First rains?

Cornholio said:
I thought maybe it was due to rain not having the chlorine or whatever else in our water but turns out it has to do with a whole lot more.
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It depends whether you are talking about irrigated lawns or not. In Southern California, our irrigation water is extremely poor quality; it is high in dissolved salts and alkaline. Your water pH out of the tap will be somewhere around 8.0 - and pH that high will block plants from taking up essential minerals like iron - even when there is plenty of iron in the soil. Rainwater naturally is slightly acidic with a pH around 5.6, so a good rain shower will drop the pH of irrigated soil significantly - and your plants will breathe a sigh of relief. Additionally, all of those calcium and sodium salts that have been building up in your soil will get rinsed out.

The best thing you can do if you love plants and live in Southern Cal is buy a whole house water softener - making sure you use potassium chloride pellets to recharge the elements - and use a lawn/soil acidifier like Best Super Iron (or Miracid, if you are a millionaire).

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We were camping up at Buckhorn campground last night, around 9:30 it just started pouring and everyone scattered to their tents. I woke up around 1:30 to what sounded like hail and the only dry spot in the tent was my tiny backpacking sized sleeping pad. I curled into a ball and made it work until my wife woke up crying that her entire sleeping bag was soaked through. She ran to our friends' car to sleep and I was left in a damp tent.
In the morning I looked at our tent placement and she had set-it-up right in the path of the drainage. Still a fun outing.
 
Faust29 said:
I was just there... :thumbsup:
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That's awesome Steve that you drove up there to check out the conditions, and then drove back home. Thank you! :laugh:

Meanwhile I am working on filling out college apps with my daughter. It took us 15 minutes to get through the section where you have to try to define your sex/gender. And people wonder why folks are moving out of California... (feeding the fire to get @Faust29 blood pressure up)
 
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mtnbikej said:
San Juan to Cocktail Rock is fine in the rain. There may be a few spots that get muddy, but for the most part it is good.

Above Cocktail Rock there is a bit more mud to be found. Old San Juan Trail gets pretty muddy and slippery with all the roots.

Up to Cocktail Rock....you cannot get lost.
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First time on San Jaun today with my daughter Courtney and friends. We shuttled to the top where we left my truck. 12 miles down to the bottom. We spent most of the ride in heavy mist/ light rain with limited visibility. We only saw 1 runner, 2 hikers, 2 mtn. bikers coming up from the bottom and...... 3 hunters with rifles. Neat trail!

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BonsaiNut said:
That's awesome Steve that you drove up there to check out the conditions, and then drove back home. Thank you! :laugh:

Meanwhile I am working on filling out college apps with my daughter. It took us 15 minutes to get through the section where you have to try to define your sex/gender. And people wonder why folks are moving out of California... (feeding the fire to get @Faust29 blood pressure up)
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I was so happy when my sons rolled their eyes at that section!
 
Stkx66 said:
View attachment 45120

View attachment 45121 First time on San Jaun today with my daughter Courtney and friends. We shuttled to the top where we left my truck. 12 miles down to the bottom. We spent most of the ride in heavy mist/ light rain with limited visibility. We only saw 1 runner, 2 hikers, 2 mtn. bikers coming up from the bottom and...... 3 hunters with rifles. Neat trail!

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San Juan is great in the rain. Nice conditions for your first time.

Next time...climb it. :thumbsup:
 
Stkx66 said:
I just looked up what we did on Strava. There is more or less no more elevation than ride from the tree farm to the Doppler at Blackstar. So, going with no shuttle I see it as quite doable and if you get to tired you can just turn around. ;)
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Quite doable! It's actually a pretty nice climb, minus a few of the switchbacks. :thumbsup:

When the mountain is open, it's actually pretty easy to get to from the OC side... Blue Jay Campground is only 3 miles from the top of Trabuco Trail.
 
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