement trying to figure out where to spend the night. We ended up at Agua Caliente County Park, a good option considering it put us closer to tomorrow's goal and avoided the many other muddy, floody options in Anza Borrego.
