A Hawk's Eye View of San Diego County from the Boucher Hill LookoutThis is a brief photo essay documenting the four seasons that I have witnessed this year at Palomar Mountain. The locales include High Point, the State Park, and the Observatory Trail. This is easily one of my favorite hiking destinations in all of …
Daley Ranch – Boulder Loop
The popular Daley Ranch Park preserves one of the last major parcels of open space in the Escondido. Featuring a great variety of ecosystems, the park showcases a number of different hiking options, such as a loop through Engelmann oak woodland, a loop around a large meadow, ponds, chaparral, sage-scrub community, and, as on this …
Torrey Pines State Reserve, Beach, and Extension
Perched across two bluffs separated by a lagoon stand the last groves of the rarest pine tree in North America, the Torrey Pine. The reserve that protects the remnants of these trees also protects a long strand of primeval beach, over which massive sandstone cliffs. Here, the visitor can catch one of the last glimpses …
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Relict Species: Engelmann Oak
Relict, n: a remnant or survivor.Species, n: a distinct sort or kindThe Engelmann Oak (Quercus engelmannii)For my own satisfaction, and hopefully for somebody else out there who likes trees, I'm going to write about some of the remarkable remnant species of trees and plants that I come to know in California. A relic species is that of which only …
Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve – Sylvan Meadow Loop
Tucked up on a plateau overlooking Murrieta and Temecula lies the Santa Rosa Plateau Reserve. This 8,000 acre park features 40 miles of hiking trails, the largest remaining Engelmann oak habitat, adobes dating back to the 1860's, vernal pools, and miles of rolling meadows studded with oaks and sycamores.Distance: 5.7 MilesElevation Gained: 500'Difficulty: EasyTime: 3.5 …
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Caspers Wilderness Park – Bell Canyon Loop
Caspers Wilderness Park is an open space preserve near San Juan Capistrano that protects some of San Juan Creek and its tributaries. The park features a variety of ecosystems ranging from open, sunny chaparral covered slopes, park-like oak and sycamore woodland, and arroyo. It also features a few different campsites and day use sections, as …
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Garnet Peak
Garnet Peak is one of the many peaks that thrust out from the eastern edge of the Laguna Plateau. While it is not the highest, it has one of the most commanding views of the desert country of Southern California, including Anza-Borrego desert, Mts. San Gorgonio and San Jacinto, the Salton Sea, and northernmost Mexico.Stats:Â Distance: …
The Sunset Trail
Perched atop a rolling plateau in the Peninsular Ranges in eastern San Diego County lies a vast, sumptuous meadow, rimmed with pine trees and studded with small, ephemeral lakes. This landscape, which may be one of the most beautiful in all of San Diego, offers contrast, solitude, silence, endless vistas, and cool, shady forests to …
Santa Anita Canyon, Thanksgiving Day Edition
Distance: I'm guessing about 7.5-8 MilesElevation gained: I'm guessing 2,200'Difficulty: Moderately strenuousCritters: Grey squirrels galore.Get there like this.Note: You will need an Adventure PassJust as important: You need to get here early on weekends and holidays since this place is insanely popular.Just a few linear miles from the endless urban sprawl of Los Angeles county …
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Mt. San Jacinto State Park via the Tramway
Distance: 4.8 MilesElevation Gained: 700'Difficulty: ModerateCritters: NoneGet there like this.When I was a kid, my parents took me up to Mt. San Jacinto via the tram. My cousin from Illinois was in town, and I think they were trying to prove to him that California gets cold too sometimes. This seemed to me a very …
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scott turner hikes 