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| Hiking | 5.22 Miles |
488 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.22 Miles | 2 Hrs 37 Mns | | 1.99 mph |
| 488 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | It had been a long time since I'd hiked at Torrey Pines. When I was young, still living in San Diego, we used to park by the golf course and walk into the park from the south. But that "secret" route is effectively closed off now. You could walk in that way, but not via the golf course, and there is nowhere to legally park nearby.
It was a Saturday, a gorgeous day. Breaking all my personal rules, I went there anyway. My personal rules include the following:
1. Never hike in a popular place on a weekend.
2. If hiking in a popular place, (even if it's a weekday) always start at butt crack thirty, so that you may find at least a short time of solitude.
I didn't start until about 10 a.m., which is practically supper time in my world. There was no parking along the beach (on 101), so I parked on Carmel Valley Road. I walked south on the beach and up the paved road into the park. This road used to be Highway 1, and was the route my parents would have used to go to Los Angeles, before 101, and later on, the 5 freeway, were constructed. I remember going to LA on 101 when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I also remember that while the 5 was being built we used to take a Sunday cruise to see how it was coming along. I also remember that the first time we drove it there was virtually no traffic.
So, anyway, I walked up the steep road, along with hundreds of other people. (I was probably the only 4th generation San Diegan in the crowd.) Then I walked along the road to the south side of the park, and down the North Fork of the Broken Hill Trail to the beach. My original intention was to hike to the beach, then south to Black's Beach, and then walk back via either beach or trail. But since I had parked so far away, and since there were thousands of people around, I lost interest. I did see some interesting birds, however. I walked back to my car along the beach.
The Broken Hill Trail (and perhaps all the trails in the park) has cable barriers (see photos) on both sides of it, throughout its length, to keep you on the trail, and off the vegetation. This kind of killed my feelings of communing with nature. Additionally, it seemed that half of San Diego was hiking UP the trail as I hiked down. However, as I reached the lower end of it, I saw that another trail joining it, the Beach Trail, had way more people on it.
I doubt if I will ever hike at Torrey Pines again. If I ever do, then I think it should be on a weekday, starting at butt crack thirty, not during a pandemic, and in bad weather. |
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There is a point of no return unremarked at the time in most lives. Graham Greene The Comedians
A clean house is a sign of a misspent life. |
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