Sort of a Canyon Exploration in the San Ysidro Trials Area

The canyon in the San Ysidro Trials Area was one of those places we just happened to discover on our way through the area. Looking for a short hike-slash-dogwalk I Googled our approximate location and hiking and found what I thought was a trails area with some reviews on a pretty canyon; it was only after arriving did we discover that it was a Trials area, as in a motorcycle racing area. Still, it was BLM land and a good place to walk Abby so we parked at the locked gate and made out way down the road a little over a mile until it terminated in a staging area. From there we set off on one of the dirt tracks until we found a place to drop into the wash in search of the canyon. I never did attempt to return to my search results to see if where we ended up matched the hike description but what we did see – meandering channel cut into a sliver of slickrock – was gorgeous as well as unique. And while there were multiple pools that may have been deep enough to be called a slot canyon had they been dry, it still wasn’t really a canyon. We continued walking downstream and upstream and scrambled up to a mesa in search of an actual canyon after we explored the area but didn’t end up locating anything else of note though truthfully, we were all quite content with our find.