As I Lay Dying in jail
Ken Leighton 7:59 a.m., May 22
Warner Springs
Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail along Agua Caliente Creek
Stands of majestic oaks and sycamores line a bubbling stream along a section of the trail.
Hike to San Diego County’s Eagle Rock on the PCT
No doubt why it is called “Eagle Rock”
Be amazed by a rock formation that really looks like an eagle!
Don’t Lien on Me: The Pala Band Tries to Return to Warner Springs
In 1903, Native Americans who had occupied Warner Hot Springs and surrounding land for many generations were forced by the United States to evacuate in a three-day trek called the Trail of Tears. But a ...
Death Alley
The Butterfield Stage line between Warner’s Ranch and Oak Grove was a narrow trail, dusty in summer, soggy in winter, rutted the year round. On its weekly treks, the stage always stopped at Deadman’s Hole, ...
Caliente Wilderness
North of Warner Springs, a several-miles-long segment of the 2650-mile Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) traverses Cleveland National Forest land that may one day be designated the “Caliente Wilderness Area.” Certainly the area is remote enough ...
Hot Water
The most attractive asset of the Warner Springs Ranch is the spring-fed, hot mineral water pool. So maybe it’s fitting that through the years, this backcountry ranch has been in financial hot water. After opening ...
Concert IMBY
Steve Rohrer booked the bands for "Ranchita Rocks," a three-day event at which 40 bands will play. Concertgoers are encouraged to camp out on the 160-acre Golightly Farms Ranch between Warner Springs and Julian. Rohrer's ...
Horse Sense
A horse which stops dead just before a jump and thus propels its rider into a graceful arc provides a splendid excuse for general merriment. -- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh I t was 8 ...
Care Package
Absence is to love as wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small and kindles the great. -- Roger De Bussy-Rabutin I was reluctant to leave, even though it had been my decision to go. ...
To Protect Creation
'I spent four hours in a real intense sandstorm," says activist Kelly Fuller. "I had a painter's mask and a bandana on and pulled the hood of my jacket down over my face. When it ...
The Pacific Crest Trail follows the currently lively Agua Caliente Creek near Warner Springs.
Until about 30 years ago, the canyon of Agua Caliente Creek, in the Cleveland National Forest above Warner Springs, seldom saw the intrusion of humans. After the 2600-mile-long Pacific Crest Trail was routed through, it ...
Indian Flats, in the Cleveland National Forest near Warner Springs, offers mellow summer camping.
What better way is there to pique a child's interest in nature than to introduce him or her to a shallow, lazily flowing river full of tadpoles and frogs? At Indian Flats Campground, you can ...
Bag San Diego County's highest peak-Hot Springs Mountain-on the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation.
Some of the loftiest -- and loneliest -- mountain country in San Diego County lies on the 25,000-acre Los Coyotes Indian Reservation. You won't find any casino here, but you will discover San Diego County's ...
Your Dad Arrested My Dad
For most people who live "down the hill," as San Diego's backcountry residents refer to everything west of the mountains, the thought of living "on the mountain" usually ends when the subject of work arises. ...
Blackout
Despite boasting one of the nation's sunniest climates, despite laboring under towering electricity rates, San Diego County isn't home to a single solar energy plant. It's not that we haven't tried. A 20-acre solar farm ...
Best of 2000: Best San Diego County Winery
Proprietor Alexander McGeary is 10 years into his 25-year project to hammer out a wine industry high on the eastern side of Mount Palomar, and things are progressing. Though frost -- a threat at 3500 ...
Up the Creek
About a dozen federally protected endangered species, including the southwestern willow flycatcher and the Laguna Mountains skipper butterfly, live in the Cleveland National Forest, the 424,000-acre woodland preserve that stretches across the rugged backcountry of ...
A loop for mountain bikes near Warner Springs takes riders on a combination of sandy fire road and pavement.
Where can you go to do some fat-tire bicycle riding after the winter rains come? Certainly not on many of the county's backcountry dirt roads and trails, which turn slippery when wet. Instead, try out ...
Return of the Mountain Lion
Ten years ago when Buzz Johnson moved from Colorado to the 650 acres he owns on Angel Mountain, ten miles south of Mount Palomar, the property was so thick with manzanita and chamiso that a ...
