Weekend Wanderings (1) : Hiking, Birding, Tidepooling and Surfing Photography

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Light Hiking on top of the Bluffs @ Torrey Pines Gliderport and Scripps Coastal Biodiversity Reserve ( The Knoll )

We started our day early by hiking on top of the bluffs at Gliderport and The Knoll. We had two purposes: 

1. Hoping to catch hawks and peregrine falcons in their early morning breakfast hunt. It was a success, :) , NO!

2. Checking if hundreds of leopard sharks are swimming close to the shore, if we spot them, our plan was to go snorkeling. We did not see leopard sharks, just some dolphins busy feeding far from the shore, so, we decided instead to enjoy low tide first by tidepooling below.

Tidepooling @ La Jolla Shores

After tidepooling, we went to Ocean Beach, hoping to photograph some surfers and big waves. On our way to Ocean Beach, I saw from the car two ospreys perched on top of the pole by San Diego River Bridge, so, we decided to stop over first at Robb's Field. Robb's Field is a park adjacent to San Diego River Estuary. There are ample free parking spaces in the park, and from there, we could take a walk towards the bridge. Thankfully, when we got to the bridge, the ospreys were still there. 

Birds @ San Diego River Estuary ( bottom two are the ospreys )

San Diego River Estuary is one of the popular places in San Diego for birding. You can find my previous posts of San Diego River birds here ( white pelicans ), here (other birds) and here (ospreys ). My favorite shot here of the day at Robb's Field was not mine, but hubby's, a flying osprey.

Osprey in Flight ( shot by hubby )

When the osprey finally left us, we walked back to our car, but of course, I can't help to take pictures of other birds, despite I have lots of pictures of them already from before. :)

From Robb's Field, we went to Ocean Beach, target: surfing photography. It was a little bit past lunch time when we got there, so we decided to have lunch first at The Shades Oceanfront Bistro. It is a family friendly restaurant facing Ocean Beach. Though it was already past 12 noon, but they still serve breakfast menu, so I had calamari benedict (breakfast menu), while hubby had grilled chicken sandwich with baked potatoes ( lunch menu). 

Calamari Benedict and Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Their food was good, and they are not that expensive for an oceanfront restaurant. After lunch, we walked along the beach, then, to the pier, to enjoy the big waves, and take some surfing photos. 

Surfing and Waves @ Ocean Beach ( from OB Pier )

My favorite shot here is that of the Wave Curl.

My Favorite Shot of the Day for Waves ( at Ocean Beach )

We got impatient at Ocean Beach Pier taking photos of surfers, who seemed to have the wrong timing to ride the waves, haha, so, we did not stay long. From Ocean Beach, we went to Windansea Beach in La Jolla, where we enjoyed photographing surfers more who seemed to be more comfortable riding big waves.

Surfing at Windansea Beach (photos by hubby )

Hubby focused more on catching wave curls and barrels, while I focused more on videos. :) Here is a sample of surfing videos I took. 

We stayed until sunset.

After sunset, maybe it was the long day of wandering that I craved for some pizza, so we stopped by for pizza to go. 

We ended our Saturdate with pizza, onion rings and "very berry" smoothie. The very berry smoothie is how I call my own version of a mix of all fresh fruits such as: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, pineapple, pear and lemon. 

It definitely was a long fun Satur-date for us. From early morning hiking, to tidepooling, to birding, to ocean surf photography, to sunset. Others ask if we don't get tired at all, somehow, I believe those who are familiar with outdoors and physical activities would know that they are our body's way actually of relieving ourselves from tiredness. Physical activities out of the doors is our most powerful way of de-stressing from a week's mostly mental work. Knowing that, we always put it in our priority on weekends to rest and relax with nature, where exercise, fun, and rejuvenation are all one so we could start Monday's work with renewed energy and so much passion.

'til the next weekend wanderings, here in San Diego. 

Fun Friday: Q is for Quest

A Hiker in Quest for Adventure

It was Fun Friday yesterday once again in our group Blogging For Fun. We are doing an A-Z meme, and this week, we are working on the letter Q! As you can tell I am late ( it is a Saturday now), all because we were on a Quest for Adventure yesterday. :) Friday was the start of my 4 day President's Day weekend, and we love always to spend our time out of the doors, spending some time with nature. Exploring our outside world is our form of bonding. Together, we share the fun of exploring our natural world every weekend or whenever we are on vacation :) Let me share with you our Quest for Adventure yesterday :)

Since San Diego County is riddled with numerous ecotones- which are areas between two adjacent but different geographic regions or ecological habitats, such as forest and desert, our quest for adventure yesterday involved exploring two different words in but one place.

We started our day driving to Mt. Laguna, which is in Eastern part of San Diego County. This was the scenery from the trail head.

 Snow Covered Slopes, Mt. Laguna, San Diego County

Our hike started meandering through pine forest, then, slowly, the pine and oak forest changed to low lying chaparrals, and finally to a more exposed slopes of manzanita and mahogany brush. After that, we did not proceed any further, since it would be a very tough and challenging vertical drop to the desert floor.

end of our hike @ Monument Peak with the Anza Borrego Desert State Park in front of us

At the top, we just enjoyed the expanse view of earth and sky. 

Hiker Taking in the Desert Scenery to His Front

The desert view above is totally different from this mountain view below, both taken at my vantage point yesterday.

Looking Back to Our Trail Head at Mt Laguna

This drastic change in environment creates a very sharp boundary between the geography of forest and desert. This type of scenery however, is not unique to San Diego only. There are a lot of this type of ecotones in the Eastern part of California. 

Anza Borrego Desert State Park

 After this mountain hike, we moved down and took another trail at one of the wild hidden canyons of San Diego County, the San Diego River Canyon.

San Diego River Canyon

The hike started with the view of a waterfall to the North.

Mildred Falls

There were a lot of trails to choose from at the trail head, and we chose the one that will lead us to Cedar Creek Falls. I was excited to see hints of a good wildflower season in this trail, there were already some early bloomers, such us poppies, phacelias and indian paint brush. 

Early Bloomers in the Trail

Strange it may be for some to see snow, waterfalls, wildflowers and the ocean in a short distance, but these are some of the special sights  we treat ourselves for living in California. After a long descent along this trail, we took the left trail that descended abruptly and in some parts through slippery rocks towards the top of the waterfall.  

Cedar Creek Falls from the top

I was too scared to scramble further down the rocks to get a good view of this 90 ft tall, 50 ft wide waterfall from the bottom. Some people brave enough and probably with more experience rock scrambling and bouldering would go down from the top through these slippery rocks and boulders. However, that type of adventure was not for us, since we don't feel like we are really skilled to doing that. We could opt to continue from where it branched earlier, that is go down all the way to the bottom of mountain and turn left to follow the creek, but it was already 3:30 pm, less than 2 hours before sunset. Considering we would have a long way to climb back up, we decided to just go back up to the trail head before the sun sets. As we were heading up back to the trailhead, I entertained myself with the amazing contrast of the blue sky and rock strewn mountain in front of me.

Before reaching the trail head, I saw some reflection on this small puddle of water.  

Mildred Falls (looking very small from afar) and Reflection

It was a great decision to go back instead of continuing down, since when we got back to the car, I could feel my legs were aching and really tired, must be from the snowy slopes in the first hike, and the slippery rocks trying to find our way down of Cedar Creek Falls but did not succeed. Had we gone down, I do not think I would have the energy to go back up.
On our drive home ( going West ), nature continued to treat us with the sun setting in front of us and the colors of the sky were changing. The pictures below were taken from a moving car, thus may not be that very high quality, but just would like to share how nature continued to treat us with wonderful sights after leaving the desert and mountains to go back to the coast.

Sunset

Peaceful Countryside of San Diego County

Today, as you can tell, I am just resting my legs :) but the day is still long, and we may end up still doing something outdoors before the sun sets.

Fun Friday: Through The "not so many" Years

Blogging for Fun Friday again! What's great is that it is Friday :) Our theme this week is "yesteryears". However, I lost my childhood pictures. :( I no longer have proof to claim that I was cute when I was a baby. :) haha! All my photos then were in my albums and were neatly filed in my closet. However, they were swept away by a big typhoon that hit our province and flooded our house. I was not home that time since I was in Manila for studies. I could not blame anyone if no one took care of all my things in the closet, because at that time I understand everyone's safety was the priority. We actually lost a lot  of our things in that flood.


Thus, what I am sharing here are some pictures from my "yesteryears" back when I was still in the Philippines. The photos were not scanned, I just simply took pictures of my old pictures using my camera.

Simple Happiness, Forever a Beach Bum :)

Just modeling my newly cut hair :)

Enjoying Life

year 2001- my last full year in Philippines

An how am I now in this new land? 

year 2011

Well, I aged, but aside from that, I believe I still am enjoying the same "Joys of Simple Life". 

Enjoying LIFE'S SIMPLE PLEASURES: THE GREAT OUTDOORS!

Hiking and Geocaching: two of My Simple Life's Pleasures in San Diego

Boogieboarding and Snorkeling are the other two of my  simple life's pleasures, because of life's simple pleasures at the great outdoors, I HAVE NO TIME FOR SHOPPING!!

I have grown to love photography, for photos of me, thankfully, I have a hubby who does not complain each time I ask him to take me a picture :)

"Through the years", life always was and is something to celebrate.

Trees for Fun Friday: Palo Verde

We are on our 3rd week of Trees for Fun Friday, hosted by Melissa, of Blogging For Fun. However, for me, my Fun Friday falls on a weekend :)

Blue Palo Verde ( tree with yellow blossom) and brittlebush

Palo verde is the Spanish word for "green wood" or "green stick", which alludes to the greenish branches and trunk of the tree.

Snowy Egret Perched on the Greenish Branch of Palo Verde

The palo verde is the herald of spring for many Southwestern United States, because of its huge display of yellow flowers.

Bumblebee Frolicking on Palo Verde's Yellow Flower

Palo verde trees are originally from the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of Southwest USA (Arizona and Eastern California) and Mexico and Baja California. This is a true desert tree and is extremely drought resistant. Because of its minimal water need, palo verde has become a popular landscape plantings as a shade tree along roadways and parks all across Southwest USA. 

There are two species of palo verde that are common in the Southwestern USA, the foothill palo verde and blue palo verde. Both species are spiny, multi-trunked trees.

An Egret Perched on the Spiny Branch of Blue Palo Verde

Palo verde photosynthesize through their green bark, which is a very important adaptation for a tree that lost its leaves during the warm season. Aside from dropping its leaves during the warm season, palo verde also drops its stems and branches to combat drought. There are numerous birds that forage, perch and/or nest in the abundant branches of palo verde.

Egrets Nesting on Palo Verde

Two Late Posts

I missed two Fridays of Fun Friday in our Blogging for Fun Group. Catching Up, I will be posting here two letters, V and W.

V is for very late volcanic post :( .

Lassen Peak Volcano and Lake Helen, Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA, Summer 2009

Lassen Peak Volcano Reflected at Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA, Summer 2009

Lassen Peak is considered the world's largest plug dome volcano that rises 2,000 ft to an elevation of 10,457 ft. This is a very beautiful and peaceful National Park located in North Central California. Aside from Lassen Peak Volcano, Lassen Volcanic National Park consists of 3 other types of volcanoes. Actually, all four types of volcanoes found in the entire world are represented in Lassen Volcanic National Park, these are:

1) shield - Prospect Peak Volcano

2) plug dome - Lassen Peak Volcano

3) cinder cone - Cinder Cone Volcano

4) composite- Broke-off Volcano

Visitation at this park is lowest in March and peaks in the summer. Right now, the Southwest entrance is covered with 130 inches of snow.

Visitor Center at the Southwest Entrance of Lassen Volcanic National Park ( March 24, 2010 )

photographed by: Shanda Ochs, from Lassen Volcanic National Park website

With this kind of snow approaching the end of March, it's no surprise why the peak visitation is in the summer. In fact, last year during summer, we visited this place and this was the condition of the trail to Bumpass Hell when we hiked.

Summer Hiking to Bumpass Hell @ Lassen Volcanic

(from my multiply album, summer 2009)

It is a place where hot and cold co-exist.

snow and steam @ Bumpass Hell

( from my multiply album, summer 2009)

Fumarole at Bumpass Hell 

( from my multiply album, summer 2009)

Sulfur Works, Lassen Volcanic National Park

( from my multiply album, summer 2009 )

Now, from V, on to W. From ice and steam, to wildflowers and waterfalls at San Diego River Canyon Trail. All pictures were taken from our hike last Sunday ( March 21, 2010).

Wildflowers and Waterfall @ Cedar Creek Falls,

San Diego River Canyon ( March 21, 2010)

The hike to this 80 ft waterfall in San Diego River Canyon starts from San Diego Country Estates in Ramona. The hike is about 4.5 miles round trip, with about 1200 ft elevation gain/loss. This is a reverse hike, meaning, starting from higher elevation, we go down to the bottom of the canyon at the river gorge, and on the way back is an uphill hike. Some portions of the trail going down the river is very steep, thus we always bring our hiking poles when we take this trail, 

and those who don't have hiking poles usually end up picking sticks here and there for their poles to help them in their uphill and downhill trek. Unlike last year where there are carpeting wildflowers, this year, because it warmed up late of the year, the chilly and strong winds depressed the wildflowers and instead promoted growth of more weeds. Nevertheless, though more weeds than wildflowers, hiking is still as inspiring and refreshing.

Refreshingly Green

Here are some more pictures of wildflowers and waterfalls from our hike last Sunday.

Kids Enjoying a Dive and Swim After a Hike 

Sunflowers Above the Waterfall

Sunflowers and the River Pool Below

Cedar Creek Falls

Me, Photographing the Yucca 

yucca

Owl's Clover

Poppies

Lupines

I am sorry if I can't update this site often now, having to balance both work and studying and also having classes on Saturdays take so much of my energy that I am not as inspired to sit down and blog in my free time. On my little free time, I prefer to be taking the trails instead and get rejuvenating energy and de-stress from the wonders of nature, enjoying the simple pleasures in life out of the doors.