Crews were cleaning up Thursday in Mission Trails Regional Park as visitors watched a swollen San Diego River rush through the park.
"We do get a lot of people who will come out here when it rains, kind of excitedly, to see the river actually looking like a river for once," Park Ranger Heidi Gutknecht said. "It looks like raging chocolate milk as it washes through the gorge there."
By 9:30 a.m., Gutknecht said the river had risen to the top of the Old Mission Dam, which is 12 feet high. She said the last time she recalls the water level being that high was in 2010.
While Thursday's river conditions are infrequent, Gutknecht said rising water and flooding in the Kumeyaay Lake Campground are common during the rainy season. What's less common is how dry the region was until this winter's storms.
"This past summer, there were many sections that were completely dry or there were just stagnant puddles," Gutknecht said. "Whereas ordinarily, all year round there's at least a little bit of water running in the river."
She said the influx of water would green some of the terrain, improving food and water sources for deer and other wildlife in the park.
As for damage, crews are digging out minor mud and rock slides on Father Junipero Serra Trail. The main road through the park is closed from Mission Gorge Road on the south edge of the park, but visitors can still access the road from Santee and reach parking lots on the east side of the park.
The visitors center will keep its normal hours, and all trails are open. Gutknecht, however, warned hikers to keep an eye out for erosion and unstable stairs until crews can get out to make trail repairs.
"We have real clay-rich soil in places, so it's that real sticky, slippery mud, which isn't very safe," she said.
And while it's already against regulations to go into the water, Gutknecht still urged visitors to stay out, as flows can be unpredictable after heavy rains.
