The Places We Play

You’d never expect San Diegans to suffer from cabin fever. But a rainy winter surely causes a case or two. Our prescription: Get yourself outdoors during a springtime that’s bound to provide a green San Diego County—from seashore to desert, Palomar Mountain to Mexico border.

We decided grown-ups deserve to explore some places to play, too, if only to remind ourselves why we live here—despite soaring gas prices, housing costs and utility bills.

Whatever your athletic skills or aesthetic sensibilities—from the hot springs of the Anza-Borrego Desert’s Agua Caliente to a mountainous hike through Valley Center’s Hellhole Canyon to paragliding over the sea off Torrey Pines—you can’t go wrong. Some of the best places to play were no-brainers. But we also found some surprises as we dutifully trudged through the tough research on San Diego’s outdoor action.

Put on Your Hiking Boots

Hellhole Canyon Open Space Reserve: This county-run area in North County’s Valley Center ain’t no sissy walk if you charge up from the oak woodland to a mountaintop. Your horse will like it, too. And with those binoculars around your neck, you can see some wildlife and terrific views on the hiking and equestrian trails that traverse more than 11 miles of the 1,712-acre park.

Primitive camping sites are available. Special nature hikes and storytelling events are coming up in April and May—check out the county’s Spring Program Guide or www.san-diego.ca.us/cnty/recreation.

19324 Santee Lane, Valley Center, 619-475-3896.

Blue Sky Reserve: Massive 200-year-old oaks and an invigorating trail are just a couple of the attractions at this 700-acre canyon, an open-space/ecological reserve in Poway. “It’s a great view from the top,” says the reserve’s Patty Heyden. “There’s a switchback trail that’s a real workout.”

No mountain bikes are allowed, but your dog is, as long as it’s on a leash—and you clean up after it. (“Please,” says Heyden.) Guided hikes are 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday rituals here, to look for mule deer, raccoons, gray foxes and even the occasional bobcat.

One-eighth mile north of Poway Lake entrance, 16000 Espola Road, Poway, 858-679-5469.

Trans-County Trail: From the Anza-Borrego Desert all the way to the Pacific at Del Mar runs a county-spanning 114-mile hiking trail that is very near completion, after 20 years of planning. It’s not quite official yet, but hope remains eternal with its biggest promoter, county park ranger Cailin Ni Chrualaoich.

She says she’s walked people across it in 10 days, and acknowledges there are stretches without an actual path. Every parks agency is involved in trying to finish the job, Ni Chrualaoich says. The only map so far is a topographical one that the ranger can help you interpret. For folks who’d like a guided tour, a four-day backpack trip is planned for the end of May.

Anza-Borrego to Del Mar, 619-475-3896.

Camping It Up

Cuyamaca Rancho State Park: With 25,000 acres to play with, there’s plenty of room for hikers, horseback riders and mountain-bikers in this Descanso park. More than 120 miles of trails are available, some just for hikers and horseback riders, others only for mountain bikers; the fire roads are open for all to use. The 2-mile hike up Stonewall Peak is supervising ranger Jim Burke’s favorite because “you get a 360-degree view of the park at 5,730 feet.”

The horse camps open for the season this month, and Burke suggests reservations for group and individual campsites that come with corrals. You also need reservations for the regular campsites, especially on weekends and holidays.

12551 Highway 79, Descanso, 760-765-0755, www.cuyamaca.statepark.org.

Vallecito Regional Park: The first greenery west of Yuma still draws people interested in a look at “a perfect little oasis in the desert,” as one 19th-century visitor described Vallecito. Today, it’s a county regional park built around the reconstruction of a stagecoach station. Visitors can camp out here in RVs or tents to spend some time in Anza-Borrego. This campground is considered a quiet alternative to some of the others in the desert, and there’s plenty of access to the hiking trails at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Better hurry, though; the county closes this park down during the hot months between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

37349 Great Southern Overland Stage Route (S-2, between Interstate 8 and State Route 78), near Julian, www.co.san-diego.ca.us/cnty.

Agua Caliente County Park: Geo-thermally heated springs are the big attraction here. The county describes its park as a “modest version of Yellowstone National Park’s famed geyser basin.” Its two naturally fed pools give visitors an outdoor and indoor choice of spots to dip into that 96-degree water.

There are plenty of other things to do outdoors in the 910-acre park, and 140 campsites to provide you a base for hiking the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. This one, too, closes down at the end of May.

39555 Great Southern Overland Stage Route (S-2, between Interstate 8 and State Route 78), near Julian, www.co.san-diego. ca.us/cnty.

Watch the Birdie

Black Mountain Open Space Park: No obscure hobby, this bird-watching. Estimates are 50 million Americans (outnumbering hunters and fishers) spend $20 billion dollars a year on this. And the city’s Black Mountain Open Space Park sees quite a few folks anxious for a peek at its year-round and visiting feathered creatures. Senior ranger Dan Bylin says you can even spy some rare California gnatcatchers. The 480-acre park off a dirt road on Black Mountain will soon encompass 3,000 acres (as the city buys up open space) at this surprisingly remote spot between Rancho Peñasquitos and Mira Mesa.

On the second Saturday of every month, Bylin will take whoever shows up at 8 a.m. with binoculars and a notepad out on the trails. But you can stop by seven days a week to do a spot of watching on your own.

Black Mountain Road at Carmel Valley Road; turn off onto dirt road for 2 miles, 858-538-8082.

Water Sports Rule

Mission Bay Sportcenter and Mission Bay Aquatic Center: These two spots on Santa Clara Point have all the water toys you can imagine for rent—kayaks, pedal boats, sailboats, Jet Skis, sailboards, kayaks, catamarans, rowboats, motorboats. The Aquatic Center actually is a cooperative for San Diego County’s college and university students, faculty, alumni and their families, but others can use the facilities by joining the extended studies programs at the schools. The Sportcenter is right next door, on the same grassy, sandy and palm-covered knoll on Mission Bay’s shoreline. Both offer long lists of classes to help novices.

Mission Bay Sportcenter, 1010 Santa Clara Place, 858-488-1004, www.missionbaysportcenter.com; Mission Bay Aquatic Center, 1001 Santa Clara Place, 858-488-1036, www.mbac.nu.

El Capitan Lake: This is the only lake in the county where personal watercraft—Jet Skis—are permitted. The city lake offers several days a week where as many as 100 watercraft are allowed to “own” a corner of the lake for the day, not competing with motorized boats, kayakers or fishermen.

Considering the crowds at Mission Bay, this is a popular spot. But don’t think it’s a speed festival out there—the same Coast Guard and speed-limit rules apply to the personal watercraft here as at the seashore. You can find out what days El Capitan is open for Jet Skis at the city’s Water Utilities Department Web page.

North off Lake Jennings Road from I-8 to El Monte Road, www.sannet. gov/water/recreation/pwc.shtml.

Sportfishing

H&M, Point Loma, Seaforth and Islandia: Four major companies offer sportfishing trips, putting out from San Diego Bay and Mission Bay. If you’ve never tried it, check out the half-day trips that are popular year-round. When the fish are biting, you too can return home with tales no one will believe—except for that picture you’ll have taken when you pull back in to the docks. You compete with a lot of tourists on these boats, but at least you’ll know what you’re talking about when your out-of-town friends show up and want to go.

H&M, 2803 Emerson, 619-222-1144; Point Loma, 1403 Scott Street, 619-223-1627; Seaforth, 1717 Quivira Road, 619-224-3383; Islandia, 1551 West Mission Bay Drive, 619-222-1164. You can find Web pages for all of them at www.sportfishing.org.

Agricultural Adventure

Bell Gardens: This Valley Center operation has become a landmark since the founder of Taco Bell retired and brought his love of growing things to the area. It’s open April through October and offers tours of what’s growing, workshops on how to grow better produce yourself and, of course, a gorgeous produce stand chock-full of seasonal goodies. One special treat: riding in wagons around the grounds. An even bigger treat: riding on the garden’s small-scale railroad train that circumnavigates the plantings.

30841 Cole Grade Road, Valley Center, 760-749-6297.

Flight of Your Life

Torrey Pines International Gliderport: You’ve seen all those other people doing it—why not join them at the 180-acre park on the bluffs above the beach in north La Jolla? “It’s really a peaceful, serene sensation” to take a tandem glider flight with a pro at 200 to 1,500 feet over the tops of the cliffs. So says flight director David Jebb.

You can drop by and picnic in the grassy areas, just to check it out before you put on helmet and belts to take a flying leap. Your video or still camera is welcome for the ride. “It’s surprising how many people in San Diego don’t know this place exists,” says Jebb of the historic gliderport, one of only two in the nation (the other is Kitty Hawk, North Carolina).

2800 Torrey Pines Scenic Drive, La Jolla, 858-452-9858, www.flytorrey. com.

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to San Diego Magazine »