Roam-O-Rama
Yesteryear, Old Camp was a popular rendezvous point for hunting parties using the historic Joplin Trail between the flatlands of Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon and Old Saddleback (the crest of the Santa Ana Mountains). Today, …
The late-winter midday sun gently simmers the lowest elevations of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, yet it more coolly illuminates the 4000-foot plateau of Pinyon Mountain Valley, lying high in the park’s central mountain range — …
The viewful Hummingbird Trail starts at the extreme northeast corner of Simi Valley (both the valley and the city of same name) and deviously ascends boulder-studded slopes to the crest of a long ridge leading …
The Bayside Trail, sweeping downward from the old lighthouse at Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma, offers an incomparable view of the city of San Diego and its watery environs. Amid the sweet-pungent sage scrub …
The winter season in San Diego County is accompanied by fairly frequent instances of unusual optical effects in the sky. Many are associated with high clouds consisting of microscopic, hexagonal ice crystals which bend or …
Skiing in San Diego County’s mountains? Fact or fiction? The answer in any given winter season varies, but it is typically “fact” for one or two brief periods of time per year. The type of …
The rambling Puente Hills, overlooking the San Gabriel Valley to the north and Orange County to the south, interrupt what would otherwise be a continuous spread of flat, nondescript suburbs. Rising no higher than 1500 …
Millennia of geological weathering and erosion have cut and polished the landscape into the striking forms you’ll discover while visiting Anza-Borrego’s Calcite Mine area. A highlight of the hike is the mine itself. During World …
Diminutive Rocky Oaks Park is typical of the many small properties that have been purchased or earmarked for future acquisition by the National Park Service in the continuing effort to flesh out the Santa Monica …
Incremental improvements over the past couple of years in Balboa Park’s hidden corners are resulting in the park’s rebirth. Canyon slopes formerly choked with dense undergrowth and used as de-facto drug dens have been cleared …
Blue Angels Peak is the name of a prominent crag practically sitting on the border between California and Baja California, just east of the high-desert community of Jacumba. In fact, the summit of Blue Angels …
Jones Peak is nowhere near the loftiest of the many named summits you can climb in the sharply rising “front range” of the San Gabriel Mountains. But its elevated position — barely one mile by …
Worthwhile primarily for the view, which can be wide-ranging and spectacular on the clearest late fall or winter days, the Rim Trail in Mission Trails Regional Park rambles along a sparsely vegetated ridgeline overlooking much …
Temescal Canyon and Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades are just two of the many units of parkland and open space that make up the sprawling Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The …
Spectacular exposures of colorfully banded and folded metamorphic rock gave “Rainbow Canyon” its so-far unofficial title. The canyon’s colorful nature is enhanced even further during a peak wildflower season, when the place looks like a …
With a drop-off-and-pick-up transportation arrangement, you can enjoy a challenging hiking traverse across the north end of the Verdugo Mountains, ascending through La Tuna Canyon Park on a rough foot trail and descending toward the …