Category Archives: Hiking

Trail Cam

Posted on by
3

To find the universal elements enough;
to find the air and the water exhilarating;
to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter…
to be thrilled by the stars at night;
to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring –
these are some of the rewards of the simple life.
~ John Burroughs

Join me on an early morning walk around the lake trails.

There’s a familiar fragrance of tule, which some people don’t like, but I love love the way it smells. Tule grows in dense stands along freshwater wetlands.

Indigenous peoples ate tule roots and seeds, while the reeds were used to make baskets, cord, sandals, and clothing. P.S. Here’s how to say it: “too-lee”

With all the rain we’ve had, everything was uncharacteristically green…as far as the eye could see…

Pretty Black-eyed Susan flowers!

It’s a human-made lake, not natural, intended to be a reservoir, but the ducks and coots don’t seem to mind a bit.

Native buckwheat.

I didn’t see any coyotes this time, but it was still a lot of fun!

A Lagoon Swan and a History Lesson

Posted on by
Reply

A few photos to memorialize January 2024.

This is my favorite, a swan pedal boat on Agua Hedionda Lagoon. It’s an activity high on the list when the Angels visit this summer. Doesn’t that look like a lot of fun?

Now I’m standing on a path with a view of the trestle bridge and a peek of a blue Pacific ocean. Do any locals know my specific location? I bet not, ‘cos it’s a secret.

After walking all the way around the lagoon, this is a look to the east and a very low tide…

If you block out the electrical poles and the road, it’s easy to transport yourself back in time to when this land was the home of the indigenous Kumeyaay Indian Nation.

This is where they lived, fished, gathered berries, wove baskets, and buried their families. They lived in small family groups which had to move frequently to find new sources of food and water. Each clan wintered in a sheltered valley and migrated into the mountains in the spring.

It’s sacred land and should stay that way in perpetuity.

Learn more here: https://www.kumeyaay.com/the-kumeyaay-millenium.html#:~:text=Kumeyaay%20fished%2C%20hunted%20deer%20and,created%20watersheds%20and%20stored%20groundwater.

Kierkegaard’s Philosophy | Walking for Well-Being

Posted on by
6

I believe this to be true. 

"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right."~Søren Kierkegaard

It seems as if I’ve see HOKA shoes everywhere. Do you know the brand or what HOKA means? HOKA is a verb meaning to soar or to fly.

I’ve worn mostly all the brands, but never HOKA. Well, never before yesterday, that is. I’m like Cinderella with shoes; they have to fit perfectly or I reject them.

I went to a local athletic shoe store and tried on a mountain of different brands and styles, resisting the HOKA for no real reason, I guess.

I was feeling dejected and a little embarrassed about the wasteland of boxes around me when the really nice and exceedingly patient employee suggested I try HOKA. “Just try them.” he said.

At first I demurred and then I acquiesced because I had literally exhausted their entire stock. When I slipped them on, it was as if my Prince Charming was sure to magically appear because they fit like a glove, so comfortable that I didn’t want to take them off. Now I understand why I’ve seen so many people wearing them.

I was drawn to the rose gold with black which is a change for me as I usually pick the brightest colors in the shoe palette.

(I guess this is a kind of review, but solely from my own experience because I didn’t get them for free or any other form of compensation.)

Even with a torn meniscus and all the other broken stuff in my knee, I will continue to perambulate, to move my body — because like Kierkegaard said, “if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”

Or, as I like to say, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Anyway, that’s MY philosophy.

Moonstone Beach | Sea Glass Treasures

Posted on by
5

Since it’s just about time to honor June’s Full Moon, it seems like the perfect opportunity to chat about Moonstone Beach, another sea glass location I need to visit. It’s in Cambria on California’s Central Coast.

It’s said that at Moonstone Beach beach you can find moonstone agates plus jade, jaspers, and other semi-precious stones.

Here’s a photo of some of my beach glass collection. Red is the third most rare type of sea glass, and I only have a couple pieces of that color.

Did you know? Orange is the most rare sea glass color. Turquoise is the second most rare color and the rarest type of blue sea glass. Red is the third most rare sea glass color and yellow is the fourth. I guess white and green and brown are more common to find because I have a lot of those colors, probably because most bottles were crafted in those colors.

None of the beaches around me have sea glass OR many seashells, although we have an abundant and endless supply of ROCKS.

| sanctuary |

Posted on by
3

“Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.”- Rumi

Vermillion Cliffs Secret Cathedral: Photo by Enchanted Seashells

What Happened to Julian Sands?

Posted on by
8

Do you know who Julian Sands is?

He’s an amazing British actor, best known for his roles in The Killing Fields, A Room with a View, Warlock, Arachnophobia, Boxing Helena, and Leaving Las Vegas. 

He went solo hiking on Mount Baldy In Southern California and was reported missing two months ago on January 13, 2023. Since his disappearance, all of our local mountains have had a record-breaking amount of snow.

His car was found in the parking lot, but no other signs of him. His outcome seems bleak.

This is a treacherous mountain to climb even with the best weather scenario. Others have gone missing, too. Some are found, some never are, nor are their remains located.

I haven’t heard any information about whether he was carrying a GPS location device or a satellite phone, and there hasn’t been an update about the search in quite a while.

I think it’s important to agree that no matter how experienced a hiker, one should never hike alone.

Years ago, my son and friend (both experienced hikers) were on the 10,000 foot Mt. San Jacinto in Palm Springs when there was a blizzard. They missed the last tram down because the winds were gusting to about eighty miles per hour. We were getting really freaked out because they hadn’t called at the agreed upon time. Just as we were about to contact all the officials, a park ranger called to let us know they made it to a ranger station and were OK. Whew! We were so worried!

Poor Julian Sands. Every time I see Mt. Baldy in the distance, I worry about him, too.

A Royal High Tide

Posted on by
Reply

Last week’s King Tides created the unusual sight of flooded marsh and wetlands.

Here at Agua Hedionda, freshwater creeks drain into a low-lying area meeting the sea. The ocean pushes tides and sands against the land as the creek drains its fresh water and sediment into the sea. This mix of fresh and salt water forms a brackish environment. The salinity varies with the seasonal influence of rain and storms.

Sometimes the tide is so low, we can walk all the way around to the south side where there’s a sweet little beach, but not that day!

With all of this recent rain we’ve had (and more on the way), freshwater basins appear and fill the normally dry land surrounding the lagoon.

After all these years, this is still one of my favorite views. We see the lagoon, freeway, train tracks, and Pacific ocean.

Peace, Serenity, and Joy

Posted on by
Reply

That’s the feeling I get from an afternoon walk around Agua Hedionda Lagoon. It’s the kind of holiday celebration I love.

This is the perfect spot to breathe and contemplate centuries of Native American history.

For ten thousand years, these rolling hills and canyons surrounding the lagoon provided shelter and food with an abundance of native plants and trees.

Indigenous peoples spent their winters making salt and gathering shellfish for food, jewelry, tools, and trade.

To the Luiseño, this area was Palmai, or “place of big water.” The Luiseño culture is noted for its mysticism and religious practices.

From “Seekers of the Spring – A History of Carlsbad” by Marje Howard-Jones:
“It was a hot and dusty afternoon when Don Gaspar de Portola and Father Juan Crespi called a halt by the banks of a tidal lagoon. According to the padre’s journal for Monday, July 17, 1769, the party had left San Alejo to the south at three in the afternoon. They had traveled one league before descending into a valley where alders sheltered a deserted Indian village. ‘We named this valley San Simon Lipnica’, he wrote. Taking special exception to the scent of decaying fish and other debris, it was the soldiers who unwittingly christened the lagoon for posterity: ‘Agua Hedionda,” the ‘stinking waters’.”

The Native American peaceful coexistence with nature created a culture whose openness and adaptability left them vulnerable to aggressive invaders, another tragic story of desecration, destruction, and appropriation.

Wintry Gloaming

Posted on by
Reply

The setting sun around the lagoon was especially exquisite. It was dark by 5pm, oh my.

Does it look chilly? It was.

The forecasted 60% chance of rain dwindled to 20% and we didn’t even get a single drop, but the clouds were spectacular.

Searching for Doors of Perception

Posted on by
5

NOT the psychedelic kind that Huxley wrote about…but opening the door to self reflection with love and compassion.

This photo looks like it could be one of my favorite places, a slot canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument or here at Vermillion Cliffs, where I snapped this photo.