Southern California Club Xterra
Southern California Club Xterra => SCCX Xcursion Pictures => Topic started by: Blackx on March 12, 2017, 03:49:30 PM
-
Just got back from the obligatory wild flower trip to Borrego. It's been so long since I've been off roading for off roading sake. We did Fonts Point of course. Short Wash, Arroyo Salado, 17 and 5 Palms, and Cutoff Trail. This was my daughters first off road trip and they (mostly) had a good time. Next weekend I think the flowers will peak. The best viewing is on Henderson Canyon Rd.
Family posing for pictures...
(http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm281/jejallo1/Unknown-1.jpeg) (http://s299.photobucket.com/user/jejallo1/media/Unknown-1.jpeg.html)
Caterpillar...
(http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm281/jejallo1/Unknown-3.jpeg) (http://s299.photobucket.com/user/jejallo1/media/Unknown-3.jpeg.html)
Thimble Trail...
(http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm281/jejallo1/Unknown-2.jpeg) (http://s299.photobucket.com/user/jejallo1/media/Unknown-2.jpeg.html)
This is my Great Dane thinking she's found the best dog bowl of all time...
(http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm281/jejallo1/Unknown_1.jpeg) (http://s299.photobucket.com/user/jejallo1/media/Unknown_1.jpeg.html)
-
Thanks for the pics and flower report. A lot of guys have been asking. It's a great time to go before it gets too hot.
Good to see the family having a good time as well.
-
Nice pics Jeff. :)
-
Thanks for the trip report! I'm headed out there next weekend with the wife and boy. We'll be getting into town early Saturday morning and spending all day out there. Camping out Saturday night and headed back home late Sunday morning. I'll be in much of the same area, so this helps tremendously!Planning to do Font's Point on Saturday, as well as run a few of the roads in that general area. I was worried we'd be too late for the peak of the bloom, but it sounds like we'll be right on time.
-
If you can get out there mid week that'll probably be the best, but I think next weekend will still be really good.
-
Mid-week would work for me, but isn't an option for the wife. :( I actually just talked to a coworker who told me her and her husband rode their motorcycle out to Borrego Springs on Saturday and that it was a horrible experience. They ride out there at least once a month, even in the hottest months. They live in the Fallbrook area so they took Highway 79 to San Felipe Road and dropped down into the valley via Montezuma Valley Road, which is the same route I'll be taking.
She said they left their house about 9:30 am and were just starting down the mountain around 10:30 am, and got stuck in traffic that was backed up more than halfway up the mountain. After about an hour of sitting in the backup, the bike started to overhead and they dropped in behind another group of motorcycles that was riding on the double-yellow to get down. They hated doing that (they're usually very safe riders) but didn't have much of a choice, as the bike was starting to cut out. Once in town, she said they couldn't even find a place to eat. Everywhere they went had at least a 90 minute wait for a party of two, and most restaurants said they had taken reservations in advance and were all booked up. They decided to leave and when they were headed back up the mountain, she said that Sheriff deputies were starting to set up a road block at San Felipe Road and Hwy 79, and weren't letting anyone go that way into town anymore because of how backed up the mountain was.
If it was that bad last Saturday, I'm very worried about how bad it's going to be next Saturday. :( We're planning to leave our place in the Temecula Valley around 6:00 or 6:30 am, so hopefully we'll be ahead of it, but I guess I better scrap our plans to have lunch in town and just plan to spend the whole day in the back country.
-
So with all this ridiculous traffic and interest, are there better places to go for wildflowers? My fiance was doing some research on good places and she found a canyon near Lake Elsinore? That is near you in Temecula, are there flowers there? Other options were up near Antelope Valley?
Trying to find a better spot...I like the Xterra to go where others are not ;)
-
The area near Elsinore was an absolute mad house this past weekend. I drove through there twice on my way to different events, and there's no way in hell I'd endure that on purpose. There were hundreds or even thousands of vehicles attempting to squeeze onto the tiny frontage road that parallels Interstate 15. People who had gotten there early were likely blocked in for hours by other cars who came and just parked wherever. I tried to get a good image of it as I was passing by on the freeway, but failed. The people on the hillsides looked like ants all over, walking through the fields and stepping on all the flowers.
The area can be accessed by any car, which makes it worse. if you're really dying to see them, I'd try go get up that way during the week. If that's not an option, shoot me a PM and I'll give you some directions to a little spot I know back in those same mountains. I don't think the flowers will be nearly as plentiful back there, but it'll still be really good. Requires 4 wheel drive to get back there though.
-
This was the best I could do to capture the circus in Elsinore over the weekend. This was only one small part of the area. There were literally hundreds and hundreds of people here. These were taken at 6:00 pm on Sunday evening, when the crowds had dwindled substantially. The flowers had also all been closed up for hours by this time, as it had been over 90 degrees out since about 1:00 pm.
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
-
So with all this ridiculous traffic and interest, are there better places to go for wildflowers? My fiance was doing some research on good places and she found a canyon near Lake Elsinore? That is near you in Temecula, are there flowers there? Other options were up near Antelope Valley?
Trying to find a better spot...I like the Xterra to go where others are not ;)
There is the poppy reserve outside Lancaster, the blooms should be popping right about now. There's no off-roading to get there, but the reserve is full of hiking trails. Flowers also bloom on the south side of the AV. You might also be able to find some blooms up near Red Rock Canyon Park and in that general area.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=627
-
Joe...you could drop down and take the 78 through Julian, and then pop over into Borrego via Yaqui Pass road?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
Joe...you could drop down and take the 78 through Julian, and then pop over into Borrego via Yaqui Pass road?
Yeah, that's the way Sheriff's Deputies were making everyone go once they shut down Montezuma Valley Road last weekend. It's an idea, but it'll still be huge crowds when we get there, and will make the trip less fun. We might give it a shot anyway... if we get there early enough and get deep into the back country, maybe we can avoid the circus.
-
Joe, just a quick thought that if you avoid the flower spots and the town of Borrego you will have eliminated probably 80% or more of these crowds heading out there. I know it may not necessarily be what you want to do but you can always head out into Borrego Springs via Yaqui Pass as Ghost suggested. Fuel is available in Santa Ysabel which will be more expensive but not out of control. Once in the outskirts of Borrego you can get into the San Felipe wash right away. Run that east then take any of the trails headed north or south. The San Felipe wash runs the entire length of that entire desert wash system and allows you to see the area. The pumpkin patch area is always fun and no matter where you go you can't really get lost out there even though you might think you are. You really can avoid the crowds if you really want to. I've been out there when Tierra Del Sol was going on and never saw another human until I got close to that mess on the way back out. You just have to look on the map and make some decisions or drop a dime and use your resources here......
-
Yeah, I figured that would be the way to avoid the crowds. I just figure if I'm not going to see the flowers or spend any time in Borrego Springs, I can also just go somewhere else. Like I said... I'll mull it over a little more and talk to the Mrs. about it throughout the week. We may pull an audible, but we'll probably just end up out that way still and do our best to stay away from the madness while enjoying as much as we can.
-
Another thing to keep in mind is that desert valley is huge......... Lots of places to go and see things and either be around or the heck away from people as you wish.
-
I had no idea this was peak flower blooming week(s), but now that I see your pictures I think that was just what I saw last weekend. But, I saw it from Santiago peak/middle divide road. Of course I didn't see the flowers close up, but looking out over the entire mountain range, where there must have been hundreds of acres of these flowers covering the hillsides, it was an amazing sight from that perspective. And I think we passed fewer than 10 cars total.
-
Yeah, if you were looking east/northeast from Santiago Peak toward Gavillan Hills and Lake Matthews, that's exactly what you saw. You'd have a great view of them from there.
Sorry I totally hijacked the OP here. Back to the original topic - I just wanted to say thanks again for the tips and photos from your trip. I think I have a pretty good game plan in place now for my trip out there next weekend.
-
Yeah, if you were looking east/northeast from Santiago Peak toward Gavillan Hills and Lake Matthews, that's exactly what you saw. You'd have a great view of them from there.
Sorry I totally hijacked the OP here. Back to the original topic - I just wanted to say thanks again for the tips and photos from your trip. I think I have a pretty good game plan in place now for my trip out there next weekend.
Joe, your trip looked awesome. On another note my wife hiked Diamond Lake in Hemet about a week ago and she got some great photos of the flowers out there.
(http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm281/jejallo1/IMG_3379.JPG.jpeg) (http://s299.photobucket.com/user/jejallo1/media/IMG_3379.JPG.jpeg.html)