Mount Laguna Stories
Garnet Peak from Sunrise Highway S1 Located north of Mount Laguna, Garnet Peak is a fairly easy hike. With a length of 2.3 miles and an elevation gain of around …
The temperature drops steadily as I make my way east on Interstate 8 — 57 degrees, 54, 49. I have brought four hoodies and the down jacket I wear only …
These places! They all look right out of Davy Crockett! Where we’re heading is this 1919 lodge 6000 feet up on Mount Laguna, 100 years old this year, actually serving …
‘Bobcat!” says Mag. This hairy-tailed thing pads across the Sunrise Highway and up into the trees. Bobcat? Fox? Raccoon? Or just someone’s big hairy pet kitty? Mag and I stare …
Mount Laguna Stories
I’m halfway up Mount Laguna, walking off the Sunrise Highway into a little house on the edge of the forest. Through the gate, up redwood steps, through another gate. An elderly lady appears at the …
“They are putting underground [cables] in, which means that they shut the power off periodically,” said John M. “Literally, like ten minutes ago, a guy from SDG&E was giving out handouts to everybody …. but …
Perennial water, even in the form of a seep, is a rarity in San Diego County in a biological zone generally adapted to drought. Add to this a steep east-west canyon in a north-south mountain …
For the first-time visitor to the lush green pine and oak forest covering the more than 6000-foot Mount Laguna, it can be astonishing to learn that the desert is only a short distance away. If …
There is no need for hiking trips to be epic. The Laguna Mountains, less than 50 minutes from mid-city San Diego, are a lovely alpine retreat and world away from the city. Even quick trips …
Members of a Shriners community located near Mount Laguna, where cabins and buildings were destroyed in the 2013 Chariot Fire, have added the Chrysler Group to the list of entities it is suing for damages. …
Forget the hustle and bustle of the town. Grab a tent, pack the cooler, and head out east to Mt. Laguna. Only an hour away from San Diego proper, once you turn onto Sunrise Highway …
Keep the kids off the antennae and away from the laser targets on Monument Peak.
Even in a dry year, Kitchen Creek can look like a green oasis.
Views of the desert and an exploration of part of the original Sunrise Highway.
Members of the Al Bahr Mount Laguna Shrine Camp are asking the federal government to take responsibility for the loss of their 90-year-old lodge and 116 cabins destroyed in the Chariot Fire in 2013. Shriners …
On July 22, the National Weather Serve activated San Diego County’s Emergency Alert System. Monsoonal moisture was causing large thunderstorms, running from Barstow south into Baja. The storm in San Diego was going to be …
Indian Creek Trail does not give up surprises easily. Hike this trail for woodlands, streams, and panoramic views in the Laguna Mountains.
Pines, oaks, and incense cedar on this six-mile loop of the Gatos Big Laguna Trail Spur.
Montana is not the only state that can boast being “Big Sky Country.” We have the same bragging rights in our own backyard: the Laguna Mountains (locals call it “the Lagunas”). Tucked in the Cleveland …
A group of hikers has filed a new suit challenging the legality of the U.S. Forest Service’s practice of requiring “Adventure Pass” fees to access what the bureau deems “high impact recreation areas” in four …
The Desert View Trail in the Laguna Mountains delivers exactly what its name says, but there’s more to see than just the distant desert. From the nearly 6000-foot heights of the trail, you can enjoy …
Come to Foster Point not only for a great view, but also for an opportunity to identify many of Southern California’s highest mountains. A direction finder, installed by the Sierra Club, shows 17 peaks, including …
Spring is finally arriving in upper-elevation San Diego County. At mile-high elevations you can find lingering bursts of wildflower color amid the somber pines and bright-green black oaks. For a wide-ranging introduction to this mountain …
Seven months of countywide conflicts, calamities, and curiosities, part 2.
Recently, while doing stream surveys in the East County, we came upon a roadblock set up on Sunrise Highway, near Mt. Laguna. Homeland Security (Border Patrol) agents scrutinized all vehicles coming through. We were stopped …
The six-mile-long Big Laguna Trail, high in the Laguna Mountains, wends its scenic way over gently rolling hills and grassy dales, never dipping below 5400 feet of elevation nor rising to more than 5900 feet. …
The Laguna Mountain range, just east (and squarely in the “rain shadow”) of the nearby Cuyamaca Mountains, snags just enough moisture from passing Pacific storms to support a forest of scattered live oaks, black oaks, …
DOWN IN THE DRAINS: It’s on the first sunny day after a string of rainstorms when Robert R. slides his blue SUV to the side of the road somewhere in UTC. In the passenger seat …
The "back way" up Mount Laguna via the obscure Kitchen Creek Road offers bicyclists a challenge to their strength and endurance, and little chance of serious interference by passing automobiles. The gravity-assisted return, down along …
From a clearing just below the summit of Wooded Hill (the highest wooded promontory in the Laguna Mountains), a spacious panorama of two nations unfolds. The blue, south horizon lies somewhere in Mexico, and your …
The 12-mile, one-way hiking traverse from the Laguna Mountains to Cuyamaca Rancho State Park isn't what it used to be, on account of the October 2003 Cedar Fire. Still, it's nice to see the recovery …
San Diego County is riddled with edges or "ecotones" -- boundaries between different geographic regions or ecological habitats. Ecotones harbor great biological diversity and often feature spectacular scenery, especially when the transition from one type …
We're a month past the vernal equinox now. Vernal refers to the spring season, but it literally means "green." That color is likely to prevail over all others among the mile-high ridges and meadows of …
Crouching in the rain shadow of the slightly higher Cuyamaca range, the Laguna Mountains still manage to collect a respectable share of precipitation. Some 30 inches of rain (and melted snow) might arrive here over …
Laguna Meadow off Sunrise Highway Cleveland National Forest www.r5.fs.fed.us/cleveland/ 619-445-8341 Rise before dawn on the day after a major storm from the northwest has swept over San Diego County and moved eastward, December through February. …
September temperatures remain warm on Mount Laguna, and both of the large national-forest campgrounds -- Laguna and Burnt Rancheria -- atop the 6000-foot mountain are winding down their busy summer season. During much of the …
Although Garnet Peak isn't the highest peaklet along the steep eastern escarpment of the Laguna Mountains, its exposed position makes it a fine place to view both the pine-clad high country and the raw desert …
Hidden in the apex of a valley just below Sunrise Highway, near the town of Pine Valley, a small stream has worn its way down to the metamorphic bedrock that underlies much of the Laguna …
A more restful place could scarcely be imagined. A warm breeze from the desert below wafts up the shady canyon, bringing with it the scent of sage and bay laurel. A lone bigleaf maple tree …
The Pine Mountain Trail, the newest designated trail in the Laguna Mountains, invites your attention this verdant and merry month of May. Spring rainfall in our local mountains, abnormally extending to as recently as last …
What San Diego's backyard mountain ranges lack in terms of scale and grandeur is outweighed by the sublime and circumspect beauty to be found in some of its remote canyons. A case in point is …
Big Sycamore and Serrano Canyons in Point Mugu State Park are a study in contrasts. As its name suggests, shallow and wide Big Sycamore Canyon harbors stately California sycamores, set at spacious intervals. Serrano Canyon …
Hike out to Foster Point in the Laguna Mountains for a great view of the desert floor from a mile-high elevation, and also for a chance to enjoy peace and solitude. Until fairly recently (due …
Summer is finally arriving in upper-elevation San Diego County. At mile-high elevations you can still find lingering bursts of wildflower color amid the somber pines and bright-green black oaks. For a wide-ranging introduction to the …
It's barely a month after more than a foot of late-season snow fell on the 6000-foot-high Laguna Mountains. The forest atop these rarefied heights is responding in a sluggish way to the melted snow and …
"Elevation 6000 feet," says the roadside sign posted on Sunrise Highway in the community of Mount Laguna, but a close inspection of a topographic map of the area reveals the road's true height of just …
The six-mile-long Big Laguna Trail, high in the Laguna Mountains, wends its scenic way over gently rolling hills and grassy dales, never dipping below 5400 feet of elevation nor rising to more than 5900 feet. …
In the fall of 1970, California caught fire. Between September 25 and October 3 that year, the U. S. Forest Service recorded 16 fires that consumed over 528,000 acres statewide. From Humboldt County in the …
Although Garnet Peak isn’t the highest peaklet along the eastern escarpment of the Laguna Mountains, its exposed position makes it a fine place to view both the pine-clad high country and the raw desert below. …