A great day for a paddle, near perfect flows with a slow decay, and a frustrating day at work became too unbearable and I biked home after lunch to hurriedly pack for an improvised solo paddle through the Santa Margarita River's Class IV Temecula Gorge. I had been on this run once before and felt like I remembered the rapids well enough to make smart decisions on my own. As I drove the 45 minutes to the put-in I exhausted my list of friends and family that could possibly run shuttle for me. It would have to be either an attempt at a hitch or an Uber. There was some new development and traffic patterns at the put-in since my previous run in January 2017 but thankfully these actually seemed to make the access easier. I parked in the corner of the Jack-In-The-Box parking lot, discretely inflated my boat and suited, and walked the few hundred feet to Murriteta Creek. It was 2:30p when I put in- not ideal but plenty of time if everything went smoothly. I felt a little nervous excitement setting out on my own without a fully formed plan as I bopped down the mellow Class II to the confluence with Temecula Creek, where the Santa Margarita is formed and instantly plunges into a steep walled gorge of no return. The rapids started immediately. Somehow the native succulents were even better than I remembered and I couldn't resist stopping a few times to snap some photos.
It is harder to get good action photos on a solo trip but I found that I was able to effectively read and run all the rapids. The efficiency at which I could boat alone and the surprising confidence that came with it were both a revelation. Though I certainly enjoy the company of others on the water, I was having a great time by myself. The day was starting to feel like a birthday present to myself. I ended up sneaking one prominent rapid that we portaged last time (picture below) but otherwise took the boldest lines. In the steepest part of the gorge between the two waterfalls is a place where a road comes down on both sides. I was quite surprised to see a couple people in hi vis vests standing on a rock outcrop looking at the river. I was even more surprised to realize (rather lately) that they were standing directly above what is probably the most complex rapid of the run (oops I forgot about that one!). With more than a little adrenaline I approached with a calm panic, doing my best to use paddle strokes to place me centered in its maw, keep me upright, and ready to take on the messy seam at the bottom (3:18-3:50 in the video below).
Some of the rapids that required scouting or even portaging on my previous trip (lower flow) were happily quite straightforward. This really did feel like it was at a good flow! I knew there would be one mandatory portage and was quite surprised when it did not appear. It was right at the very end of the gorge, much lower than I had remembered. The river formed quite a contrast to Deep Creek a couple days earlier- the rapids felt less junky and just more enjoyable on the Santa Margarita.
Before I knew it I spotted powerlines and avocado fields. In a little less than 1.5 hrs I had cleared the 6 miles of Class IV, remarkably without any flips! A quick check showed that I had reception at this point. I was feeling good about the time and worried about getting a hitch or Uber from the avocado back roads and so I decided to cautiously push on through the 4 miles of willows to the bridge. On the way I spotted a pair of beavers and several nice colonies of dudleya. Remembering some of our willow portaging misadventures from the previous trip I was able to take the correct channel over and over again. I got slapped in the face repeatedly by the vegetation but managed to clear the whole run with only one willow portage. In an additional 1.5 hours I had reached the bridge, right on dark. I was ecstatic at my fantastic run. The Temecula gauge showed 349 to 283 cfs during my run.
Dudleya pulverulenta
I quickly packed everything away in my backpack and made myself presentable. In hindsight it was foolish to expect anyone to stop for a hitcher at this odd location but I could not resist sticking my thumb out long enough to have at least 50 cars pass. At that point I whipped out my phone, signed up for Uber, and minutes later had a ride en route with a 15 minute ETA. A super friendly and pleasant 20 minute/$22 Uber ride had me back at my car. Definitely the way to do this run! I drove back thoroughly content that I got to enjoy a solid 3 hours of wilderness to myself. I'm excited by the possibility of doing this Uber assisted adventure again in the future. The put-in even has a brewery.
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