Rincon Falls - Caballo Mountains

Don't get too excited. Owing to its low elevation, desert setting, Rincon Falls is  bone dry 99 percent of the time. It must be something to see though, when, perhaps due to heavy monsoon downpour or some prolonged winter rains, it does flow, cascading over its two major tiers for a drop ( I'm estimating) of 150 feet.
 One might have to brave some miserable, if not dangerous conditions to see it wet, however it's still a very worth destination even without the water.
The logistics of getting there, even though it's less than 2 miles as the crow flies from I-25, are not the best.  It may appear that there is a road that goes under the highway from Rincon to a dam lower down the canyon. It looks a bit sketchy on Google earth if this is entirely feasible, as the road tracks look like they terminate on the west side, and the continuation of the "road " is actually seen to be from people leaving directly off of the north bound lanes of I-25 which I am sure is frowned upon by both the highway department and the state police.
 My solution for getting reasonably close was to start off from the little red mountains ( the southern terminus of the Caballos ) west of the town with all the  broadcast and electronic installations atop it. There is a road, which once it starts climbing is not a good one and not at all suitable for low clearance sedans. If it's wet at all just put  the SUV, Jeep or truck in 4 - wheel drive or come back another day. The 4Runner made it up fine in 2 wheel ( it was dry) but I put it in Lo 4 on the way back down.
 The walking started off rough, over chunky loose volcanic rock as Seamus and I made our way down the hill to the west. Seamus was off leash, and before reaching the bottom, I realized he was balking at coming  down. Then I saw why. Cows. He's never been too happy about cows. Perhaps because they just sit there, not willing to move, as desert cattle do  to protect their limited amount of energy in this land of very limited food resources.   This immobility may be seen as threat, because anything with four legs that runs away from him, he is all too happy to give chase, much to his owners consternation.

 I had to  walk back up the hill part ways, give him a treat and put him on the leash to run the gauntlet of the dozen or so black, red and tan cows and calves that were lazily grazing ( what I don't know )  or just lying along the confluence of two ravines. It was a good thing I got him on the leash, even though it made for slower going, because a short while later, after climbing through a rough section of boulders and loose rock near some prospects, we came nearly face to face ( less than 75 feet) with two good sized buck mule deer with half dozen or so of their companions in the more gentle upper reaches of the canyon bottom. After a mutual stare that lasted 20 seconds, I went for my camera in my pocket,  and they, of course, trotted off, but not in a hurry and not too far, so I managed a few impressionistic distance shots.

 We went over the hill, heading slightly northwest and then down into the upper end of the falls canyon ( although at the time I wasn't entirely sure there would be a falls). It was easy walking for short ways, with even a few small puddles in the bedrock for Seamie to drink from. Quickly we were on the precipice of the upper tier which looked to be  20 -30 feet high and not at all a safe bet for descending. One wall was carved into an overhang. The other side was a blackened with desert varnish. About 75 feet forward the stream course disappeared.

We walked out on the ledge on the west side and then back tracked  and went over  a small hill. The descent on the opposite side was a steep one and I landed on my posterior several times. At the bottom we followed a sinuous little ravine that had it's own little pour -off at exposing layers of red and cream sedimentary rock.

 We hiked, hopped and scrambled until we were standing in the gravel at the bottom of the 100 foot second tier that was carved, cut and chopped  wildly out of the red and gray rock. We were finally in  some shade because the falls occupies a very narrow gash in the hillside that allows little sunshine in, even at the noon hour, which it was. There must be enough for the large clustered hackberry tree that grows on south facing side though.


 
We rested a bit and then backtracked a bit and climbed the hill on the opposite side we came down. We had one more look down the falls from the top, and then set off to explore the upper end of the canyon past where we had come in.
 There wasn't much to report. A lingering large puddle in the sand, veins of barite? and calcite running through black cliffs, nodules of layered minerals, green and blue pebbles and rocks were there to be seen, and I regret not collecting a few samples.

Where the canyon opened out of this narrow little upper box, we turned back toward the way we came. I spotted a buck on top of ridge luckily before Seamus saw it and quickly leashed him up. Once again, Seamus was not happy that we had to make our way past the  cows, who had not moved much in the four hours since we had last seen them.
 A good desert outing on a beautifully calm, blue sky, white cloud day.