Mission Trails Oak Canyon Hike

    After a few weeks of rainstorms and blustery cool weather in San Diego I was pleased when warm summer-like weather finally arrived in time for Action’s recent Mission Trails Oak Canyon hike.  Located in east county south of Highway 52 and next to Santee, Mission Trails Regional Park, the largest municipal park in California, encompasses over 8,000 acres and includes the San Diego River, Lake Murray, a few mountain peaks including Cowles Mountain plus miles of hiking trails.

     Fourteen of us met on a late afternoon on the eastern side of the park near the campground, crossed the river and set off across the grasslands towards Mariposa Gulch near Highway 52.  From there we hiked up the Fortuna Trail to the top of a hill that gave us a good view of Mission Trails and Santee before descending down to merge with the Oak Canyon trail.
     In the canyon and on the surrounding hillsides there was a lot of Ceanothus (or California Lilac) blooming.  Featuring bright blue flowers that only bloom for a few weeks after rainstorms, it provided a flash of color to the typically drab brown coastal sage scrub landscape.  We continued north on the trail until we reached a rock outcropping near the freeway before turning around and heading back down Oak Canyon toward the river. In the canyon there are a number of majestic Coast Live Oaks which we stopped to admire.  We eventually recrossed the river and ended our hike at the historic Old Mission Dam which was built in the early 1800’s to provide a steady water source to the San Diego Mission five miles away.  Many thanks to everyone who showed up and hopefully next time we can organize a post-hike Happy Hour at a nearby restaurant/bar. 

     One more thing, that day we luckily did not see any snakes but during the next week, while jogging through Mission Trails, I encountered a large Red Diamond rattlesnake, a Gopher snake, a Southern Pacific rattlesnake, and a garter snake.  More snakes in one week than I’ve seen during my previous 25 years visiting the park!

John Thomas