One of the most popular misconceptions about San Diego is that it is an area that does not have seasons. Even I will joke around with fellow outdoor aficionados that San Diego has two seasons: green and brown. Having said all of that, San Diego is a great area for outdoor activities, and it is a great place to observe the sometimes subtle changes that occur on the local backcountry trails. And sometimes, San Diego receives weather that usually is reserved for other parts of the country. While these winter storms are rare, they are a great opportunity for people to see parts of the county in a different way. Last week, when a winter storm rolled through San Diego, I knew that I wanted to head into the mountains to a place I had visited earlier in the year - the Sunset Trail, as it is one of the few alpine areas above 6,000 feet in the county, and would be assured of having a substantial amount of snow.
Sunset Trail
Kwaaymii Point
One of the more obscure and strange hiking destinations in San Diego is located on the Eastern border of the county, and sits right on the border of the Anza-Borrego State Park and the Cleveland National Forest. In addition to being one of the strangest hiking destinations, the spot has some of the best views in the county as it is located on the edge of the Laguna Mountains.
Penny Pines & Garnet Peak Conditions September 2013
On July 5, 2013, I left work early, and headed up to Garnet Peak in the Cleveland National Forest to start my weekend with a short hike. It was a picture-perfect day with blue skies and since it was Friday afternoon, there was absolutely no one on the trail. The only downside on that day was the weather: it was hot , and the wind that rushed out of the Anza-Borrego Desert felt like an open oven. I remember feeling some of the plants and they were dry . Everything was tinder dry - not good for July in San Diego, where fire season lasts until October, or even November in drought years. Since I couldn't make it rain for the plants, I did the only thing I could: appreciated the natural beauty around me. Although I didn't know it, I was probably the last hiker to hike that area before it burned (photos here). On July 6, 2013, what became known as the Chariot Fire started, and spread through that portion of the Cleveland National Forest due to those dry conditions and high winds.
Garnet Peak
One of my favorite spots in San Diego County is one that most people haven’t heard about. No, it’s not Cowles Mountain. It’s not Iron Mountain. It’s Garnet Peak, a medium sized mountain that’s located on the Eastern edge of San Diego County in the Laguna Mountain Recreation Area. Even though the peak is somewhat unknown to the hiking community in San Diego, the Laguna Mountains are well known to everyone in the county as “the place with the snow”. Yes, you read that right – San Diego gets snow! While it is not a lot of snow, San Diego – and the Laguna Mountains definitely get snow during the winter months as the range is above four thousand feet. Don’t believe me? Well, you can check these pictures here. This is one of the amazing things about San Diego County; it has a variety of biomes that range from coast, alpine, and desert; and from the summit of Garnet Peak, you can see all of these on a sunny day.
Volcan Mountain
In 1995, a Democrat was President; cell phones were chunky bricks that seemed better suited to calling in air strikes; you connected to the Internet via this thing called a modem that was connected to this other thing called a land line; and cassette tapes/VHS tapes were battling it out in a format war with these things called CD’s and DVD’s. Even crazier, Val Kilmer was Batman. That’s right. Val Kilmer. Batman. If that doesn’t prove that the 1990s was a strange time, I don’t know what does. Back then, I was just starting out as an outdoor adventurer. There was no handheld GPS; we had handheld maps, and handheld compasses – and woe betide you if you placed your compass on a car hood to take bearings! We also didn’t have hiking forums, blogs, or websites – we had these things called books. At that time, the best book for San Diego County was Afoot and Afield in San Diego County by Jerry Schad, who was the preeminent wilderness expert for the region.
Corte Madera Mountain
Corte Madera is a granite mountain in the Eastern portion of San Diego; and at 4,657 feet, it has a great view of the surrounding countryside. This is one of my favorite hikes in San Diego County because it’s not well traveled, and because it passes through a number of beautiful areas on the way to the summit. And, as I discovered the last time I climbed it, its register is a good look back to the past, as it contains notes from the last several years.