Roam-O-Rama
Thousands of years of cutting and polishing by water and wind erosion have produced the chaotic rock formations and slotlike ravines you'll discover in Anza-Borrego's Calcite Mine area. During World War II, this was an …
On a mid-November night in 1833, millions of Americans awoke to strange flashes of light. Peering outside, they discovered the night sky ablaze with meteors, pouring from the constellation of Leo at a rate of …
Fortuna Mountain, in East County's Mission Trails Regional Park, presides over a great deal of as yet undeveloped territory. Peering north and northeast from Fortuna's 1291-foot summit, you can see thousands of acres of empty, …
Sombrero Peak rises head and shoulders above the southern margins of the Anza-Borrego Desert, overlooking a hundred-square-mile expanse of rock-strewn mountains and gorges, sun-baked valleys, and distant badlands. Conversely, the peak itself is a prominent …
Resting high above the city of Escondido, Valley Center is well on its way to becoming a rural suburb. As more and more country estates pop up on big lots, the area is gradually losing …
When zillions of photons dart among billions of spinning, microscopic ice crystals in cirrus clouds high above, order may gel amid apparent disorder, creating a bevy of optical effects in the atmosphere. These effects include …
The early-autumn sun continues to scorch the desert's lowest elevations, yet it far more kindly illuminates the 4000-foot plateau of Pinyon Mountain Valley, high amid Anza-Borrego's central mountain range -- the Vallecito Mountains. Eighty-degree days …
Here and there amid the gently undulating folds of San Diego County's highest elevations, crystal-clear water charged with sweet-tasting minerals seeps to the surface, wetting the ground and nourishing grasses and year-round greenery. At Dyar …
The Point Loma peninsula has a split personality. In the north, block upon block of houses spread over the peninsula's broad spine. Spacious military land and parkland (Cabrillo National Monument) encompass the peninsula's narrower south …
Behind the easternmost houses and condominiums in Tierrasanta, a sparsely vegetated landscape of rounded ridges -- a part of Mission Trails Regional Park -- stands head and shoulders above the urban plain. Months of heat …
While most of the Anza-Borrego Desert swelters, the temperature hovers as much as 10š Fahrenheit cooler at the "high desert" locale of Culp Valley, 3400 feet above sea level. Culp Valley is the only designated …
A great blue heron ambles on stilt-legs across the reed-fringed shallows, stabbing occasionally at subsurface morsels of food. Nearby, a willowy egret glides in for a perfect landing, scattering concentric ripples across the surface of …
With two steep ravines spanned by quaint footbridges, scores of well-kept, historically significant homes, and mature landscaping, Banker's Hill is a monument to the elegance of the past. The work of early-century architects Irving Gill, …
"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 …
Surf, sand, and picturesque bluffs. Salty breezes and the ever-present licorice scent of wild fennel. The rhythmic bumping of your bike tires over the pavement of an old four-lane highway, abandoned save for the occasional …
For a unique look at La Jolla -- bottom to top -- climaxed by the conventionally famous yet still fabulous view of the city from Soledad Park, try this unconventional six-mile (round trip) walking or …