Roam-O-Rama
San Diego County — indeed all of California — is an orthopedic basket case. For millions of years, the ground beneath us has been shattered by slow but sure, incremental changes that can be read, …
For more than a century, Irvine Park has drawn Orange Countyans up into the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. Once a meeting place for the early settlers -- then known as the Picnic Grounds …
Spy on the secret, subterranean life of a worm; ogle a heron or an egret; pet a bay ray or a leopard shark; get personal with pickleweed and cordgrass; sniff the sage-tinged salt breeze as …
Big Pines Recreation Area, part of Angeles National Forest, perches atop the easternmost extremity of the San Gabriel Mountains, west of Cajon Pass. Blanketed by a heterogeneous mixture of pines, firs, and oaks, and perched …
Spared from the threat of being inundated by a large reservoir, Pamo Valley awaits a possible destiny of becoming one of the county's premier nature preserves. A large parcel of Cleveland National Forest land surrounds …
Cucamonga Peak's south and east slopes feature some of the most dramatic relief in the San Gabriel Mountains. At 8859 feet, the peak stands sentinel-like only four miles from the edge of the broad inland …
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 …
Runyan Canyon, a narrow strip of open space rising into the hills just one mile from the heart of Hollywood, counts among its former residents the actors John McCormick and Errol Flynn. For more than …
If you want a quick escape from the dreary late-afternoon June gloom dogging the coast of late, try this little outing to the blue-sky realm of the Cuyamaca Mountains. Pack along a light dinner of …
Booming, roaring, barking, squeaking, and whistling sands have figured in folklore and travelers' tales for 1500 years, with the earliest references found in Chinese and Mideastern chronicles. Marco Polo describes encountering the phenomenon on a …
Lake Hodges has become one of the key units in the sprawling San Dieguito River Park, slowly taking form along 55 miles of river valley from the coast at Del Mar to Volcan Mountain near …
Deeded to the Orange County parks system by the Irvine Company in 1992, Peters Canyon Regional Park has -- like several other newly declared open-space areas around the periphery of the Orange County metropolis -- …
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 …
One of L.A. County's most attractive waterfalls, Fish Canyon Falls in the San Gabriel Mountains, lies today in a canyon whose mouth has been ripped apart by large-scale quarrying operations. Once beyond the canyon's gaping, …
Cowles Mountain, the centerpiece of Mission Trails Regional Park, stands 1591 feet above sea level, making it the highest point within San Diego's city limits. On a warm springtime day, hundreds of people -- maybe …
As the gloom of a late afternoon descends upon the deep-cut, linear furrow of Tenaja Canyon, dozens of orange-bellied newts waddle determinedly uphill and across the trail, oblivious to my footfalls. The cute faces and …