San Diego home values continue soaring beyond nation's
Don Bauder 6:07 a.m., May 21
San Carlos Stories
Cowles Mountain trail repaired, ready to open on May 18
And, more accurately, call it “Coals” Mountain
The main trailhead leading to the peak of 1591-foot-high Cowles Mountain is scheduled to reopen May 18, a date coinciding with Explore Mission Trails Regional Park Day, a celebration for the park that includes Cowles ...
San Carlos Area Council meeting hosts Carl DeMaio
Ex-mayoral candidate decides to “stay in the game”
Carl DeMaio referred to a defeat and some victories during his talk at the May 1 San Carlos Area Council meeting. He also weighed in on the proposed City of San Diego budget and discussed ...
Cowles Mountain at Mission Trails park — loved too much
Trail closed March 25 to April 17
For hikers it’s exercise rewarded with 360º panoramic views. For Cowles Mountain it’s trail damage and habitat destruction. Hikers anticipating a challenging spring break hike up Cowles Mountain at the Golfcrest trailhead in San Carlos ...
Does intersection warrant stop signs in San Carlos?
Not enough “points” to justify it
San Carlos Navajo Community Planners, Inc. (NCPI) on March 18 voted 8-1 to take an alternate method of requesting a four-way stop at Cowles Mountain Boulevard and Boulder Lake Avenue, a San Carlos intersection that ...
DA Bonnie Dumanis addresses San Carlos community
Gives crime-fighting tips, asks for a Facebook “like”
At the March 6 San Carlos Area Council meeting, San Diego district attorney Bonnie Dumanis asked if anyone in the audience was the victim of identity theft. One woman raised her hand; another said, "A ...
San Carlos pump station slated for replacement
Increased capacity to serve future population
The City of San Diego's plan to demolish and replace a pump station that has served San Carlos since 1967 received unanimous approval from Navajo Community Planners, Inc. (NCPI), on February 25. The estimated $7.5 ...
SDPD Eastern Division crime report from Capt. Andy Mills
Increases in arrests, crime, suicides
San Carlos was among the neighborhoods where residential burglaries increased during 2012, San Diego Police Department captain Andy Mills reported at the January 2 San Carlos Area Council meeting. Mills is commanding officer for the ...
Mayor Bob Filner to address SDG&E issues
He’s collecting info from planning groups
Mayor Bob Filner announced at the January 2 San Carlos Area Council meeting that he will "take on" San Diego Gas & Electric. Filner also said that he was interviewing to hire an energy advocate ...
Cowles Mountain — Mesa Road
On any given day, the main route up Cowles Mountain, the highest point in the city of San Diego, is busy. A route with less traffic and easy parking is the Mesa Trail route that ...
Cowles Mountain - East
Take the trail less traveled to the Cowles Mountain summit Directions from downtown San Diego: 15 miles. Allow 30 minutes’ driving time. (San Carlos, Mission Trails Regional Park) From I-8, exit north on College Ave. ...
Senior Students Paint Parking Spaces at Patrick Henry High
Throughout San Diego, a coveted perk for high school seniors is the right to claim their own parking spot in the seniors-only section of their school's parking lot. But many schools have added a twist ...
South Fortuna Mountain
Mission Trails Regional Park’s 1291-foot-high South Fortuna Mountain is one of several summits of similar stature stretching from Cowles Mountain in the south to North Fortuna Mountain in the north. It’s easy to understand why ...
Buddhists’ Pet Release Ceremony Interrupted
At about 2:45 p.m. on April 18, a group of Buddhists came to Lake Murray to release four pet animals at the lake. The three women and one man, who were dressed in robes, explained ...
Bob Wilson Cookbook Art Included GOP Elephant in a Sombrero
While it’s easy to imagine Mamie Eisenhower baking a pumpkin chiffon pie, it’s hard to picture Nancy Reagan (or anyone else) slicing the ends off lemons, scooping out the contents, and filling the rinds with ...
Cowles Mountain Hikers Disregard Main Trail
I had not hiked up Cowles Mountain since June but did so again on October 17. I was stunned to discover the severity of damage done to the main trail and the surrounding habitat during ...
Explore Mission Gorge by Foot, Bike, Skates, or Car
Mission Gorge is arguably San Diego’s (city, not county) most spectacular topographical feature, with walls on both sides rising several hundred feet at a nearly 45-degree pitch. From a geological perspective, the gorge was carved ...
Cowles Mountain to Pyles Peak
Pyles Peak is just one bump in a series of several distinct high points stretching between Cowles Mountain and Fortuna Mountain in East County’s Mission Trails Regional Park. Collectively, the high points make up a ...
I Would Drive 100 Miles
I covered a hundred miles driving to three different parties on one recent Saturday. The first party was up in Murrieta. I would’ve blown it off, but it was for an old high school friend ...
Lend Emerald Your E.A.R.
Councilmember Carl DeMaio isn’t the only budget watchdog in town. On Thursday, April 30, District 7 representative Marti Emerald issued a memo to Budget Review Committee chair Tony Young that listed a few of her ...
"Help," Say Police
Recent commercial robberies, residential burglaries, and purse snatchings in San Carlos, Del Cerro, and La Mesa prompted a community meeting at the San Carlos Recreation Center on Wednesday, March 25. The hourlong meeting began at ...
Casey's Place
A town meeting took place Thursday night, February 12, at Casey's Place in San Carlos. The purpose of the meeting was to publicize the financial plight of Casey's Place, a privately owned, not-for-profit community center ...
Dealing with Droppings
On October 29th, San Diego County’s Environmental Health Department confirmed that a new case of hantavirus was found in a rodent at Mission Trails Regional Park, making it the fourth such case found this year. ...
Tifereth Israel
Two armed security guards stood at the ticket-check tent outside the synagogue before the Yom Kippur evening service. Inside, things were more jovial: a man assigned to keep things reverently hushed had fashioned a title ...
Saint Dunstan's Episcopal Church, San Carlos
St. Dunstan's — the building was dedicated in 1969 — is a church on the cusp. If you look back and up as you pass through the front door, you behold a row of exquisitely ...
Gypsies, Tramps, and Skis
On Saturday, October 27, there were several more Halloween parties to crash. I planned to hit two or three... The first one I got wind of was in Encinitas. It started early, and as I ...
The main Cowles Mountain trail, perhaps the most popular hiking route in San Diego County, offers an annually recurring "solstice" event.
Winter solstice this year occurs during late afternoon on Thursday, December 21. Earlier that morning (and on the morning of the following day), at about 6:50 a.m., a predictable event will unfold on the south ...
The Land and the Kumeyaay
"The Kumeyaay were seasonally migratory people who followed food," says Linda Hawley, volunteer trail guide for Mission Trails Regional Park. "They would summer in Point Loma for the fish and abalone, which were plentiful then, ...
Banana Man
The Saturday before Halloween, I had over 50 party invitations. Folks in Murrieta said they'd prepare a guest room for me. Another invite enticed me with strippers on stripper poles. I chose five parties to ...
Circumnavigate Lake Murray on foot, utilizing the shortest practical and legal loop route.
Lake Murray's paved (closed to cars) perimeter path is near East County's most pleasant and most popular place to gulp some fresh air on a summer morning or late afternoon. Unfortunately, the recreation path ends ...
Best of 2003: Best Place For Future Rembrandts
Little Artists 8680 Navajo Road, San Carlos 619-462-1955 The studio offers classes designed to teach children the basics of drawing and, once those skills are learned, painting methods. Lessons are laid out in a series ...
Best of 2000: Best Duck Feeding
Lake Murray, San Carlos Though wild, the ducks at this lake just north of I-8 in San Carlos are well cared for. One middle-aged man comes every day with a duffel bag full of chicken ...
Climb to South Fortuna Mountain in Mission Trails Regional Park via Oak Canyon and its trickling stream.
In the aftermath of 1998'-99's anemic and spotty rainfall, the pale green sheen now covering San Diego's wildlands surely won't last long. By June the natural vegetation of the coastal region may look uniformly brown ...
Sun-watching spots around San Diego metro area
Winter is an often perfect time for watching the sun rise or set in San Diego. Picture yourself on a clear late afternoon, perched atop a seaside bluff or on one of the hills that ...
Public Art's Hurly-Burly
Consider people who rant on issues about which they believe themselves experts. Everybody holds an opinion on everything -- like a fellow on the radio contending that the National Endowment for the Arts should be ...
