Take It to the Canyon

Hikers, bikers, Boy Scouts, conservationists, and councilman Carl DeMaio were among the crowd of around 50 people gathered at Camino Ruiz Park in Mira Mesa on Saturday, August 8, to celebrate the opening of the first trail connecting the community of Mira Mesa with the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve.

The Camino Ruiz Trail -- which began as a migrant path -- starts at the neighborhood park and winds six tenths of a mile through the chaparral-covered canyon to the oak-shaded valley below. The new trail will give Mira Mesa residents better access to the nature preserve and its hiking and biking paths.

“Until the opening of the trail, the public and especially residents of Mira Mesa had only two access points into the preserve -- one on Black Mountain Road and the other six miles away, in Sorrento Valley,” says Mike Kelly, conservation chair of the Friends of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, a volunteer organization dedicated to protecting the 4000-acre nature park.