u/JoeHardway

Prolly let this 1 simmer ontha "back burner" abit too long, but I ain't givin up, just yet.

Whether, or not, I'm still up to tha task, we're about intha prime season forit.

Lookin for recent intel fr Vincent/Mine Gulchs, regardin trail (Or lack, thereof!) conditions/flow, and, of course, if this sounds like your cup'a tea, all interested parties'r welcome, so long as we're ontha same page, as to what tha plan is...

I've attached screenshots, but, bear in mind, most recent imagery's fr Sep 2025, soit looks abit dry. I xpect Vincent/Mine Gulchs'r still flowin, altho Mine Gulch might dip below tha scree field, for abit, lower-down.

Dina'd prolly only do this 1, if I can get others to throw-in withus. But! Ifyur ponderin throwin-in withus, u should consider our pace, as, ifyur a young whipper-snapper, or'a genetically-blessed older person, hangin with us, mightbe quite maddening, n'it might just rob u of actually achievin the objective.

IFit's just ME, I'm ok w/bein left behind (On ingress/egress...) ifit looks like I'm puttin tha mission at risk, but, as Dina'd prolly only wanna doit, ifwe have company, just be HONEST about your thoughts on stickin 2gether, so she can maka informed decision.

We madit totha confluence w/tha last significant drainage, ontha L (Red Dot!), on our last attempt.

It'sa forgone conclusion, that, at some point (Assumin we makit that far...), we'll hit some impassable technical sh*t, but, I'm hopin 2c some wondrous things, erewe get shut-down...

Link to album/writup fr previous attempt: https://photos.app.goo.gl/dXeK6ug2maYT4rdG7

Guessit don't show tha writup, less'n yur viewin in Photos app, so, ifu care to readit...

"Mine Gulch’s 1’a those targets that’s been on my list for years, but I’ve been waitin for tha right conditions. 1 thing I failed to consider, whilst I was waitin, was just how quickly my own condition would decline. I’m nowhere near tha man I was, even afew yrs ago. But! Since I din’t git’r-done, in my prime, this old carcass’ll haftado. Only other option’d be to give-up on my dream, which I ain’t prepared to do…

I was thinkin late May/early June wouldabeen ideal, but the S2 closure put my aspirations on hold, and pushed tha mission into summer, and the warmer temps, I’d been hopin to avoid…

4cast called for sunny/79, which might not seem so bad, but, truth be told, in sunny conditions, 60’s seem closer to ideal for me, these days, and, given the elevation profile for this mission, I knew 79 degrees, was pushin the envelope.

Ranit by Dina, n she agreed it cun’t hurt to go havalook, even tho havina look would involve descending Vincent Gulch, and, once we hit tha confluence w/Prairie Fork, we were prettymuch committed…

We hit Vincent Gap about 8, n saddled-up. It wern’t hot yet, but I could tellit soon would be…

Tha downhill jaunt, on the 1st leg’a tha trail, passed quickly underfoot, but, once we took tha Vincent Gulch cutoff, I quickly regretted my decision to leave tha loppers behind. I was rememberin tha trail conditions, from our last trip, back in Jul, 2018, but, clearly, nobody’d lifted a finger to thwart Mother Nature’s efforts to reclaim her territory, n tha tide of battle had shifted, dramatically, in her favor! We were on’a mission, and cun’t spare any time, but I did break quiteafew limbs that were encroachin ontha trail, n even busted-out tha saw, in acouple’a tha nastiest spots. It really amazes me, how ppl simply will not do anything to keep trails clear. Preferrin to let things deteriorate to tha point, where only a concerted effort, from’a maint crew, can reverse things. If EVERYONE did ali’l, nobody’d haftado ALOT…

We heard flowin water almost immediately, but, just as quickly, tha sound disappeared. Since Vincent Gulch was tha “path of least resistance”, the water must’a gone underground. But! I was pleased to find enough flow for a hatdip, when we x’d tha gulch.

Tha trail climbed high above tha gulch, ontha E Wall, immediately after x’ing. I considered stickin w/tha crk, but I knew time was of the essence, and we cun’t afford any distractions. While downed trees and encroachin brush were tha biggest annoyances onthaway down, after tha x’ing, we began to encounter sections of tha “trail” that were razor-thin, and downright sketchy, with exposure to anything from’a humiliating slide, to a serious fall. These sections need some major surgery, and a pickaxe/maddock, are abit too heavy, for even tha most conscientious travelers, to bring along…

At 1 point, I reached-down to break-off a stick, that was encroachin ontha trl, n came face 2 face witha rattler! At 1st, u could tell’e was relyin on’is camo, but, even when I came in close, to get pics, he simply wun’t fire-up his rattle. These guys’r tha worst! Ali’l warnin’s better’n no warnin atall, any day. I decided that stick would hafta wait for some1 else to take care ofit, n we were on our way…

Not long after seein tha rattler, we met’a dude, walkin w/his pooch. He asked us ifwe had any Deet, and we let’im hose himself down, altho, based upon how thick tha bugs were, he musta had’a pretty torturous mornin. We chatted about tha gulch, where he’d been, and where we were goin, and, after passin-on a warnin about tha snake, we took our leave.

When we finally dropped-in to tha gulch, we could scarcely believe how very different it looked, than tha last time we’d passed this way! Aside from the ample flow, which had only been a slimy trickle, last time, the gulch waza quagmire of bent/broken deadfall, of every description. Mother Nature’d been doin some serious “renovatin”!

We tried not to get sucked-in toit, butit was hard to keep movin, with so many amazin sights to see.

When we finally hit the confluence with Prairie Fork, we were unsurprised to findit flowin strong, given thatit was flowin prettygood last time, in what was drought conditions. We were struck by the conspicuous powdery gray coating on everything in tha watercourse. When we madit down to tha confluence with Vincent Gulch, we were similarly struck by tha differences between tha 2 waterways. Vincent Gulch had’a decidedly “golden” coating, on everything in the watercourse, and, where tha 2 creeks converged, it was quite’a spectacle.

We hurriedly made our way down to ℅ tha confluence w/Mine Gulch, and I was xcited to find’a small flow, emanating from tha scree, approx 50’ above tha confluence. But! This was the ONLY trace of water, comin from Mine Gulch! It was now, well n truly HOT, and launchin an assault on that skree field, w/no water available, seemed like suicide. Seein tha natural filtration, and knowin I might not be seein any water for awhile, I drank my fill, and, whilit mightbe “risky business”, I gottasay, that water was PRIMO. Had 1 last hatdip, n we went n had lunch under’a fir tree, and contemplated tha hurtfest that lay b4 us…

Tha skree field in Mine Gulch is pretty loose n shifty, so every step, must be taken with care, which really slowsu down, when you’re try’nabe fast. Mighta only been 700 yards or so, but, bythatime tha creek returned to tha surface, I was near quittin. I was afraid it’d go underground again, butit remained visible, for tha duration, and even seemed to be flowin stronger thanit was lower-down…

Higher n higher we climbed, and steeper n steeper it got, until we began to encounter copious amounts of deadfall; everything from tangled masses of roots, to giant logs, strewn about, azif a giant toddler had just thrown a tantrum. Same shifty skree, but now witha treacherous layer of equally shifty deadfall, which slowed us down, even further. We battled our way up to tha confluence w/tha last major fork, and lookin upstream, it seemed tha debris field ended, and tha gulch was somewhat clear, beyond this point, albeit, still tha same nasty skree.

We were close enough to smell tha wondrous things that awaited, ifwe could only makit back there, but, as I scanned the imagery, and did ali’l mental math, comparin how long it’d taken us to get here, vs how much farther we still had to go, in order to reach tha bedrock, that I knew would force all this water to tha surface, and into tha waterfalls that 1st piqued my interest, during a SAT Recon, all those years ago. There was just no way! We’d already blown past our turnaround time, and given the copious bear sign we saw, onthaway in, still bein ontha trail, after dark, seemed lika bad idea. It waza heartbreakin decision, but I knewit was time to let this “White Whale” go. We had’a snack n hydrated, n headed for home…

My “wanderlust” serves as an anesthetic, and can blindme to just how bad I’m hurtin, but, once tha decision’s been made, to callit, that quickly evaporates, n I’m left with soul-crushing fatigue. We had so far to go, almost entirely uphill, andit was gonna hurt!

We were keenly aware of just how F’d we’d be, if either ofus got hurt, so we employed a reasonable hybrid of caution/haste, and tried to make-up time, to the extent it was possible. It’d takenus 8 HOURS to reach our turnaround point, and if tha return leg took that long, we wun’t makit back totha TH till midnight…

We felt slow AF ontha climb out, but, somehow, we managed to shave 3hrs off our ingress time, and madit back to tha TH @ 21:00, somewhat tha worse for wear.

Even tho we din’t achieve our objective, I still felt like I’d earned that “danger-cold” Pacifico!

Mine Gulch is sum’a tha wildiest wilderness in SoCal, even thoit may be just below 1’a tha more popular peaks. Just even bein in that gulch is a feelin that’s hard to describe. It really feels like you’re seein things u ain't a’s’post’a see.

Ain’t quite prepared to give-up on my dream, but, if I’m ever to see what’s back there, I’m gonna hafta findaway to change the equation, somehow. I can’t hike faster, and, with each passin day, I’m only gettin slower. A backpackin trip’d be the ideal solution, but my back’s too wrecked for sleepin ontha ground. Maybe I should just start buyin Lotto tickets, and, when I win, I can buy’a helo. Then, u’ll see! U’ll all see… (Que maniacal Plankton laughter!)"

Sent to replace a DTP2, n wall-mounted unit appeared ok, but had some clear "goo", collected on bottom of wall-facing edge.

Unit was mounted with screws, and I see no evidence adhesive/velcro/sticky-tape had been attempted.

Dielectric grease? Jerry curl?

Seems ali'l fishy, but the interwebs don't seem to think this is'a thing...

Doin ali'l catch-up!

This was back from'a stupid-hot day in Mar.

Link to full album, for them that wanna seeit all:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QL2biookpmPpurw26

Still had no idea wherewe were goin, when I got to Dina's, but, this is where tha dart landed...

Knewit was gonnabe too hot, justabout evrywhere, but I was convinced this'd be survivable.

We did hafta cut our way W, abit, to reach tha moutha tha cyn, n that shit bout kiltme, but, oncewe swung upstream, water made an appearance, n'a hat-dip pulledme back from tha brink...

Lotsa sand washed-down from tha fire, so tha cyn was remarkably clear, but I cun't help but wonder, what interesting features mightabeen buried beneathit.

Whenwe hit the Oaks, temps dropped abit, andit became more fun. Tha 1st bedrock falls was easily navigated (In spite'a tha li'l rattler, that attempted to cock-block us!)

I'd ID'd'a small cataract/falls on the E Fork, that looked 2b tha most promising feature, so we set our sights on that. It was prettycool, but tha flow (Cut by 50% at tha confluence) was just barely suitable for our purposes. I "think" we prolly coulda founda bypass, around tha lwr cataract, but I knew from my SAT RECON, that tha cyn got abit gorgey, higher-up, n even tho there were some impressive falls up there, we had 0 chance'a gettin to'em...

Still felt ali'l frisky whenwe got back totha confluence, so we headed upstream abit, totha confluence with what I guess u'd call Tha W Fork? Only'a slimy trickle, but some nice technical features, right at tha confluence. I'd suspected as much, butit was gettin late, n our givashit levels wun't abide any attempt to xplore higher, sowe snapped afew pics, n made good our escape...

Beautiful cyn, but clearly, 1 that was dependent upon runoff to turniton, and, w/tha kinda rainy season this watershed'd had, we just barely baggedit, intha nick of time...

Can't mix pics n vids. For them that care to seeitall, here's my full album:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ACAb2ceDbzuD6VJUA

Went back last Sat n polished-off tha cataract...

We'd planned on pushin on up tha rd, n droppin-in fr tha top'a tha cataract, but, bythatime we got up there, it was well n truly HOT, n tha rd was forced to withdraw, quite'a distance, to getaround tha drainage we dropped-in to, last time, n, in these temps, that xtra hurt, just din't sound appealin, so we stuck w/tha Devil we knew, n took our trail down totha bottom of tha cataract.

We thoughtit mightabeen flowin, abit better'n last time, owin totha fact that the Azalea watershed seemed to've been 1'a tha top performers, from tha last storm, butit mightabeen wishful thinkin. It was good enuff 4 our purposes...

In no time, we were at tha point wherewe quit last time. I wern't havin'a banner day, physically, n my ticker seemed not 2b exactly on-board w/tha plan. Heat was takinits toll, n I kinda felt likit was skippin'a beat, here'n there, n maybe just kinda wallowin, at other times. But! We pressed-on, at'a pace that I could manage...

Tha next section was pretty bouldery, but, as we approached, routes revealed themselves, n this part was prettycool.

Once we topped-out ontha boulders, tha cyn leveled-off, n even thoit was pretty, there were no major falls, for tha remainder.

Tha section that I'd feared mightbe a technical "gorge", was actually easily navigated, n tha next section, that I'd been concerned about, went down, in similar fashion.

In my experience, in general, when cyns have bedrock "ridges", runnin parallel totha watercourse, these areas tend to hava mild elevation profile. These sections were interesting, but posed no serious challenges to our fwd progress.

Ere long, we were at tha spot I'd ID'd as our bailout route, up totha rd, and I was pleased to findit actually was nearly as clear'ish as it'd appeared on the imagery. We took'a break, to prepare ourselves for tha climb, n up we went...

Tha hike down tha rd was all downhill, butit was lonnng, n kinda sucked.

The Azalea Cataract might not'a lived-up totha "hype", butit's 1 more place I don't hafta die wonderin about...

** My invite post kinda flopped, but that's the internet 4u! Round 2's tha plan, for this Sat, if any1's interested...

Can't mix pics n vids, so here's tha photos album 4 them that care to seeit all:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qt8xNbv57CEbakuR8

After decidin that there was no point in any further sufferin, in Jenson Cyn, I was left w/o any clue where to go, for last Sat’s adventure, n I was still drawin’a blank, when I got to Dina’s, that mornin...

After abit’a frantic SAT RECON, my eyes fell upon a conspicuous li’l zigzag, n when I zoomed-in, I recognizedit as the cataract on Azalea Cyn.  We’d hadago at’r, from tha bottom, on’a mercilessly HOT, Aug day, back in 2024, n din’t come away w/much to show for our efforts.  The only water we saw, was pretty early-on, beneath a large boulder pile. We cut our way upstream, a prettygood ways, but tha heat tookits toll, n we just din’t see any hopeful signs, so we bailed onit.

FFWD to last Sat, n 4cast was still abit toasty 4 my likin, butit was bearable, n even tho it’d been’a lackluster rainy season, tha gauge at tha top’a the Azalea Crk Watershed, hinted that maybe that area’d done alright.  Even ifwe shoulda been onit, back in Mar, it seemed plausible that there could still b/a respectable trickle, up intha cataract.  Ranit by Dina n she was all 4it, so out tha door we flew...

Much later start than I woulda preferred, so we din’t miss any’a tha heat, n we were runnin short’a daylight.

We hiked up tha rd, n started lookin 4’a drop-in, in’a area I’d tagged, aza “possible”.  Surprisingly, we could actually HEAR tha crk from here! Once that Siren’s Song hit our ears, it was awn, like Donkey Kong...

 It waz abit thicker’n the imagery’d ledme to believe, but we were here, n this was tha day tha Lord hath made, so we hurled ourselves into tha breach, n figured we’d sort-out tha path of least resistance, as we went...

1st part wern’t too bad.  I did some cuttin, just so we’dbe able to follow our “trail”, if’n we ended-up comin back this way. We were ontha E sidof’a minor drainage, that ran into Azalea, n I was tempted to stay on that side, butit got progressively steeper, n I cun’t eyeball tha last hundred feet down.  Right or wrong, my “Spidey-Senses” were tellinme to x tha drainage, n cut our way over tha W Rim, n see what our prospects looked like, from there...

Once we topped-out ontha rim, I was thinkin I mighta made’a bad call, but we were so close, even if tha span betwixt us, n the object of our desire, wern’t lookin too user-friendly. I busted-out tha loppers n did tha needful...

At 1 point, it got uncomfortably steep, so I rigged-up some webbing, to givus an assist, as I cut my way thru.  Once I hit tha bottom of that slidey spot, tha path to tha watercourse waza cakewalk, n Dina joinedme for tha last leg.

Wow! Flow was good enuff 4 our purposes, n tha cataract/falls, were very picturesque!  We documented tha wondrous things, whilst bein mindful, that tha clock was tickin...

Made steady progress, but, azwe rounded’a bend, above that 1st section, tha cyn closed-in abit, n’it was very bouldery.  Nothin we cun’t handle, IF we’d had more time, but, this wern’t that kinda movie, n tha shadows were already gettin long...

I climbed-up ontha N Wall, to taka gander at what lay above this section, n all I saw was more giant boulders.  My voice of reason was sayin we oughtta put’a pin init, n’its logic was pretty inescapable.  We’d done well with tha time we had, but we were outta time, n we had’a sucky climb aheadofus, so we took’a final break, n headed-up.

Sux that we cun’t git’r-done, ontha 1st try, but, on the upshot, we KNOW what we’re doin nxt wknd... 

So! My last invite was 4 Jenson Cyn, n I gottasay, ifu decided to sit that 1 out, it wern't'a bad call, cuz that sh*t waza soul-crushin quagmire.

Really nice flow, straight from tha bowels of tha SJ Range, but Mother Nature REEEALLY don't want nobody samplin her wares, back there, n she's erected some formidable defenses, to that end.

We saw some pretty stuff, butit's justa sea of giant boulders, with dense jungle in between.

Briefly considered'a Round 2, but, honestly, we were still 500yrds from tha 1st legit falls, n that's'a hateful 500yrds, n'it only gets worse, tha higher u go!

So! Once I admitted defeat, thenit leftme needin to pick'a target, for last wknd's adventure.

Nothin was really jumpin out atme, but, after abit, a conspicuous zig-zaggy feature, caught my eye.

It waza cataract, on Upper Azalea Cyn.

We'd hadago at this 1 from tha bottom, on'a mercilessly HOT day, in Aug of 2024, n even tho we gavit Hell, it was just too thick, n too hot, n the only sign'a water we found, was beneath'a big boulder pile, pretty low down.

FFWD to last Sat, n I hadaplan to bypass all tha dense jungle intha lwr cyn, n drop-in fr tha rd, right at tha base'a tha cataract.

Altho my drop-in wern't quite as clear azit'd appeared on the imagery, we did tha needful, and cut our way down...

We hit tha watercourse, right wherewe wanted 2b! Small cataract headin downstream, into tha canopy, which appeared to culminate in'a 10' falls, that emptied into a small pool. Nice, but the action was upstream, so upstream we went..

No big falls, but some VERY photogenic smaller ones.

Fun scrambles upward, but, azwe rounded'a bend, we came to'a section that really seemed likit was gonna chew-up tha clock. Based upon what we'd seen sofar, it din't seem likewe had'a snowball's chance in Hell'a reachin my planned bailout, above tha cataract, so we decided discretion was tha better part'a valor, hence tha Round 2.

4cast for Sat is Sunny/84°, which izabit warm for my taste, but I'm hopinit might drop, ere game day.