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Mud Caves via Vallecito Creek in Summer

anutami

Posts: 491

8/4/2014

anutami

Posts: 491

After getting hot tip to visit the mud caves in the summer we finally headed out to check them out. I also was itching to test out the my new truck camper and see how Wolfy II would handle the 4x4 trails of Anza borrego Desert. This trip was a bit premature due to the dealer installing the wrong size Air Conditioner on my camper. They put a 13.5 BTU unit, but I ordered a 9k BTU unit. The 9k BTU unit will run off my honda 2000 watt generator no problem, but the 13.5K BTU A/C is iffy. It runs at my house in Ramona, but was not sure how it would handle desert conditions. Thinking we would be pulling in the evening it wouldn't be too extreme, we went for it.

tested out the total wash board road, everything held together

recent rains have a few bypasses around the washes

This is usually so crowded and busy we always just drive on by and have never really explored the caves...Daren thanks for the heads up

we arrived at the perfect time. It was still pretty warm temps were in the high 90's low 100's

.this was going to be our campsite for the night...again nobody around

we noticed a small openning near by

entering the cave felt like the temperature immediatly dropped 30-40 degrees! What an amazing place

it just kept going

and going

.a few skylights, temp got in the high 90 degrees again, what a crazy mixture of temperatures...this is awesome smile

a bit spooky...I hope this was a dog

It is crazy when you turn off your flashlight you can't even see your hand in front of your face....How does this guy do it?

I guess the moths just fly right in the webs

a few bats hanging out

We headed out of the caves and it was probably around 9pm. I was hopeful the A/C would work. When I fired it up I was pumped to see it was working but after about 1 minute it shut down!! We tried to endure it the best we could but it was just too hot for us. I decided to drive out to blair valley and gain some elevation. I was probably in the high 80's in blair valley and humid because of the weather, and I was bummed to find out the A/C would not work there either.

We woke up to the storm rolling in and raining on and off. Ranger Steve stopped by our campsite in blair to let us know that there was a flash flood watch going on.

It was pretty humid out and I couldn't get my kids pumped on a hike (I don't think they went to bed until 12:30 so they were so pretty tired). I didn't want to head home so we checked out butterfield ranch and the kids wanted to swim. We checked in. I think we were the only ones there.

playground is and oldie but a goodie

there is also a nice hot tub

the old stage coaches are cool to check out.

and the resident donkey

All in all in was a great trip. We really love our new camper. I would have liked to spend more time around the mud caves area, but with flash flood warnings and rain we did not head back. I am looking forward to getting my A/C issue fixed with the dealer and hopefully they will get the new one swapped out we will be heading back out the caves. It is so nice to have the place to yourself.

edited by anutami on 8/4/2014
edited by anutami on 8/4/2014

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Anza Borrego Desert

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Mud Caves via Vallecito Creek in Summer