Roam-O-Rama
If water is an element essential to your hiking pleasure, then this hike in the Cuyamacas may be for you. Along Juaquapin Creek, you can sit in the shade and listen to the most peaceful …
The quiet, shady interior of El Prieto Canyon seems impossibly remote given its stone’s-throw proximity to the edge of an Altadena subdivision. Majestic live oaks flank the canyon’s stream, casting dense pools of shade. A …
The 454-acre Del Dios Highlands County Preserve, recently unveiled just outside the North County community of Del Dios, now provides a direct connection between Del Dios Highway and the popular Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve. Formerly, …
Decades-old O’Neill Regional Park near Rancho Santa Margarita has a newer “appendage” — a six-mile piece of the Arroyo Trabuco, a shallow, gradually descending canyon going south toward Mission Viejo. An old fire road along …
While most of the Anza-Borrego Desert swelters, the temperature hovers as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit cooler at the “high desert” locale of Culp Valley, 3400 feet above sea level. Culp Valley is the only …
Adjoining the vast spaces of Angeles National Forest, Claremont Hills Wilderness Park spreads over foothills spilling down toward the college town of Claremont. The Cobal Canyon Loop, the one significant hike in the park that …
The ambitiously constructed Secret Canyon Trail, circuitously nosing its way down the canyon walls of Pine Valley Creek for 14 miles, traverses nearly the entire length of the Pine Creek Wilderness in Cleveland National Forest. …
With gentle grades most of the way, the San Juan Trail is tailor-made for a leisurely saunter from the Main Divide of the Santa Ana Mountains to the lower foothills. Due to an elevation change …
For the second year in a row, fire-following springtime wildflowers are popping up on the slopes of Poway’s Rattlesnake Canyon. A reconnaissance of the area in late March revealed a rainbow of color: California poppies, …
Resting high above the city of Escondido, Valley Center is well on its way to becoming a rural suburb. As houses and country estates pop up on spacious lots, the area is bit by bit …
The Santa Rosa Plateau’s Sylvan Meadows Multi-Use Area is open to all non-motorized means of travel — hiking, jogging, biking, and horseback riding — with the stipulation that all users stay on the designated roads …
Soggy Lower Willows, along with its primary source of water — Santa Catarina Spring — together comprise Anza-Borrego’s richest riparian habitat. An easy-going hike through here is all that’s needed to acquaint you with this …
Can Tuesdays ever be romantic? Next Tuesday (March 10) truly is, by virtue of the full moon rising nearly at the time of sunset. Start the evening with an easy stroll. What better place is …
Fish Creek Wash is the gateway to a fascinating labyrinth of rugged canyons, twisted arroyos, and mud hills covering the stark and desiccated Carrizo Badlands in a remote corner of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Why …
Big Sycamore Canyon in coastal Ventura County’s Point Mugu State Park is famous for its miles-long promenade of magnificent California sycamore trees. Higher up and farther inland, hidden in that same drainage, you can find …
The easy-going, mostly descending (450 feet of elevation gain/1200 feet of elevation loss), east-to-west, one-way walk or mountain-bike ride on the Santa Ysabel Truck Trail near Ramona is fine for a cool day in February, …