Hike: Mission Hills & Presidio Park

This was a part urban, part nature walk through the fancy Mission Hills neighborhood, then in and around Presidio Park. There are some beautiful homes to gawk at on this trip but Presidio Park is the real destination. You’ll find several hidden clearings, and a nice bench to take a break after a steep hill. Also, commemorative statues abound here- perfect for those lewd and hilarious photo opportunities. Overall, a nice and non-crowded park. The walk has some elevations and some patches of rough terrain, but not too much of a challenge. Also, if you like weather vanes (don’t ask) you’ll find several good examples here.

The route mapped here isn’t completely accurate as I had trouble determining the specific trails. But you can figure it out easily when you get there.

Hike: Balboa Park east grand tour

So where is the largest urban park in the country? If you guessed Central Park in NYC or Griffith Park in LA then guess again.

Balboa Park lies in the heart of San Diego, and is not only the largest urban park in the US, but also home to the San Diego Zoo. While most folks just visit the zoo or museums, the best part of Balboa is the hundreds of acres of undeveloped land and the many miles of trails. I often forget that a 15 minute walk from my house is the start of several fantastic and well-maintained hikes.

This 7.7 mile trip is basically a grand tour of the eastern half of Balboa. Its a good mix of unspoilt San Diego nature with some historic neighborhoods and a golf course thrown in. The elevation is mostly level and the trail gentle, but there are are a few hills and canyons, including a particularity steep climb at the end of the trip (folks not used to such terrain may want to map around the return stretch between Florida St and Park Blvd).

Overall, a great hike. And check out the cute house on 3406 Texas Street. Anyone want to buy it for a friend of mine? Anyone?

Creek to Bay Cleanup

A fossilized Great White Shark Tooth!

On Saturday morning a friend and I participated in the annual San Diego Creek to Bay Cleanup.  As a huge proponent of sleeping in, I was initially not crazy about the idea of getting up early on Saturday to pick up other people’s trash.  But it turned out to be a really fun and rewarding experience.

We chose Albatross Canyon because its in the hood and one of those neat little canyons that define the area.  Here’s a map. The weather was nice, we meet some neat and very dedicated people, and collected over 165lbs of trash! The coolest part however was this what my friend found in the creek bed that runs through the canyon.  A fossilized Great White Shark tooth!  A very random and cool find.

I’m tempted to return there with a backhoe and look for the rest of the shark.  Maybe I’ll just settle on going back next year for more trash/treasure.

oh hai!

server died- but now i gots me some interwebs again.  now i just need some new content.  how hard could that be?