by sdpacatc | Aug 4, 2017 | Uncategorized
If you are a beer lover, nothing feels as good as a cold beer after a long hike. I have not tried taking growlers on backpacking trips, that just seems like a lot of extra weight, but my buddies and I have taken large cans of beer. You can always put them in a stream or lake to help cool them down and then enjoy a cool one while also enjoy natures bountiful scenery. The folks over at Drink Tanks sent me this infographic to help spread the love of beer on the trail ( I don’t think it needs any help). So take a look and enjoy.
by sdpacatc | Jul 28, 2017 | Uncategorized
Watching the Milky Way rise from the top of Stonewall Peak
Night Hiking. I’ve posted about this subject before, so forgive me if this sounds repetitive, but I have found night hiking to be so refreshing. Now this does not mean that I am going to go exploring every new trail in the middle of the night, I would be losing half the reason I go, to see the wonderful world around me. I have found that night hiking ( intentionally going out at night to hike, not just being out on the trail early or late ) has some great advantages as well as some draw backs. This is not for every hike you want to do out there, I tend to do this on well established trails that I have a lot of experience with. Recently I did this with a buddy on the Mt Woodson trail going from the back to front down at the lake and then back up and over, between 6pm to 11pm, we wanted to get some mileage on our legs for our 22 mile hike up MT Langley the following week. Here are some of my ideas about this.
A buddy and I hiking down the Mt Woodson trail to the lake at sunset before we head back up and over to the back at night
Night Hiking Pro’s and Con’s.
- Hiking at night can help you beat the heat (duh, what else you got ).
- I find that trails that tend to be overflowing during the day like Cowles Mountain, Mt Woodson, Iron Mountain, etc,..tend to be virtually empty at night, which can be a plus and a con depending on the person. I find these trails can get so over crowded during the day that it changes the experience for the worst. But if you find that being on the trail at night by yourself to be to creepy this may not be for you, or just make sure to get a friend to go along with you.
- If you are close enough to the city such as doing Cowles Mountain, Mt Woodson, Iron Mountain, etc…you get such a cool view of the lights.
- Some Hiking spots will close the gates at sunset, and or there is little to no security around and therefor even less once the night starts.
- Most hikes are far enough removed from the city light that even if your close enough to see the city at night you will also get to look up into the heavens and see far more stars then you ever see at night around where you live ( if you live in the city ).
Watching the sunset from the top of Cowles Mountain
Night Hiking : Do’s and Don’t’s
- Do Make sure some knows where you are going and where you are going to be ( duh, did you ever see 120 Hours. Enough said on that one ). My wife feels more comfortable when I turn on the find my friends app on my iphone so that she knows where I am when I am out hiking alone or shooting photos at night out in the middle of nowhere.
- Do make sure and take a headlamp and or flashlight with a refill of batteries just in case you run out of juice.
- Make sure to take enough water, even though you are hiking at night and its cooler you are still going to sweat, and on a long hike you can go through a lot of water. I tend to like having water left over after a hike rather then running out as you are hiking.
- I have yet to hear about someone getting attacked by an animal hiking at night and the only one I would worry about here in San Diego is a mountain lion. For that reason when I hike by myself at night I carry a knife easily accessible ( I don’t know how much good this will do if I get attacked but it makes me feel good), and I use trekking poles, the poles make more noise, letting animals know you are coming so that you don’t surprise them, and its one more weapon to wave around at them. Some ideas on what to do if you get attacked
- I also find that using the trekking poles at night also helps with your balance as you are hiking. Even when you are using a headlamp while hiking at night I find that you tend to loose a little depth perception, so I like having the poles to help with that.
- Try doing this with trails that you are already familiar with, so that your not missing the bigger picture (the world around you) but that your also more comfortable with where you are going.
- Do not leave valuable objects in plain view in your car, your asking for for a real headache when you get back.
Looking up at the Milky Way on the New Army Pass trail in the Cottonwood Lakes area
So if you want a little change in your adventure, grab a buddy and head out at night one of these days, get some good exercise, see the pretty city lights, or look up and see the great stars. Have an awesome adventure.
by sdpacatc | Jun 22, 2017 | Uncategorized
I have been married for so long that I never even thought of the idea of hiking and dating. I was approached by Sally Writes on this issue and thought that this may be something that the readers of my web site could benefit from having brought to their attention. Below is a introduction to the article. Check it out. Brad Spiess -Admin
Try Out These Great Hiking Ideas for Your Next Date!
We all know the weather in San Diego is perfect for outdoor living. Whether you enjoy an afternoon spent at the beach or a meal grilled in the backyard, there are endless opportunities to embrace the great outdoors. So why not take your partner on an exciting hiking adventure for your next date?
Since there are virtually hundreds of hikes to choose from in San Diego, you should pay special attention to the details of the date to make it unforgettable. Here are some fantastic date ideas to make any hike a little bit more adventurous:
· Make it a treasure hunt – If you know the ins and outs of the hiking spot, you can visit it ahead of time and plant items for your date to seek out. Don’t forget to mention the romantic reward!
· Use headlamps for a night hike – In safe spots, you and your date can hike at night beneath the stars with the help of handy headlamps.
· Surprise your date with stunning sites – Tell your partner that the two of you are going for an outdoor adventure, and plan to take them to a hiking spot that they have never been with spectacular views. The element of surprise will make any date romantic and exciting.
In addition to these date ideas, check out this guide on romantic hiking dates for other tips to make any outdoor adventure in San Diego one that you and your partner will cherish long past the summit.
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by sdpacatc | Feb 16, 2017 | Uncategorized
A new company has hit the hiking scene hoping to change your experience with trail food. Trailfoody reached out to me looking to see if I would be interested in reviewing their service for my readers, it sounded interesting so I said sure. Soon a stuff sack arrived with all kinds of trail food goodies. It sounds like a cool way to try new trail food, and from now until the end of March they are giving my readers 65% off of the first month of the wanderer service with the code : IHIKESD . Check out the review and see what you think.
Check out Trailfoody:
by sdpacatc | Oct 20, 2016 | Uncategorized
Thank you to everyone who checks out the web site and reads the blog. I Hike San Diego has been ranked one of the top 100 hiking blogs on the internet. While I try to strive to improve my web site and blog at all times I am not the only source of information out there, check out the other hiking blogs on this list. The more informed you are the better your hikes will be.
Check it out:
Top 100 Hiking Blogs Every Hiker Must Follow
by sdpacatc | Jun 16, 2016 | Hikes, Uncategorized
Getting and early start on hiking Mt Woodson not only makes the hike more comfortable but can give you some killer views like this one as I started hiking up out of the marine layer to look back down at it.
That time is coming again, the time when the heat starts early and people start asking themselves if they should go hiking or not. Just because the heat is getting dangerously high does not mean you have to stop hiking, but you need to be smart about when you decide to go. When I lead hiking groups I get many grumbling’s why are we meeting so early ( no later then 7am if we are hiking in San Diego, sometimes 5am if we have a 2 hour drive ahead of us), the reason I usually start my hikes so early is that when it starts to heat up I want to be well into my hike. People tend to forget that San Diego is considered a desert environment. While the fact that San Diego is a desert environment is not always recognizable when you are close to the coast, just drive 20-30 minutes inland and it starts to become abundantly clear.
So if you can’t go hiking at a normal “civilized time” because of the heat what are you to do ?
- Consider starting your hike really early
- How early is early, it really depends on where you are planning on going for a hike, is it close by so that you can get to it with a 20-30 min drive or is it going to take you 2-3 hours to drive to it. When I was coming back down from shooting the milky way on Mt Woodson I saw a group of hikers starting their way up at 4:30 am, more likely to get some sunrise pictures but I did run into a couple hiking Mt Woodson at 2 or 3am to beat the heat as they got ready for a big hike in Europe. With the heat coming this weekend I would suggest hitting the trail no latter then 6am, and even earlier if you are planning a long hike. I hit the trail at Mt Woodson the other day at 6am it was still foggy as I was nearing the top but by the time I turned around and had made it back down to Poway Lake all that marine layer had basically burned off and it was starting to heat up.
Foggy hike at 7am near the top of Mt Woodson
All the fog burned off by 9am
- Go for a sunset hike
- San Diego has some wonderful sunsets and sometimes the best place to see it are from the local mountain tops. I have had some great hikes to some of the local mountain tops for sunsets hikes, such as Mt.Woodson and Cowles Mountain. When you are going for a sunset hike remember to bring some essentials, a flashlight – preferably a headlamp so you can keep your hands free, even though its cooler still bring plenty of water – its amazing how much you still sweat as your hiking in the dark, hiking poles are a bonus – they help when making your way back down in the dark not to mention they make a good way of warding off any animals that you may meet on the trail ( mountain lions are the only one’s I worry about), some spare batteries in case your flashlight quits on you.
Looking west at the setting sun and balloons in Rancho Santa Fe from the top of Blacks Mountain.
Looking at downtown San Diego during the sunset from the top of Cowles Mountain
Watching the sunset from Potato Chip Rock on Mt Woodson in San Diego
- Go for a night hike
- I never thought of this until I started heading out at night to photograph the Milky Way. You usually want to get as far away from the city in order to see the Milky Way but when there is no moon you can still see it pretty well in certain areas of the city. You will definitely need a flashlight / headlamp, on full moon nights you can sometimes make your way around without using it but on nights where the light in minimal you are going to need it. Bring a light jacket, you may find that as you are hiking you don’t need one but if you are going up to a mountain top it will be breezy and you will be sweaty, which means you will start to feel a chill pretty quickly, I always keep one in my pack just in case.
The full moon rising up behind Mt Woodson taken from the top of Black Mountain
The Milky Way at 3am taken from the top of Mt Woodson
The Milky Way behind Broken Hill in Torrey Pines
These are just some ideas on how to beat the heat during the heat waves and still get a hike in but remember that the only one who looks out for you,…is YOU! Bring lots of water, bring extra food, bring an extra layer, make sure someone knows where you are going in case you get lost. San Diego is a wonderful place to go hiking and we are all adults, don’t put someone else’s life on the line looking for you just because you may be unprepared when you go out for a hike. Things happen that we can’t always predict when we go out for an adventure, but its not much of a adventure if you can’t talk about it afterwords. Have a great weekend and enjoy where we live in the wonderful area of San Diego.
