We had finally made it to Gramma's house in Rancho Bernardo, meeting up
with Mom, who had flown down here to ref a volleyball tournament in San
Diego this weekend.
While Mom was off working, we spent some time with grammy before
heading out in the afternoon, a ten minutes' drive to the San Dieguito
River for a hike along the Mule Hill Trail. The trail doesn't actually
go to Mule Hill (that is another hike altogether), but it does follow
along the river channel for quite a few miles as part of the longer Sea
to Crest Trail. There is little water flowing in the river in late May,
but it is still picturesque.
Starting from the western trailhead adjacent to Interstate
15, we hiked about 4mi along the ultra-flat trail for about 4mi until we
were west of Peak 1,175ft,
my target for the outing. Along the way,
Jackie and I had long discussions, mostly her contemplating an almost
unknowable future of getting married and having children of her own,
topics I hardly think about these days, all good fun. The trail is
scenic though a bit warm this afternoon, with meadows growing in the
lower flood plains and something called an "agriculture reserve" on the
upper plains - I think this is basically plots devoted to agricultural
use that see periodic flooding, perhaps property half-owned by the state
or some similar arrangement. When we got to the
base of the hill, Jackie showed little interest in the cross-country
jaunt up to the summit - she'd had enough of pulling stickers from her
socks the previous two days, deciding instead to wait for me on a nice
shady bench we'd passed by only a few minutes earlier. I spent the next
45min making my way up to the summit and back. I had gotten the impression
from two short TRs on PB that the route would be brushy, but I found it
only mildly so. Lots of tall grass, some
granite rocks to clamber over,
a few bushes to push aside, but no real bushwhacking. The summit overlooks
the river channel that flows around the hill, the San Pasqual Valley to
the northeast and the San Bernardo Valley to the west.
I found no register among the summit rocks
and left none before heading back down.
I found Jackie
half-napping on the bench along the trail when I returned.
She commented that several folks had come by and found her talking
to herself. She may earn a reputation as the Crazy Girl of San Dieguito
River. We returned
to the TH before 4p, having taken about three and a
quarter hours for the outing, about 9.5mi all told. Nice, easy way to
spend a Sunday afternoon...