[Suggest you view this one in a dark room.] After picking up
sandwiches on the way out of San Diego on Friday (12-Feb-99), we headed out toward Borrego
Desert. Our plan was to take I-8 east to Ocotillo Wells, then head up S2 north west
until we reached Bow Willow campgrounds. There we made our last 'civilized' pit stop
(pit toilet) before heading into the north end of Carrizo Gorge. Speculation was
that we should be able to drive somewhere between 4 and 6.5mi's into the Gorge before
being stopped by unfriendly terrain or a "Closed Area" sign erected by Ranger
Rick. Make no mistake, this is 4X4 country. One has to have somewhat of a
what-the-hell attitude about one's vehicle in order to make this journey stress free.
More than once the suspension bottomed out and body parts groaned from being
torqued beyond spec.In any case, we were able to get to the end of the jeep trail and
the Closed Area sign before having to stop. We made camp at what would be the end of
our hike some 3 days from now. This photo was taken about 8PM as we were making
camp.
One interesting thing we discovered was that Carrizo Creek had no water in it anywhere
along our drive in. However, the creek was roaring right next to this camp spot.
We walked downstream and found the location where Carrizo Creek finally gave in to
the porous desert. It turned out to be less than 0.5mi's from camp. It is
amazing how fast the water was soaking in. I can't estimate how many gallons per
hour were coursing by our camp site but the creek was perhaps 25ft wide, 6in's deep and
moving fast. Some 1500ft downstream that flow went to zero!
