Palomar Mountain 7/3/2011

Hello, I have been neglecting my blog site lately but I haven't been neglecting the mountain adventures. Linda and I went for a hike up at the Palomar Mountain state park area the day before Independence Day. We started at Doane pond and hiked the Cedar Trail up to the Chimney Flats area. This trail was very steep and we probably gained 8 or 9 hundred feet of elevation by the time we reached Chimney Flats. Although stunning views all around as worked our way to the top we had to really keep our eyes on the trail. We hiked about a mile through ankle high to waist high poison oak with the thin trail winding right through it. I think this is the most poison oak that I have ever seen. We intersected the Chimney flats trail at the top and the poison oak decreased and turned into meadows of waist high bracken ferns and fields of purple lupines, totally incredible scenery. We then followed Doane creek all the way back down the mountain and ended up meandering through the meadows and back to Doane Pond. Ive hiked on different trails in this area many times but the flies this day were out in full force. We really had to keep moving to keep them somewhat at bay. All in all a great hike though. By 2:30 we were back at our house by the beach doing some bike riding and hanging out with friends by the water.

Palomar Mountain 12/19/2010 In The Rain

Well we braved the weather for a 4 mile hike on top of Palomar Mountain. It had been raining for three and a half days straight and was still coming down steady as we set out on our hike. We were the only ones at the trailhead and we didn't see anyone all day except for one ranger in his truck near the trailhead. This section of the mountain is a mixed pine and oak forest which surrounds French Valley meadows with two main creeks, French Creek and Doane Creek which merge to form Pauma Creek. The sights, sounds and solitude were incredible. The creeks were flowing hard. We got out of the rain for a few minutes as we took a break at the old dam and gauging station on Puama creek that was built back in the 1920's. Further exploration took us through the meadows and then back into the dense forest with what had to have been the largest oak trees that we have ever seen. The rain and wind really took it out of us though. Beautiful but tough day. It was well worth it though.