Wilderness adventure on a trail with a mix of dirt, rocks, and wildlife. Stunning views from a hilltop. Explore more in Part 2. | TimeOut

Off the sidewalks & out on trails, #1

Yesterday we decided to risk a wilderness adventure, on terrain we'd never explored before. Our trip involved two hikes and this photo is an overview of Number 1. Notice the power wires at the right side.

Here's a big picture of the Escondido Creek Watershed. We walked in the circled region marked 1 and 2, in the San Elijo Lagoon. In the past we've explored Dixon Lake, Daley Ranch, and Lake Wohlford (but not on WPS).

Here's a satellite map selection of our hikes. The vertical orange line is the route of high-tension wires (the electrical grid) which are a noticeable feature on the landscape. I used that as an excuse to stop:

"We walked to the wires on hike #1, so let's go the the wires on #2, then go home!"

otherwise we would still be out there this morning.

So much for the overview. How was the trail? Dirt, rocks, wide and up/down.

Heavily signed with Do's and Don't's ... Stay on Trail and View Wildlife are allowed. Everything else is prohibited.

They should have warned us about the hazardous foliage.

and the hazardous wildlife, such as this curious rabbit that didn't flee at our approach.

We decided to follow the trail up to the right.

On the edge of our preserve there was just one house visible, and it had a brilliant Blue Door. Hmmm. This goes with my earlier posts on blue houses and blue trim...

The only other home we saw was a ranch house down in this valley.

The trail led us up an ankle-breaking set of steps made with railway ties sunken into the hillside, with sandbags to stop erosion.

When we reached the top we saw a carpet of tiny purple flowers. It was almost like a mass of little beetles,

somehow finding a way to thrive on the hard sandy soil.

From the hilltop we could see the ranch house and the house with the blue door.

Since we were here we decided to go "all the way to the top" huffing and puffing along the way.

Pictures don't always to justice to rugged terrain.

We saw two hikers struggling up a gravel trail (covering a high pressure gas pipeline),

and one lady jogging. And a dog who had let his owner off her leash.

Looking eastward towards the mountains.

We got to the top and found some benches. We needed a sitdown!

Civilization in the distance.

Not much to look at in the way of wildlife!

But we did see more "carpet" this time tiny white flowers. I can imagine this is what manna looked like on the Exodus...

Not wanting to walk 5 miles around on surface streets, we turned and went back down those steps ... it was harder going down than up. At least it was riskier for our ankles if not riskier to my heart.