Temecula Gorge Nov 29

An unusually rainy Thanksgiving Day boosted the Santa Margarita River to a 1200cfs peak with a second unforecast peak delaying its decay just long enough for a morning Black Friday run. And cold! There was snow on the San Gabriels, Santa Anas, and San Jacinto like I had never seen. Like my previous run I was unable to find anyone to join me and so ran the 10 mile Temecula Gorge Class IV run solo yet again. It was just after 9a by the time I finally inflated and suited up in the Jack-In-The-Box parking lot in the lingering rain and walked past homeless tents and through dense willows to the river's edge. The Temecula gauge would say 350cfs nearby when I started and 270cfs when I finished, though the flow was noticeably higher than the last time I ran it when the gauge also said 350. The two other times I ran Temecula Gorge were late season February-ish runs where the native cacti and succulents were green, swollen, and happy. This was the first major rain after summer so instead I saw a much less vibrant landscape with plants holding on for dear life. Relatedly, there was considerably more foam in places and I don't think I was imagining that the water appeared extra gross. Also the first waterfall was at a trickle and the second was bone dry, which was new. The left gasket of my drysuit failed spectacularly when I stopped at the first waterfall and so I had a trickle of water working its way into my suit for the rest of the run.

The rapids filled in very nicely at this higher flow and I was able to read-and-run everything from memory. The only quick scout was at the rock ledge rapid near the prominent house sized boulder which previous times I had portaged or sneaked. This time and at this flow I was confident in a line down the center and this turned out to be one of the more enjoyable rapids. I made good work of the major rapids, only getting beached on a rock and flipping in a minor rapid towards the end of the gorge (self rescue was instant). I made it through the 6 mile gorge in an hour and a half, very analogous to my run last time when I was paddling hard to beat sundown. The remaining 4 miles of willows seemed more challenging at this flow and I had a couple near misses and one surprise sweeper that sent me for a swim. I was on high alert after that. I made it to the Sandia Creek parking lot at about 12:15p, only a few minutes after 3 hours. I chatted to a few friendly hikers seeking a ride but they were all headed the other direction so I summoned an Uber and was whisked away after 15 minutes. I was thrilled to get outside and be the only one on the river. I realized the wind was favorable and almost tried to hike up the Box Springs to fit in a paraglide flight but the day was just a little too short by the time I would have been able to mobilize. What an epic Black Friday that would have been: 10 mile Class IV packraft and paragliding in the same day within 45 minutes of my house!

Westwater Canyon Nov 10

After the tame float of Ruby-Horsethief Keith and I were both ready for a little splashy Class III excitement. Daniel and Calev were equally jazzed. Unfortunately Keith awoke feeling sickly and so our day got off to a slow start. Despite this we still managed to take off at 9a. We heard rumors that sun didn't make it into the canyon this time of year so I dressed extra warm under my drysuit. Thankfully I managed to dress just right for comfort although we had plenty of sun. The first three miles of open canyon brought us to a surprising stretch of Vishnu Schist on river left, then a towering cliff of sandstone on river right. We abruptly crossed a fault and found ourselves in a deepening black rock canyon with towering red walls above. For flatwater the river was moving comfortably which was helping with time. A bald eagle flew low overheard. Everyone was stoked, especially Calev who could barely contain himself.

        At the faulted entrance to Westwater Canyon

A few riffles led to a nice stretch of rapids after. We found these all the be read-and-run and to have fun wave trains to bounce over. We pulled into the awkward scouting spot for Skull Rapid just in time to see another group's kayaker blast through. There was a monstrous hole at the bottom of the rapid but very forgiving room to move from the center to the left throughout the rapid. I thought it was actually one of the easier rapids though the highest on consequence.

        Skull Rapid

The 200ft deep rock rock gorge within the 400ft deep canyon had a few more rapids but began to lose its height. After Last Chance Rapid the river reverted to flatwater, the slowest on either of the two runs we did. We passed a large rincon on river left and passed through a prominent dogleg gateway in the black rock. The basement then disappeared, lining the river with sandstone once again. The sandstone then disappeared into the river over a distance of about a mile and a half.

We made good time to the Cisco boat landing and packed up in good time. It would have been a great trip at this point but we had the unfortunate complication that Heather's car broke down and she was on her way to meet us with a rental. We spent a while figuring out logistics over burgers at Ray's Tavern in Green River. Keith and I would drive on to arrive back in Riverside at 1:30am while Heather and David would stick around Moab to figure out the car. Thanks again to Keith for sorting out river logistics. It was nice to check out a new 42 mile stretch of the Colorado River.

Ruby & Horsethief Canyons Nov 8-9

Lots of driving but I managed to sneak in two new-to-me Colorado River runs in a long weekend. Unusual for this time of year the Colorado here was still flowing at a healthy 4700 cfs. First up was the 25 mile Class I-II Ruby-Horsethief run (which probably should be called the Horsethief-Ruby run since Horsethief Canyon comes first). We drove for broke Thursday, arriving to a dusty roadside camping spot near the UT-CO border at about 2am. Chilly!

We slept as long as we could then drove to the boat launch. We readied ourselves relatively efficiently, the sun a welcome heat source for an otherwise brisk morning. At about 10am we set off, almost immediately having a bald eagle fly low overhead which we took for a good omen. Though even the riffles were very minor the River was consistently moving to our satisfaction such that we easily made the first 3 miles to Rattlesnake Canyon in less than an hour. Being one of the few sidehike options we beaches for a short walk. Keith and I walked about 1.5 miles up to where several forks of the canyon joined while Heather and David lagged behind.

        In Rattlesnake Canyon

We continued on, the canyon walls gradually growing skyward. I spotted a group of 18 bighorn sheep and pulled into the eddy in front of them to watch them for 5 minutes before paddling back into the current. Before too much longer riverside railroad tracks joined our run which would stay with us until the end of the run. At a location called Faultline we stopped for lunch on a cobble bar between two impressive outcrops of a ~100m monocline. Paddling on we continued to make good time. 

Our camp spot was 15 miles in at a place called Black Rock supposedly because the Vishnu schist is exposed at the river which I found hard to believe. Sure enough another monocline appeared just before camp with just enough buckling to barely expose the basement here. The River cuts through the Mesozoic sandstone and shale stratigraphy of the Morrison, Entrada, Kayenta, Wingate, and Chinle to hit its 2 billion year old basement black Vishnu Schist. The Great Unconformity in the Grand Canyon is actually greater here with closer to 1.5 billion years of time missing. 

We pulled into our assigned camp Black Rock 5 with a comfortable amount of daylight left. After unloading my packraft and pitching my tent, Keith and I went for a short hike to try to scramble up the the canyon rim. We picked up a good trail used by people and bighorn sheep alike which got us to the rim in about 20 minutes. We continued along to the prow at the corner of Moore Canyon for a commanding view before heading back down to camp. We ran into the same group of sheep on the way up and down which held us with only mild interest. After an early dinner we all turned in to bed in short order, tired and too cold to have a reason to stay awake.

        Looking down from the Moore Canyon prow

Thankfully I slept warmer than the previous night. We had a somewhat leisurely morning, only needing to paddle 10 miles before 2pm on a river that generously kept moving. Within about a mile the river left its window into its black basement and cut back through the sedimentary layers.

Shortly we arrived at McDonald Creek where I had a pictograph side hike marked so we got out of the boats and hiked across slickrock benches to a prominent alcove. The pictographs were about the least impressive I’ve ever seen- a faded red and a faded white figurine next to each other- but the alcove and sandstone detail was quite nice.

Back on the river the canyon began to widen and the walls abated. A few more long sweeping bends and we were at the Westwater put-in/Ruby takeout. Keith hitched a ride to close the first of three shuttle runs. Daniel and Caleb eventually showed up to help complete the other two. I made a long lived fire at our riverside camp. Ruby-Horsethief has some nice scenic moments (especially the geological ones) and it was one of the most steadily moving Class I-II runs I’ve been on which was overall relaxing. Kudos to Keith for arranging the permits.

Box Springs Paragliding Nov 3

One of my main motivations for getting into paragliding was to have another way to explore and recreate in my backyard, the Box Springs Mountain Park. I have accumulated 50 flights and so am starting to feel comfortable branching out to where I can evaluate flying sites on my own. I have a great big open field in front of my house that is flat and mowed clear of weeds that makes an excellent and highly convenient landing site for me. The challenge I knew would be finding a good launch site. I needed a large enough space that could be cleared of weeds, not too steep or rocky, and facing the correct way so that I could launch into the wind. I had been scouting all around the hills while out on trail runs over the last several months. I’ve spotted many potential launches but almost all of them had poorly placed boulders in the runout area which I’d be concerned to run into. Also most of these launches were well off trails which meant extra annoyance of wading through sock destroying foxtails. I had a rare weekend day at home with few tasks at hand and so went for a morning run to Table peak. I spotted several potentially good launches along the way but then near the top it appeared, the best launch I had seen yet. It faced the right way, was sizable, would give me 1200’ descent, and seemed to have a good flight path down to the field. As a bonus it had easy trail access. A concern was the abrupt cliff it ended at! I’d need to be committed by the time I got to the edge. Excited, I went about my day with plans to hike up with a rake and gear in the afternoon with the hope that I could clear the launch and the winds would be favorable.

I hiked up to my launch in about 40 minutes. Windy! I killed time taking a nice clearing while I hoped the wind calmed as sunset approached. I raked for a solid hour by which point I thought the wind calmed enough that it was worth attempting a launch. I unfurled and strapped in. I puffed up the wing to create an even wall and then fought the wind a little to keep the wing on the ground. Everything ready, I gave it a slight tug, it leaped overhead, inflated mostly evenly, I turned as the last wing tip cleared, took no more than three steps and was propelled skyward in an abrupt updraft. A smooth launch. Instant joy! After the boost off launch the air was silky smooth. I beelined for the Two Trees trail to make sure I had enough clearance to get to the LZ but ended up maintaining height better than I thought. I followed the trail down it’s ridge to the pointy hill at the end and then switch backed adjacent to the field. On final approach I got a little nervous at my height relative to the low fence separating the two fields and so opted to turn to land in the further field. I had a smooth landing with all smiles. A short walk brought me to my driveway where I could fold my gear back up. It was only about an 8 min flight but was probably the most satisfying flight of the 50 I have logged. And I could certainly see the potential for a longer flight in conditions with more thermals. I’m really hoping to get a local flight in per week. It’s really helped me have a positive outlook knowing I have this in my backyard now.