Santa Ana River!!

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One of my good buddies was moving out of California and wanted to go out and hike in the mountains with me one more time before he left. At the time he was living in Mentone, CA so I met him there. From his place we could clearly see the Seven Oaks Dam and my buddy was asking me about it. So we decided to drive over to the backside of the dam and check it out! I had wanted to checkout the area for years and just hadn't got there yet, but today was the day.

From Mentone we drove up highway 38 into Mill creek canyon and up to fire road 1N12 which leads up to the Morton peak fire lookout. We drove up, passing the junction to the lookout and taking the next junction down Warm Springs canyon. The dirt road was long and a bit rough, but nothing my 4Runner couldn't handle.

Driving up 1N12

Overlooking Warm Springs Canyon

Eventually we made our way down to the bottom where the Santa Ana River flows into the reservoir on the backside of the dam. We started driving up canyon and one of the first things we noticed was an old abandoned flume up on the hillside above the river. We were curious to check it out so we stopped and made the climb up the hill. We investigated the flume and realized it actually went quite deep into the mountain, which being that we did't have a flash light we were unprepared to go too far in. But we contued driving up the canyon and were able to find another section of the flume. This section was much lower on the hill making it easier to get to, and it was only a few hundred feet long. So my buddy decided to climb in and hike through to the other side. It was a little difficult to crawl up into so I opted to just hike around and meet him on the other side.

Looking at the back side of the dam from up on the hill

Walking along the outside of the old flume

The first flume entrance, this one went deep

The second flume entrance

Looking out the second flume entrance

The backside of the second flume where my buddy crawled out

After having fun exploring the old flume we headed over to the river. We hiked along the river a bit and then found a spot to just hang out and relax and enjoy the beautiful day. Along our hike I was able to spot some really nice looking trout in the river and I was wishing that I had my fishing pole on me. Then while we were relaxing a couple of fishermen came by and I told them where I had just seen the fish. A few minutes later they were over there pulling out that very fish that I had just saw! A nice 14" rainbow trout. Needless to say I was a little jealous. But that's why this is a part one. Because after that I was determined that I was coming back for some trout fishing! My buddy and I enjoyed the rest of the day out there and then eventually headed back out the dirt road. And after this he moved across the country to Kentucky. But be sure stay tuned for part two where I come back for a much more thorough exploration of this section of the Santa Ana river!

Hiking along the river