I've been a park ranger with
the San Dieguito River Park for over 15 years now and I was an avid volunteer
mountain bike patroller and trail worker with the park for 5 years before that.
I've seen a lot of the changes within the park over those 20 years and I have
seen a lot of the parks corridor that stretches over 55 miles from Volcan
Mountain near Julian to the ocean in Del Mar but I had never been able to match
all the puzzle pieces together until just recently. I had always wanted to feel
the full experience of hiking or biking the San Dieguito River Park Coast-to-Crest
Trail from the time I first learned of the parks vision of linking open space
corridors from the north, south and east together.
My journey on the
Coast-to-Crest was not new one, former SDRP director Dick Bobertz, Poway City
Council Member Jim Cunningham and Bill Simmons all took on the lengthy task of hiking the trail in a series
of 6 days spanning from 2013 to 2014. The San Dieguito watershed that covers
346 square miles also has also been featured in the book Coast to Crest Trail
and Beyond- Across San Diego County by car along the San Dieguito River. The
last hike down the corridor was done by a group of High-Tech High North County
11th grade students over a 7 day period in the Spring of 2014, that
story is featured in the book We Chose Our Own Adventures by Alex
Snyder. While I would not be the first one to take on such an adventure I would be
the first to link the Coast to Crest Trail by mountain bike.
Monday, February 2nd
“Groundhog Day” seemed like a fitting day to make my run at the Coast-to-Crest
trail. I started from the Volcan Mountain trail head off of Farmers Rd around
0800 and headed towards the Santa Ysabel Preserve- East trails and jumped on
the Kanaka Loop trail that would take me to Hwy79. From these trails you get a
good sense of just how big the SDRP corridor is. The views are incredible as
you pass through oak woodlands areas and large expanses of grass lands.
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| Smelling the pines and getting ready to head out. |
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After existing from the
SYP-East trail I had to get on Hwy79 for a few miles and then turn onto Mesa
Grande road heading towards Black Canyon Rd. The alignment for the trail
through the Santa Ysabel Preserve- West area is still in the planning stage.
Whatever it is it will be a great trail. I’ve been able to hike a lot of that
area and the canyons in there are great. After a brief diversion around I was
back on track and riding on the Upper Santa Ysabel Truck Trail. You know you’re
in the canyon lands now. The road and hill sides begin to steepen and the
terrain starts getting a lot rockier. From here you can see straight down the
corridor to the Hwy78 as it comes up from San Pasqual Valley. Fortunately the
rains this year made for some more stunning views. From here you descend into
Pamo Valley where I picked up the main road leading to the Lower Santa Ysabel
Truck Trail and eventually out onto Hwy78 and into San Pasqual Valley. The big
picture was finally starting to take shape. |
| Looking down into Pamo Valley from Upper Santa Ysabel truck trail. |
Even though I had been pretty
much in the park the whole way I felt a little more at home once I got onto the
San Pasqual Valley trail. The bulk of the parks operations are focused within
this area so it is very familiar and as soon as I entered the orange groove and smelled the blossoms at the beginning of the valley I was at ease and enjoyed a nice ride through the grasslands area and up over Raptor
Ridge again giving me another great view down the park corridor towards the
ocean. I was getting closer but still had miles left. The ride down Raptor is
twice as nice as going up. I was then out across the flood plain and into the Lake
Hodges area. There’s been a lot of work around the lake shores lately with the
removal of many invasive eucalyptus trees and it is already starting to make a
difference. The native plants are gaining a better foothold and
thriving. Oh yeah the rain helped as well. I continued down onto the Del Dios
Gorge trail after the Lake Hodges Dam paralleling Del Dios Highway and then
onto the Santa Fe Valley trail.
Raptor Ridge and Lake Hodges Dam.
Heading into Del Dios Gorge and Santa Fe Valley trails.
After crossing into the
Lusardi Open Space Preserve you can pick up a connector to San Dieguito road.
From this point I followed the San Dieguito road down towards El Camino Real.
Again the connector for this area is still in the works but could follow much
of the same route. I followed El Camino briefly until I regained the Coast-to-Crest
trail again at the Del Mar Horse Park.
The trails in the Coastal area
of the SDRP are the youngest we have. Most of what is down there was built
within the last 4 to 5 years and it’s coming along very nicely. This is the
point where the San Dieguito River joins with the ocean and the lagoons. All
the lagoons you see were created as part of a large wetlands restoration
project headed up in great part by Southern California Edison. Continuing on I
could smell the ocean breezes and I knew I was within miles of the beach. Now
following the river to the ocean I crossed the Lagoon Boardwalk (currently in danger of being removed) and passed by the Del Mar Fairgrounds
and eventually on to the river’s mouth “Dog Beach” and the end of my journey.
All told it took me about 6hrs to complete the 72mi route down the San Dieguito
River Park Watershed.
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| Birdwing Open-Air Classroom |
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| Lagoon Boardwalk |
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| Looking back east. |
This trip through the park
was an absolute eye-opener for me. It was not until my journey was complete
that I really understood what it meant to have a plan like this in place. The
benefits of having a dedicated wildlife corridor not only helps now but ensures
that it stays that way for generations to come. The obstacles ahead of the San
Dieguito River Park are still numerous and great and in most situations it’s going to
take some real cooperation and sacrifice on behalf of all the entities that
make up the park. After 20 years of working for and with the park I am proud of
what we have accomplished so far. It is my sincere hope that I get to one day
see this project to fruition.
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| Reaching the beach! |
