Coast to Crest Challenge, My Thoughts

Compared to the Mission Trails'  5-peak challenge, the Coast to Crest Challenge  which is aka in social media as #C2CChallenge are easier and less strenuous. The trails are scenic, well-maintained  and so neighborly, it’s like being invited to somebody’s backyard. Kudos to the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy for doing a superb job realizing its mission of preserving, protecting and sharing the natural resources of the San Dieguito River Valley. And blessed are the rich, as well for sharing their private property to the public, some of which. 

I felt like I was revisiting an old acquaintance as I started off  at the Del Dios Highway staging area for the Santa Fe Valley and Del Dios Gorge trails.  The fiddlenecks and the blue dicks have started to bloom while the wild rose bushes seemed  to be taking their time.

"It's the time you wasted on your rose that makes your rose so important."

I named the California wild rose that reminded me of the little prince in Antoine de Saint  Exupéry  as Rose Mangahas.

The vegetation  along the trail crisscrossing the Crosby Open Space Preserce looked  almost as lush and green  as the golf course vista from the designated selfie spot of  the trail.  I lost count of the continental  truss bridges before I could get to the bottom of the switchback trails. Such a beautiful trail!

I consider the Piedras Pintadas a hidden gem in a suburban area.  Behind the Bernardo Mountain and Lake Hodges is a haven shared by migratory birds and outdoor enthusiasts. The place is once inhabited by the Kumeyaays who were known to be intimately connected to the area for its natural resources, 

I literally translated Piedras Pintadas as Painted Rocks and I was thinking of some rock arts like petroglyphs or pictographs.  Petroglyphs are those prehistoric rock carvings done by Native American males in a ritual as they were initiated into manhood. Pictographs, on the other hand, are paintings on a stone using natural pigments. The Piedras Pintadas has neither petroglyphs nor pictographs. The scenic trail actually consists of interpretative panels that details information about the culture and lifestyle of the Kumeyaay tribes that inhabited the area for thousands of years before the the Spanish missions' invasion in the 1600's.

The first time I wandered near the designated C2CChallenge selfie spot of the Raptor Ridge viewpoint of the Coast to Coast Trail, I was part of a breakaway group that trespassed into the then  private land up  on a hill overlooking the San Pascual Valley. The other half of the group did not want to hike on a restricted area and skipped the bushwhacking and climbing over fences and missed the fun. The Thanksgiving Day photo was taken  on top of a huge in the area  more than 5 years ago.

Santa Ysabel East Preserve which still looks more like a ranch has both the rustic and artisan characteristic of Julian where apples are grown for apple picking festivals and apple pies. The cattle that momentarily stop and stare at hikers somehow reminds me of symbiotic ecosystems that make organic farming and 100% grass-fed beef some omnivore's delight.

The trail-cum-pasture culminates into the Kanaka Loop Trail,  the crest portion  of the 70 mile-long trail that start off the coasts around the Polo Fields of Del Mar.  Kanaka is not a Japanese family name as I thought it was. The word "kanaka" is said to mean human being in the Hawaiian language. Hakuna matata on the other hand is not a Hawaiian  but a Swahili expression.

"You must be real cowboys!"
On my way back to the staging area, I came upon these gentleman who graciously posed for me.
"We're also called cattlemen."

According to the National Geographic website, grasslands go by many names. Prairies in the Midwest, pampas in South America, steppes in Central Eurasia or savannas in Africa. Grasslands are also biomes which are mostly a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat like a forest. The Ramona Grasslands Preserve is also considered a transitional biome which is more like a oasis found in between the Cleveland National Forest and the Anza Borrego State Park.

"As I walk, as I walk 
The universe is walking with me
In beauty it walks before me
In beauty it walks behind me
In beauty it walks below me
In beauty it walks above me
Beauty is on every side"

A Navajo prayer