Los Penasquitos Creek

This reach mostly appears to be a brush-battle access, to a short (1/4 mile or less) intense falls sequence (likely a portage of at least the first falls by most), followed by a 2.5 mile (mostly flat swift-water) paddle-out. I'm hard pressed to figure that too many people will try it more than once.Mile-by-mile gradient approximations454540303070331725

FIRST DESCENT: LOS PENASQUITOS CREEK (San Diego): January 26, 1997

It had started raining the previous evening, and by the morning
most of the rain had fallen - appx 0.5-1.5 inches in the San Diego city
region. Looking at Carrol Creek by Sorrento Valley Rd I decided Los
Penasquitos must have a lot of water in it. Los Penasquitos Creek
drains most of Poway and lies between the San Dieguito River (to the
north) and Rose Creek (to the south). From I-15 down to I-5 the creek
flows 9 miles and crosses only one road. This is the Penasquitos
Preserve, a natural park area with a trail the entire length popular
with local bikers and runners. The creek drains approximately 50-80
square miles, emptying into the ocean at Torrey Pines State Park. The
gradient is probably around 20-30 fpm most of the way except one small
gorge area a couple miles up from I-5.

I started at Sabre Springs Road just east of I-15 off of Poway Rd
at 8:15 am. Here there was probably 300 cfs in the creek. A small lake
is created by a low head dam just a couple hundred yards downstream from
the put-in. Inspecting the dam from the road I thought it best to
portage, but decided to paddle up to it and have a closer look. The
water is very calm above and I got within 2 feet from the lip of the
drop. A lot of reeds prevented taking out on the right, so I got out on
the left side and observed the drop - approximately 8-10 feet, slightly
sloping, and an ugly recirculation for 8-10 feet. Perhaps on the far
right or far left one could escape the g

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