San Diego River West

This part of the river is West of 805

in the center/west end of Mission Valley.

After the river passes the golf course, 

it becomes wilderness again.
Home to street people, 

subject to tidal influences,

and pond-free, 
it is usually well-behaved.

But not always, as shown in 1979's flood:

[Kuhn, Gerald G., & Francis P. Shepard Sea Cliffs, Beaches, & Coastal Valleys of San Diego County]

I do have an old story about this part of the river.

Many years ago I took up kayaking.

A friend and I decided to kayak UP the river,

to find its "mighty headwaters".

Of course we had no idea of what we were doing,

after 2 hours we had barely made it to the golf course,

just west of Fashion Valley.

This was at least 25 years ago.

There were no rattlesnake warnings then,

nor was it an ecological preserve.

You'd be arrested today.

Forgetting the tidal influence, we casually 

paddled towards home, only to find the tide was out!

We faced a mile of mud flats between us and our car.

Even a kayak can't float in less than 6 inches of water.

We ended up laying on our bellies in the mud,

partially over the kayaks and

 kicking/pushing with our feet. 

I lost a shoe, we both lost our tempers,

but we made it home alive.

In our shared Corvair Rampside.