Devil's Wind and Diablo Drop

Yesterday was a mixed bag of activity.  We had made a 10:30 am tee time at the only 18 hole golf course in the valley and since we had not really played that much, we showed up an hour early to practice.  We could have gone on and played early and probably should have done so.  The weather forecast indicated that high winds would enter the valley around 2 pm and we figured we would be off the course by then.  Well, the winds hit the course about 12:30 just as we were making the turn and it made for a really bad back nine. We hurried back to the RV, pulled in both slides and hunkered down to wait out the 45 mph wind storm.  By bed time the Devil’s wind had died down to a small roar.

This morning was a very lazy one for us as we just couldn’t muster up any energy to do much of anything.  But we finally fixed a lunch and took off for an afternoon of off-roading in Diablo Canyon.  And I’m so glad we did.

The first half of our drive was down the Arroyo Tapiado, a gentle, sandy run until we entered the Mud Caves or Mud Palisades.  We drove along side of tall walls of dried sand and mud created millions of years ago by the ocean that covered this whole southern part of California.  The mud walls have since been recreated by wind and rain to look like caverns and slot canyons.  At times we drove in narrow washes towered over by leaning walls of ‘mud’.  

As we drove along Arroyo Seco Del Diablo we neared  the drop off to the next wash.  The Diablo Drop was supposed to be a heart stopping drop down a steep and very soft sand road. It was steep and it was soft sand but it was not heart stopping, not compared to some runs we have done in Colorado!  Still it was fun.

We then cruised Fish Creek towards Elephant’s Knees along the East Mesa and Mud Hills.  The best views of the Knees was from the Wind Caves.  These are soft boulders where the wind and rain have carved out many holes in the stone, some forming caves, others tunnels and arches.  It was a neat area to explore but the view of this badlands area was spectacular as viewed from the top of the boulders.  We drove though more slot canyons and sandy washes before hitting the paved roads home.