T Colorado Desert District Newsletter Inside this Wooden columns hold up a issue forest temple at Palomar R A Lunar wedding, Page 18 C Photo by Dave Robarts A hiker at Palomar Mountain State Park is surrounded by trees found in the Sierra Nevada including Pacific dogwood and white alder. Story and photographs courtesy of The Anza-Borrego Foundation (Originally printed in ABF’s Desert Update) K Beyond Anza-Borrego, our State Park’s Colorado Desert Shy park resident, District offers a range of fascinating preserves: Palomar Moun- Page 14 tain, Picacho, Indio Hills, Salton Sea and Cuyamaca Rancho. Da- vid Robarts, a longtime Palomar resident, tells us what he likes best about this mountain beyond our desert. There are many reasons to visit Palomar: Native American village sites, echoes of early ranching, trout fishing in Doane Pond and wonderfully constructed Civilian Conservation Corps campsites – rock- S walled and shady, a welcome relief from the desert’s summer heat. Dave’s passion is Palomar’s majestic trees. Visit the Park, September look up, and you’ll understand. Watch for flash floods, Page 4 2013 (Continued on Page 16) Page 2 LOG JAM: Notes from the District, sectors Palomar Mountain State Park From the desk of Ranger Jessica Murany: July and August are synonymous with camp- ing, outdoor activities and family adventures. No matter how big or small your park is, you will find the same sights and sounds native to summer at each campground. Whether it’s the smell of roasted marshmallows over the open flame or the triumphant cries from kids catch- ing their first fish; these are the sounds of a San Diegan discovering for the first time what natural jewels lie beyond the city limits. Beautiful sunset, but tragic loss, the Moun- Here at PMSP, it has been no different this tain Fire fills the sky with smoke July 19. summer. Our campgrounds have been full al- Although the fire came close to the commu- most every weekend since Memorial Day. nity of Idyllwild and Mount San Jacinto Our amphitheater has been given new invig- State Park, both were spared. orating life thanks to funds donated by SDG&E stituents who call the Park home. funding that enabled us to hire an interpreter. We continue to have an elevated visual The Boucher Lookout had its first wedding presence of mountain lions, most recently near since renovations. one of the employee residences by Cedar And as active and busy as the humans have Grove Group Camp. been at the Park, so too have the animal con- Visitors reported seeing two fully grown mountain lions aggressively playing with one another. When the rough-housing began to encroach the visitors’ safety bubble the visitors began blowing whistles and making loud noises. The cats were apparently unfazed by the loud banter but eventually went on their way before any kind of bedlam broke out. There was also a deer carcass that appeared to have received the business end of an en- counter with one of the mountain lions in the Park. The deer (what was left of it) was found near Doane Pond. Lane Yule of the Conference Center was kind enough to relocate the car- cass before the sight and smell became too much of a nuisance to our visitors. Photos by Jessica Murany Also this month we received a report of a Senior Park Aide Daniel Minshew is pre- bear just beyond the upper French Valley. Yes, pared for summer sunshine while he works at Palomar Mountain State Park. (Continued on Page 3) Page 3 . LOG JAM: District, sector notes (cont.) a bear! It seemed to be a genuine report. The reporting party had a visual description of the bear and also stated he had seen a bear in the wild before while camping in Mammoth. There hasn’t been a bear sighted on Palo- mar for almost 15 years and even that bear wasn’t believed to be a resident, but the fires to our north could explain the sighting. Photo by Amanda Carlin Ranger Jessica Murany releases a south- ern Pacific rattlesnake into the forest after it came a little to close to PMSP visitors. (Continued from Page 2) (Continued on Page 3) Photo by Jessica Murany Maintenance Aide Lloyd Rose seems happy to be Palomar Mountain State Park’s newest We would like to welcome another new staff member to the PMSP team. Lloyd Rose was hired as a seasonal maintenance worker. Lloyd grew up in Los Angeles and spent his free time camping, fishing and hunting with his father. He is the vice president of the Electric Vehicle Association of San Diego. He is pro Photo by Sam Webb protecting the environment and his back- A prickly poppy didn’t check the calendar when it decide to bloom early near the Pa- ground and interest led him to this job. roli Homesite in ABDSP’s Culp Valley. (Continued on Page 4) Page 4 LOG JAM: District, sector notes (cont.) (Continued from Page 3) Anza-Borrego Desert State Park The Volunteer Potluck will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 17, at Astrid and Sam Webb’s house at 829 Santa Saba Court. Photo by Eric Hollenbeck To get to their home from Christmas Circle, While conducting flat-tailed horned lizard go south on Borrego Springs Road and turn left surveys in early August, Environmental on Rango Way. Go three streets to Santa Saba Scientist Eric Hollenbeck comes across an Road and turn left. Go to the next street and unusual sight: the bottom of Short Wash covered with abandoned cicada exoskele- tons. Cicadas live underground as nymphs for most of their lives, feeding on root juice. In their final nymphal stages, they con- struct exit tunnels and emerge, shedding their exoskeletons. turn right. Their house is the only one on that street. Bring a complete place setting including sil- verware, a beverage, a potluck dish to share and a chair. District and ABDSP staff are invit- ed and encouraged to attend these functions which are a chance to interact with and show appreciation to the volunteers who do so much to help keep our parks open and run- ning. According to Reserve Manager Jim Dice of the Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Re- search Center, July 21 was a quite a day for a small portion of ABDSP. The new weather sta- tion (see page 19) recorded 1.97 inches of rain in two hours at District Headquarters. The good news is that although the temperature was 121.6 degrees oF June 29, on that rainy July day the temperature maxed out at 88.9 oF — cool for this time of year in the low desert. Photo by Steve Bier Rainwater flows into ABDSP’s Sandstone From the desk of Supervising Ranger Sue Canyon after the July flood. The tinaja, McLaughlin: which is usually just a two-foot deep pool A husband and wife from Corona were in that doesn’t last long, was nearly five feet deep and overflowed into the main wash. (Continued on Page 5) Page 5 LOG JAM: District, sector notes (cont.) (Continued from Page 4) the narrow wash between the bottom of the Diablo Dropoff and Fish Creek when rain and flooding began July 21. They attempted to get their 2006 Jeep Rubicon to high ground, but were not able to so they left the car, scram- bled to safety, then watched the Jeep float away. A San Diego Sheriff’s ASTREA helicopter picked them up in Fish Creek a few hours later and transported them to Split Mountain Road where Ranger Nicole Van Doren and I were waiting to give them a ride into Borrego Springs. Perry’s Desert Tire Towing recovered the Photo by Don Strampfer vehicle in Fish Creek the next day approxi- The owners of this pickup truck are ex- mately one quarter of a mile from the entrance tremely grateful for ABDSP Ranger Don to the Diablo Dropoff (see photo below). Strampfer who got a tow truck to help them out of the muck they were stuck in after try- ing to drive in Hueso Wash during a storm. Ranger Don Strampfer received this nice email after assisting a couple who got stuck in it out. If it wasn't for you and Dave, Lord only Hueso Wash after our last rain event (see knows what would have happened to us. photo at right, top of page): Words can not even begin to express our “Hi Don, gratitude for your help. Your happy demeanor “Was that crazy or what? We barely made and ‘can do’ attitude placed our minds at ease and gave us hope that we would get out of there. “Call us crazy, but we are interested in re- turning to visit when the weather is bone dry hahaha!! We would love to meet up with you and we will let you know when we are plan- ning a trip back there. Like it or not we've adopted you as a friend. Please forward this message to your superior. Don is an outstand- ing and knowledgeable park ranger with a whole lot of heart. Plain and simple, no matter how bad it looked with the coming storm he never left us. This man really cared. “Thank so much for your help you and Dave the tow truck guy (superman move Photo by Sue McLaughlin over!!!!) After being abandoned near Fish Creek, a “Sincerely grateful, Mark & Vilma Arlotti” Jeep shows the effects of being swept downstream in a flash flood. (Continued on Page 6) Page 6 LOG JAM: District, sector notes (cont.) For the second visitor, Ysidro Mendivil, visit- ing Picacho is like coming home.