Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Miramar Reservoir

California adolphia found at Lake Miramar is an endangered species.
California adolphia found at Lake Miramar is an endangered species.

The 4.92 mile paved service road has a variety of walkers, joggers, and bicyclists circling the reservoir seven days a week with cars allowed on the road Saturday through Tuesday. The dam and reservoir were finished in 1960 and are owned and operated by the City of San Diego. It is part of the second San Diego Aqueduct project, with water from both the Colorado River Aqueduct and the California Aqueduct. The reservoir’s water-storage capacity is 6682 acre feet. Dogs on leashes are permitted but must remain 50 feet or more from the water at all times.

Bring your binoculars to view cormorants or pelicans competing with anglers for bass, bluegill, or sunfish. Mallards, lesser scaups, redhead, gadwall, northern shovelers, and ruddy ducks are found on the lake, depending on the season. Turkey vultures or hawks can be seen catching the wind currents with the sound of European starlings, California towhee, California quail, and wrentits in the chaparral plants.

Chaparral plants include chamise, black sage, manzanita, monkey flower and California sagebrush, plus species that are hard to spot and rare. These include Zeltnera venusta or canchalagua, which is an annual with pink petals and white centers with yellow anthers. Look closely after pollen is harvested and note that the anthers are shaped like corkscrews. Another species called Adolphia california, spineshrub, or California adolphia is found in San Diego County and listed by the California Native Plant Society as rare, threatened, or endangered in California but is considered common elsewhere. The flower has five triangular petals with small folded petals between each triangular-shaped one.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The name of the reservoir has an interesting history. In 1890, newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps and his philanthropist wife, Ellen Browning Scripps, purchased land in the area now called Scripps Ranch. With no buildings to obstruct the view of Mount Soledad and the Pacific Ocean, the property was given the name Miramar, Spanish for “sea view.” Ellen Browning Scripps supported a multitude of institutions in Southern California, including schools, parks, and hospitals.

Miramar Reservoir is open to fishing and private boats and kayaks from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.

  • Distance from downtown San Diego: 17 miles. Allow 25 minutes driving time. (Scripps Ranch) From I-15, exit east on Carroll Canyon Rd. and keep left (north) as the name changes to Scripps Ranch Blvd. Turn right (east) on Scripps Lake Dr. and then left into the parking lot. Restrooms, chemical toilets, water, and picnic areas. Wheelchair accessible. Gates open from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
  • Hiking length: 4.92 miles around the lake.
  • Difficulty: Easy and level on either paved road or dirt trail near the shore for a portion of the walk.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Best Kratom Capsules: Top Brands, Benefits & Where To Buy

Next Article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
California adolphia found at Lake Miramar is an endangered species.
California adolphia found at Lake Miramar is an endangered species.

The 4.92 mile paved service road has a variety of walkers, joggers, and bicyclists circling the reservoir seven days a week with cars allowed on the road Saturday through Tuesday. The dam and reservoir were finished in 1960 and are owned and operated by the City of San Diego. It is part of the second San Diego Aqueduct project, with water from both the Colorado River Aqueduct and the California Aqueduct. The reservoir’s water-storage capacity is 6682 acre feet. Dogs on leashes are permitted but must remain 50 feet or more from the water at all times.

Bring your binoculars to view cormorants or pelicans competing with anglers for bass, bluegill, or sunfish. Mallards, lesser scaups, redhead, gadwall, northern shovelers, and ruddy ducks are found on the lake, depending on the season. Turkey vultures or hawks can be seen catching the wind currents with the sound of European starlings, California towhee, California quail, and wrentits in the chaparral plants.

Chaparral plants include chamise, black sage, manzanita, monkey flower and California sagebrush, plus species that are hard to spot and rare. These include Zeltnera venusta or canchalagua, which is an annual with pink petals and white centers with yellow anthers. Look closely after pollen is harvested and note that the anthers are shaped like corkscrews. Another species called Adolphia california, spineshrub, or California adolphia is found in San Diego County and listed by the California Native Plant Society as rare, threatened, or endangered in California but is considered common elsewhere. The flower has five triangular petals with small folded petals between each triangular-shaped one.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The name of the reservoir has an interesting history. In 1890, newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps and his philanthropist wife, Ellen Browning Scripps, purchased land in the area now called Scripps Ranch. With no buildings to obstruct the view of Mount Soledad and the Pacific Ocean, the property was given the name Miramar, Spanish for “sea view.” Ellen Browning Scripps supported a multitude of institutions in Southern California, including schools, parks, and hospitals.

Miramar Reservoir is open to fishing and private boats and kayaks from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.

  • Distance from downtown San Diego: 17 miles. Allow 25 minutes driving time. (Scripps Ranch) From I-15, exit east on Carroll Canyon Rd. and keep left (north) as the name changes to Scripps Ranch Blvd. Turn right (east) on Scripps Lake Dr. and then left into the parking lot. Restrooms, chemical toilets, water, and picnic areas. Wheelchair accessible. Gates open from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
  • Hiking length: 4.92 miles around the lake.
  • Difficulty: Easy and level on either paved road or dirt trail near the shore for a portion of the walk.
Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
Next Article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.