Lake Jennings

Only seconds outside of busy Lakeside, CA is beautiful Lake Jennings.  It is really a hidden jewel in the hills of East County San Diego.  An abundance of wildlife can be seen there, including a Pelican!  Almost 30 miles from the ocean I was shocked to see one.  There are also a lot of coyotes, so watch out for them if you’re camping overnight!

The trail is a wide, rough, dirt track that winds up and down around the lake giving glimpses through the trees of its shimmering surface.  So much birdsong fills the air as you walk along; ducks and a lone white egret along with more you can’t see but only hear.  Even on a weekend we didn’t see any other hikers, it was a very quiet and tranquil experience.

Sunset Trail/Laguna Meadow

Refreshing smells and views permeate this small loop trail in Mt. Laguna (~3 miles).  Most distinctive is a wild honeysuckle bush and the faint hint of vanilla from the pine trees.

Cows can be seen grazing in and around “Little Laguna Lake,” our dogs were not fans of these gentle giants however, they lend a peaceful quality to the scenery.

*All photographs are by MMMoskowitz

Kwaaymii Trail Part 2

Late winter afternoon hiking with my closest friend and my dog.  I’m reminded nature is beautiful in every season.  *All photos by Meghann Maureen Moskowitz*

Slow Sunsets

Walking along the Pine Valley Community Trail in the late afternoon, the sun playing hide & seek in the clouds, I notice the first rays of sunset.  Some sunsets come on quickly, others slowly, this sunset is slow starting with a fast finish.

The air is warm and thick with humidity, the path before me winding through sagebrush and golden yarrow.  The fresh scent of sage brings back memories of camping as a child at Rock Creek Lake and playing with childhood friends.  Nature sounds and scents seem to be able to trigger memories in me like nothing else does.

Glancing up at the sky I see the colors of the sunset deepening to darker, thicker shades of orange and red.  The colors dance across the sky changing imperceptibly unless you look away and look back, then you can notice them.  After much picture taking, we continue down the trail for several more minutes before being captured by the sunset again.  This time the clouds have lost all color except for some mute purples and grays.  The sunset is over that quickly, here for a few minutes only, then gone.

 

The moon rises in the wake of the sunset and darkness descends.

Sunset Trail

 

A 2.8 mile loop starting right off of Sunrise Highway which connects to multiple other trails including Big Laguna Meadow and Big Laguna Lake.

A spontaneous Sunday afternoon hike with my pup Ruger, it was unusually hot, luckily where we took our break the errant breezes cooled us.  Also, most of the trail goes in and out of patches of forest.

Early wildflowers are starting to dry out but, near the lake clovers grow in abundance.  Dragonflies flit in and out of my peripheral vision and are too fast to catch on camera.  I love watching them, their glittering bodies vibrant shades of blue and green.

 

View From the Top

Wooded Hill Nature Trail – A fun, winding 1.8 mile hike in San Diego County, CA.  The view is south/southwest of Mt. Laguna and as you can see in the title image it’s a beautiful one.

This trail has been full of wildflowers each of the three times I’ve been on it this year in spring and early summer, attracting a variety of butterflies.  We were lucky enough to see several Tiger Swallowtail butterflies, including the guy feeding off the thistle I caught on camera above!

Hiking in the Rain

There is a cold, brisk mist blowing through the trees of Mt. Laguna when we reach our destination.  Kwaaymii trail starts at the end of a cold, foggy, parking lot.  This is not a hard trail, nor a long one.  It is only a 0.8 mile loop through the wilderness up and down a snaky, winding trail.  But the weather is off today, cold mist blowing into our faces, wind whipping occasionally through the trees. 

     We gather our backpacks, hats and ponchos and get ready to trek.  There is always a lot of stopping, looking, and picture-taking on one of our hikes, and it begins immediately.  First, a picture of the trail-head sign, and then the start of the trail, but then my breath is taken away by all of the sights and sounds in the forest.  The air is thick with moisture and you can feel it in your throat when you inhale.  It sticks to every inch of exposed skin and gives rise to goose-flesh.  I don’t care; I just want to be here, out in nature.

     Following the trail up between two rental cabins nearby the trail winds its way upward with switchbacks, and we enter a hushed section of the wood.  It’s almost as if you’ve been transported to another world, with no other people in it than your group.  We can’t hear the cars whooshing by on the highway, the sirens of the city, only the silence of the forest, which isn’t silent at all if you listen.  I can hear the wind rushing towards us to gust up our backs and hit us with stinging mist when we turn around into it.  This happens often today, we have decided to continue on regardless of the weather.

     A lightning struck tree is suddenly filling our vision as we come around a curve in the trail, a colossus brought down by the very nature we are so casually strolling through.  The many twists and turns of sharp, blackened branches are amazing to behold.  So many angles draw your eye to the intricate patterns and dimensions of this once great tree.  The trail curls around the tree and when you come out behind it there is a field to the left with large trees surrounding it and an old Native American site to your right.  We stop here to take a break out of the wind a stinging mist/rain that is now falling.  The wind is so loud when it comes that we almost have to shout when we’re standing right next to each other.  It comes in gusts and blows my hair in every direction around my face. 

     My hands are cold and shaking by the time we are preparing to continue.  I look at them and they are mostly red with some pale white in between.  I just want it to be over now, so cold, so tired, but everything around me is so beautiful and screaming out for attention.  We come across wild flowers of every sort to be found around Mt. Laguna.  Lupine, California poppy, Johnny jump-ups (tiny yellow ones that were so perfect); manzanita, redbud, yucca, sage, yarrow, thistle and prickly pears, too many to remember them all.  The smell of the pines comes up from the floor of the forest when the winds die down and you can just breathe in the scent of the forest; earth, water, pines, sage, all of these scents fill you up until you feel as if you might sink into the earth.