26 February 2021
Ridgewood Park to Torrey Pines State Park
(12 miles, +400/-700 feet).

Today we did an urban hike, not too far from our house (we took a Lyft to the start and a Lyft home at the end!).  I wasn’t expecting much, but this is the last stretch of the San Diego Trans County Trail from the point where I left off in January.

The hike starts in Peñasquitos Canyon, which is lined by houses up on the ridge.

Nonetheless, we did have a challenging water crossing!

The flowers are just starting to bloom here.

After passing near the edge of a cookie-cutter subdivision we passed through another park, this time with baseball fields.

But soon enough we were back in a more natural setting, where we saw lots of bunnies and even a family of deer!

The trail alternated between open scrubland and riparian forests right by Peñaquitos Creek.  We found what looked like a swimming hole, though I’m not sure how sanitary the water would be.

Then the hike got even wilder as we approached “the waterfall.”  I wasn’t sure what to expect, and a long list of “DO NOT”s at the top of the spur trail did not inspire confidence.

But, again, I was surprised at how nice it was.

We saw some of the dead flowers I really liked from my earlier section hike of the SDTCT near Poway.  I’m not sure what they are.

And soon the gentle descent took us under the 5, to lunch at a nice deli in Sorrento Valley, and then on to Torrey Pines State Park.

When we crossed over S21, we saw something I had never seen before.  A poor owl must have gotten hit by a passing vehicle.

And then we were done!  I had to go down and touch the Pacific Ocean to make it official.