Hiking in Town

East San Diego is great for hiking close to home, yet seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We’re within 10-20 minutes of some seriously good hiking areas where you will see few people and only traces of civilization. Of course, in summer, these hikes are unbearably warm, unless undertaken in the early morning hours or in the dark (not recommended for most), but at this time of year, even when it’s 80 degrees in wintry December (seriously, that’s been the high temperature the last few days), it’s a nice walk with plenty of water at hand.

On Christmas Eve, the boychild and I took the dogs on a hike in the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge near Jamul. We picked Millar Ranch Road as our start…the road goes out into the foothills…

It wasn’t too hot or cold…which for December is nice. There was still some green on the hills, showing the effects of the little bits of rain we’ve gotten this month.

There was still mud in some areas on the trail. We hiked out the dirt road for about 30 minutes and came back. There were lots of offshoots of the trail, which goes around the back of Mt. Miguel. We saw one coyote in the distance melt into the bushes, and then there was this guy…

Wow. That is some gorgeous winter coat. He watched us for ages, while the dogs panted along, oblivious. He was quite a ways away, which is why the picture is fuzzy…but clearly sitting there and watching us.

Then on the day after Christmas (Boxing Day to the Brits out there), we dragged both dogs and the girlchild with us to Hollenbeck Canyon, which is about 15 minutes away, east of Jamul proper, so a little further out than where we’d been two days prior. Yes, Jake was excited…

We spent about two hours hiking through here, getting lost at one point (yes, we had a map…no, we didn’t get TOO far off of it). There are many crisscrossing trails in this area, and random signs with mileage markers to unknown areas.

It was a gorgeous day, but hot, over 80 degrees. Yes. In December. I think hiking here in summer would be difficult in the heat of the day.

But it was OK…we did leave a little late in the day (I had to visit the vet with a couple of animals).

We brought food and water, although we forgot a bowl for the dogs…a plastic bag that had been destined to carry poop managed to hold water for them though.

There were some “quad-busting slopes” (not my terminology…someone described a couple of climbs that way).

And some beautiful vistas…

We all peed in bushes…OK, the boychild didn’t. There was poison oak that the girlchild tramped through unknowingly…luckily, no one seemed to get a rash. I did wash Calli when I got home, mostly because the vet had told me to anyway, but it seemed like the possibility of her having the poison oak oil on her fur (it won’t bug the dog, but it will bug you if you pet the dog) seemed high, since the girlchild had dragged her through there. I loved her comment…”But LOTS of plants have three leaves…” Um. OK. But this one is pretty damn obvious. I guess my years in the Girl Scouts came in useful, but I did not transmit information well to the girlchild. The boychild seemed to realize it.

We definitely tired the dogs out…five miles.

At some point, the girlchild stopped whining about how tired she was and how hot it was and how downhill sucks and uphill sucks and it all sucks, and she took off without us.

She had headphones on. It might have helped.

All in all, lots of calories burned, nature enjoyed, time with kidlets, dogs exercised, new vistas explored. Not a bad couple of days. I’m looking at going back to Hollenbeck for a geocaching experience…apparently there are multiple caches in the area.

Both of these are within a 20-minute drive of most of East County, San Diego. Bring lots of water, even for the dogs, and always bring food. Oops. That’s the diabetic talking. There is a map at the beginning of the Hollenbeck trail…it was sort of useful…except when we wandered OFF of it. Probably more our issue than theirs. We didn’t see anyone on the Millar Ranch walk until we were almost done. We saw more people at Hollenbeck, although mostly on horses and a few on bikes. That said, they were both technically workdays for most people…weekends may be different.