Godzilla El Nino's Epic Weekend

Thank you El Nino! This year is shaping up to be a major El Nino year, the biggest in a few decades, which has been nicknamed the "Godzilla El Nino". For some it brings worry about storms and potential damage to infrastructure, but to outdoorsy types it brings good waves to our beaches, snow to our mountains, and a bunch of very needed rain to drought stricken California.

The first two major El Nino storms hit in January, and brought a bunch of snow to our local mountains in San Diego. For us, this is a rare event. I also randomly had a completely free weekend, another rare event these days, so I decided to take full advantage. The surf was all junk from the storm and the local trails were completely soaked, some even underwater. So those were out. Mountains and desert were in.

The plan was to go up to a friend's place in Cuyamaca to go around in the snow for a few hours, then meet other friends down in Anza Borrego that afternoon to go out for a quick overnight on the bikes. Pine trees and snow down to cactus and sand in the same weekend. To say it was a success is an understatement. Truly an epic weekend. It's so amazing the diverse, wild beauty we have in our own back yard. You forget sometimes how big it is out there. And just a little water brings the whole thing to life!

Got to use the 4x4 on my truck for snow... It's been awhile!
Most of the narrow roads up near my friend's property were not plowed. 4x4 was mandatory, and the Tacoma performed flawlessly. And only about 40 miles from the ocean as the crow flies.
After the fun in the mountains, I continued east down to the desert. We geared up in Borrego Springs and parked our cars at the Sheriff's station overnight to make sure everything was safe.
These large metal sculptures are everywhere out in Anza Borrego. There are dozens and dozens of them all over the desert. They are all supposed to represent creatures that have lived in the area, going back to the dinosaurs.
We had mountain bikes of all shapes and sizes ranging from a fatbike to a singlespeed 29er. Mike's Ritchey fatbike, Ken's Krampus 29+ bike, my El mariachi, and Kevin's singlespeed El Mariachi
The road out to Rockhouse Canyon. Still packed down and very ridable.
Riding into the night and getting sandy! The guys with the fat tires did better, but we all ended up walking at some point.
Brilliant idea... Ken cut a firestarter log in half, and packed it in on his bike! This let us have a fire out at our camp in the middle of the desert. Thanks Ken!
Sunrise
Camp spot. No idea what the purpose of the rock circles were, but we came across this spot the night before and it was too good to pass up. The rock rings happened to be in the best flat spots, so we put our tents up in them.
Fire still smoldering in the morning.
You can see here how deep the sand got. Pretty tough on normal 29er tires. Heading back it was slightly downhill which made a HUGE difference.
Julian apple pie in Santa Ysabell on the way home. Cinnamon ice cream over crumbtop apple pie...