With another rainstorm rounding out the end of spring break I was hoping to find something new to get up to. A year previous a couple kayaking friends did a first descent of a neat little wilderness creek in San Diego County. They went about a month after rain and had barely boatable flows but I could see the potential in their video clips. Sure there was some scrubby sections that could use some gardening, but there was also lots of sections with nice granite slickrock slides and waterfalls that could clearly take a lot of water and still be runnable. With most kayaking friends away, injured, or family tied I could not find anyone to join me for the paddle but Sam kindly and generous volunteered to give me a shuttle. With a shuttle it would be a 2.5 mile hike in, 4 mile creek run, then a 1.5 mile hike out; without the shuttle it would be over 9 miles of hiking for 4 miles of creek. Sam showed up to the exit trailhead at 8:30am and shuttled me up to the private access they figured out permission for. Sam decided to join me for the hike in to the creek which was a nice social surprise. It was easy walking along the ridgetop forest road, then a little rougher hiking down a semi-overgrown trail to the river. At the creek we saw a modest amount of water, much less than we both hoped and expected but more than Sam and Gavin had a year ago. Sam suggested I hike a quarter-mile down the creek to where it gets better and I said adios as he headed back up the trail. It took me one hour to hike to my put-in. Hiking a quarter-mile down the side of the creek avoiding poison oak with care I was delighted to see a major confluence that doubled the flow in the creek. At the time I thought this was a side creek but it was not until much later that I realized that the flow of the creek evenly split well upstream of where we intersected it and here is where it was rejoining. It was a mental boost to have a bit more water, even if still much less than hoped for. I set up on the bottom of the island as a cold rain annoyingly began to start.
I pushed off and immediately began weaving my way between rocks and branches, doing my best to minimize the ever present scratching sounds against my boat and my paddle. Nearly every feature in the 4 mile section of creek was read-and-run but perhaps most exciting where the overgrown brushy channels with poison oak partially growing out over the creek to add extra spice. The bedrock sections were beautiful and fun, if mellow at the current flow. The atmosphere was great between the gloomy weather, wilderness character, mossy rocks, and some of the best California native succulents I have seen anywhere (frontispiece). Despite the occasional trees, it was a generally open valley providing far-reaching views. At one point I saw a pond turtle for a split-second before it dove off a rock.
I took the time to clear about a dozen wood obstructions and decided to set up a GoPro on a tripod to rerun a few of the fun little drops. Despite that I made excellent time on the first couple miles of the river but then some of the brushy sections became a little more involved and slowed my pace. The rain blasted me off and on.
Overall the creek made for a nice packraft run but at this flow there were a couple too narrow pourovers where I chockstoned my too wide boat. It was mostly for this reason I decided to portage the steepest and longest rapid with several tight spots on the channel that ended at a minor sieve (image below) and another distinct crease rapid after that. It took me about 3.5 hours to reach my takeout at the Espinosa Trail. As I was transitioning back to hiking another burst of rain annoyingly started up again.
It was a mellow 40 minute hike up the 1.5 miles back to my waiting car, ending my day earlier than expected at 3:30pm. Once back to cell reception I let Sam know I was out. I still do not understand the hydrology of this creek and why the flow wasn't higher (perhaps still locked as snow higher up in the drainage?). While it was not the most exciting run and perhaps the smallest creek I have ever run, I did greatly enjoy floating through this obscure piece of San Diego backcountry and would maybe even consider running it again if I could catch three times the flow. Other than Sam I had the whole place to myself despite the enormous trailhead parking lot. On the way back I got to catch up with my grandpa and have dinner with him and my mom which was nice. It was late and I was tired by the time I made it back home. Thanks again to Sam and Gavin.
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