Category: Prose

Winter succumbs at 78
Off the 78
Water, grass, oak, flower and fern

Spring begins March 19th and in typical southern California fashion the climate is reluctant to act like it’s still winter. Yesterday we hit 78 degrees and as we have discovered, the African daisies are already popping in color. (These are near our property).

We hiked a little with our daughter near her home. There is a place called San Dieguito River Park near her house. It is just off highway 78, down a dirt road, then onto a narrow-paved road to the trailheads. The entire park is massive and we have explored only a small section. The cover photo is a phone panorama looking south through a stand of oak and rock outcropping.
This section of trail is an old ranch road of decomposed granite (mostly). The terrain is fairly easy with a little up and down in the mile or so we traveled in.
The ascent follows a gorge and there is currently a stream running. Currently, oaks dominate the scene, but the gorge is filled with sycamore skeletons waiting for leaves (as seen in this photo looking east).

This area is definitely on my future visit list. We were there for a little over an hour which is fine for a short hike, but barely a “creative loosening up” for me.
Along the way, we found an outcropping of north facing granite, with ferns growing out of them. Immediately I started channeling Alex Kunz and his mastery of isolating life overcoming adversity. Plants that pop out of the most unlikely places are not only intriguing but encouraging to the soul.

Here is a link to the map, we were in the Pamo area (#12).
https://www.sdrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/SDRP-Park-Map-002.pdf