Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Explore the winding tributary washes and canyons of Fish Creek, deep in Anza-Borrego's Carrizo Badlands.

Deep in the corrugated folds of Anza-Borrego's Carrizo Badlands, a trio of sinuous dry washes invites your slow and careful exploration -- first by truck or 4-wheel drive, and then by foot. Here, on the lower margin of the upthrust Vallecito Mountains, accumulated sediments dating back millions of years have been forced upward, tilted, and severely eroded.

Follow Highway 78 east to Ocotillo Wells, turn south on Split Mountain Road, and continue eight miles to the Split Mountain turnoff (Fish Creek wash, threaded by wheel tracks in the sand) on the right. After nearly two miles, you enter Split Mountain, where Fish Creek has carved a narrow gorge between sheer rock walls. The gorge walls reveal layer-cake strata reflecting successive periods of invasion by the sea and reclaiming by the land. The primitive road ahead is sometimes blocked by slides or rendered impassable by heavy rain; it is definitely not recommended for low-slung passenger cars.

Sponsored
Sponsored

After 2.5 miles, when the gorge walls fully part, bear right (west) on the sandy road along the North Fork of Fish Creek wash. Continue through a landscape dominated by clay hills (also called "mud hills" for their consistency when wet) strewn with sparkling chips of gypsum crystal. Just ahead lie the three dry washes of interest -- each with its own character. Oyster Shell Wash, in its upper end, features water-polished, fossil-bearing sandstone walls and shallow depressions sometimes filled with water. Lycium Wash, threaded by a 2.5-mile-long spur road, is named after the shrub Lycium, or boxthorn, which flourishes hereabouts and blooms circumspectly in early spring. Beyond the road end, some semi-challenging scrambling on foot will take you farther up Lycium Wash -- past a narrow trench, over tilted layers of sandstone, up and over three low "dry falls," and finally past a big, boulder-choked defile. After all this, a less breathless ascent leads to the crest of the Vallecito Mountains, offering a fine view in nearly every direction.

Finally, for serious rock scramblers only, there's Stone Wash, a west tributary of Lycium Wash. Floodwaters in the bottom of this drainage have carved several steep chutes into conglomerate rock -- a sedimentary rock made of large and small bits of rock cemented together. The abundant protruding rocks in the chutes provide enough handholds and footholds to facilitate a painstaking passage.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Celebrate Holi, Borrego Springs Music Festival

Events March 23-March 27, 2024
Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate

Deep in the corrugated folds of Anza-Borrego's Carrizo Badlands, a trio of sinuous dry washes invites your slow and careful exploration -- first by truck or 4-wheel drive, and then by foot. Here, on the lower margin of the upthrust Vallecito Mountains, accumulated sediments dating back millions of years have been forced upward, tilted, and severely eroded.

Follow Highway 78 east to Ocotillo Wells, turn south on Split Mountain Road, and continue eight miles to the Split Mountain turnoff (Fish Creek wash, threaded by wheel tracks in the sand) on the right. After nearly two miles, you enter Split Mountain, where Fish Creek has carved a narrow gorge between sheer rock walls. The gorge walls reveal layer-cake strata reflecting successive periods of invasion by the sea and reclaiming by the land. The primitive road ahead is sometimes blocked by slides or rendered impassable by heavy rain; it is definitely not recommended for low-slung passenger cars.

Sponsored
Sponsored

After 2.5 miles, when the gorge walls fully part, bear right (west) on the sandy road along the North Fork of Fish Creek wash. Continue through a landscape dominated by clay hills (also called "mud hills" for their consistency when wet) strewn with sparkling chips of gypsum crystal. Just ahead lie the three dry washes of interest -- each with its own character. Oyster Shell Wash, in its upper end, features water-polished, fossil-bearing sandstone walls and shallow depressions sometimes filled with water. Lycium Wash, threaded by a 2.5-mile-long spur road, is named after the shrub Lycium, or boxthorn, which flourishes hereabouts and blooms circumspectly in early spring. Beyond the road end, some semi-challenging scrambling on foot will take you farther up Lycium Wash -- past a narrow trench, over tilted layers of sandstone, up and over three low "dry falls," and finally past a big, boulder-choked defile. After all this, a less breathless ascent leads to the crest of the Vallecito Mountains, offering a fine view in nearly every direction.

Finally, for serious rock scramblers only, there's Stone Wash, a west tributary of Lycium Wash. Floodwaters in the bottom of this drainage have carved several steep chutes into conglomerate rock -- a sedimentary rock made of large and small bits of rock cemented together. The abundant protruding rocks in the chutes provide enough handholds and footholds to facilitate a painstaking passage.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Next Article

Gilbert Castellanos, Buddha Trixie, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Shane Hall, Brian Jones Rock ‘N’ Roll Revival

Grand Socials, gigs, and record releases in Del Mar, City Heights, Solana Beach, Little Italy, and Ocean Beach
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.