R.J. Raitt 1956 Journal 5 January 26 Mortinez Canyon, Santa Rosa Mts, Riverside Co., California cloudy although usually cloudy. The wind had been blowing down-canyon intermittently all afternoon. After dark the wind increased in duration and velocity and the clouds began to pile up and rain. It rained all night long with a few periods of let up, and the winds came in very strong gusts. We cooked chow in the rain and Dr. Miller slept in the umbrella tent and I in the truck. January 27 We got up to find the rain had stopped. In spite of almost constant rain with some hard showers there was no run-off and the sand wet only a few miles deep. The sky was still partially cloudy but with a lot of blue showing. At about 8 AM we headed up the canyon again until we reached at 1500 ft. elevation the mouth of a canyon from the south which we turned up intending to ascend into the upper sonoran vegetation on the slopes of Rabbit Peak. After a pleasant hour's walk along a rain-packet sandy bottom we reached a damp area with green vegetation. After looking in vain for guail we began to ascend a very steep south face of the canyon until we hit the top of a jagged ridge at about 3500 ft. As we ascended this slope we encountered first junipers, then some ceanothus, then scrub oaks and pinyon pines. No birds were seen on this steep canyon wall. On reaching the top we looked down into the head of a small