But sometimes you just really want a challenge. A butt-busting workout that will leave you panting and make your wearable device very happy with your step count and heart rate.

Luckily, the San Diego region has plenty of these hikes, too. But there are some cautions. Before attempting any of them, make sure you are ready—that you’ve done some easier hikes in the region and have a good base of fitness. Also bring plenty of water, food, sun protection, and go early in the morning on days that will not be as hot.

El Cajon Mountain Trail – 11.6 Miles

For most hikers, the El Cajon Mountain Trail is really the epitome of challenging hikes in the region. Some like to call it El Capitain, or El Cap, not to be confused with the far taller mountain in Yosemite. But this hike still has lots of steep climbs, and it’s not just a steady uphill, but times where you climb down and then up again to make it to the summit. The trail is rocky at times as well, with big boulders to cover. But if you make it to the top, you’ll feel like you really accomplished something significant. And on a clear day, you can see all the way to the ocean.

Even if you don’t make it all the way, you can stop at any of the saddles on the trail and take in the panoramic views. But be prepared, you will definitely feel sore the next day.

• Directions: Start at the parking lot on Wildcat Canyon Road.
• Distance: 11.6 miles roundtrip
• Dogs: Allowed
• Details: The parking lot is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The trail is closed in August due to the heat.

Mt Gower Open Space Preserve – 9.8 Miles

Mount Gower Open Space Preserve is a massive space in Ramona, and has a few trails that are very challenging but with seriously stunning views. The open space covers 1,574 acres, and has the trail to Mount Gower summit. The summit itself does not actually fall in the preserve—that’s in Cleveland National Forest. But you can reach it on the trail that goes through the preserve. And the viewpoints along the way make the long journey worth it.

There are multiple routes to take to the top. If you follow the southern trail, you get the best views of the San Vicente Valley below.

• Directions: Start at the parking lot at the end of Gunn Stage Road. 
• Distance: 9.8 miles roundtrip
• Dogs: Leashed dogs allowed
• Details: The parking lot doesn’t open until 9 a.m., but if you want to start earlier, you can park outside the gate. That adds an extra 0.25 miles to your hike. Also, be on the lookout for poison oak, which is sometimes found along the trail.

Black Mountain in Ramona – 14.5 Miles

Another very challenging but rewarding hike in Ramona is Black Mountain. This is not to be confused with the smaller Black Mountain near Rancho Peñasquitos, which is a far easier hike. Sometimes it’s called Big Black Mountain to make the distinction. The trail takes you past a variety of trees and plant life, including oak groves and chaparral, as well one of the biggest growths of Engelmann Oak, a threatened species.

You can start the climb from the Santa Ysabel Truck Trail, which is also open to off-road vehicles, but is always open for hiking. In the rainy months, this road can get very muddy, so be warned.

• Directions: From downtown Ramona, follow Pamo Road to the gated Forest Service Road entrance. Park along Pamo Road.
• Distance: 14.5 miles roundtrip
• Dogs: Leashed dogs allowed
• Details: Be prepared for mud in the winter and spring. There are no bathrooms at the parking lot or on the trail.

The post 3 of the Most Challenging Hikes in San Diego appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

They decided to hike Cowles Mountain in the middle of the day, and, for some reason, Ashley elected not to wear sunscreen. “Long story short, I darn near died on the way up, because yoga shape is not hiking shape,” she says. “He busted out almond Champagne at the top, which was delicious, but I also [almost] died on the way down. I’m a lightweight and dehydration kicked in… I got an epic sunburn… He still gives me a hard time about [it].”

Ashley’s hiking partner, Seung, can still rib her about her sunburn because, well, he’s now her husband. They have three kids together, and Ashley says that, despite the near-death experience, hiking made for a great first date.

 

“You skip all that formality of sitting at a table interviewing each other and sifting through who this person really is versus what they want you to think,” she reflects. “He seemed like a vaguely responsible and spontaneous guy who was very bright and motivated and spoke his mind.”

She says relationships and marriage are hard, and hiking gives you a better glimpse into how someone handles challenges. “You can kick the tires at the coffee shop and think it’s all great, but you are better served on a hike, where the rubber meets the road,” she emphasizes.

I may be biased, given my love for hiking, running, and generally being outside, but if I were dating now, I’d make all my first dates outdoor treks. I said yes to a first date run back when I lived in Berkeley (I thought I was a good runner, but I still got completely winded when my date took me on a jog up the Fire Trail), and I went on hikes and runs early in my relationship with my now-husband.

They really are good ways to get to know people—and can push you to ramble farther than you would otherwise.

Data from the running app Strava seems to support this notion. Its 2022 Year In Sport report found athletes in pairs went longer in both time and distance than when they were solo.

The company also analyzed all the running and hiking done on Valentine’s Day and found that a good chunk of people celebrated the holiday by exercising as a duo. A fifth of winter activities (skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, and snowshoeing) were done in pairs on February 14 over the last four years, while 14% of walks and hikes and 13% of bike rides were two-person trips.

According to Strava, these are the most popular hiking routes for pairs in San Diego County:

• Top Part to Rockhouse (Bonita)
• Get to the Flag (Chula Vista)
• New Trail to Rockhouse (Chula Vista)
• South Fortuna Steps (San Diego)
• Top of Steps to Fortuna Saddle (San Diego)
• Father Junipero Serra Trail Climb (San Diego)
• Top of MTRP (San Diego)
• Quail Mountain Road Climb (Poway)

If you want something with romantic views, try Sunset Cliffs, Torrey Pines, or Kwaay Paay in Mission Trails (which, bonus, is rarely crowded). Meanwhile, local James Hauser says that when he was dating as a student at UCSD, he had a go-to third date: the La Jolla trail.

“[For] the initial first date, you go somewhere on campus. [The] second date might be sushi or somewhere near campus,” he says. “Then I would do this hike around sunset time where you get to see the beautiful ocean. If I did get the opportunity of having a third date, it’s a good way to get to know someone a little bit more than [I would at] a casual dinner.”

Plus, hiking takes a little longer than a typical dinner and can introduce more physical contact, he adds. “‘I need you to hold my hand, I need you to hold on to me,’” he jokes. “And it’s also just very beautiful. I think it’s one of the prettiest places in San Diego overlooking the cliffs. You have the gliders there going back and forth, and then you end up on the beach, and then you can walk back to campus.”

Hauser would tell his dates to wear comfortable shoes, and says he never had bad experiences. “I would be very encouraging [and say] that the hike wasn’t too difficult and any able-bodied person could do it,” he shares.

But one of these third-date hikes became his last—that’s because Hauser took the stroll with a woman who eventually became his wife.

“Maybe two percent of the reason why we’re married is because of the success of that third date,” he says. “She was skeptical at first. She was an L.A. girl who wasn’t into hiking, and I think I sold her on the fact that it was very pretty and I was bringing her somewhere that she hasn’t been before. It’s a little bit sketchy at times when you have to kind of hold on to someone or hold their hand, and so I got to [give] that additional reassurance—’I’m going to be here for you and support you’—and it went very well.”

The post Why Hiking Dates May Help You Find Your Partner appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

What exactly is an urban hike? It’s basically a trek through your city, but with a fancy name and a sightseeing goal (e.g., to see famous landmarks) instead of a step count. No need to drive to a far-flung trail or mountain. Just lace up your sneakers and head out to your nearest urban landmark.

While some practitioners like to aimlessly wander, I think it’s better to have a destination in mind and a route planned out. My ideal is to walk some streets that connect to one of San Diego’s many canyon trails to explore further. If you’re down to try an urban hike, here are three you should check out:

Urban Hike: Balboa Park Trails

This urban park is a vast network of trails for you to explore. If you live anywhere in the neighboring areas, you can start out by walking on streets and sidewalks until you get to the park. Then join up with the nearest trail. Some good options to try include the Florida Canyon Trail, the Bridle Trail, or the Morley Field Trail. If you hike Florida Canyon, you’ll feel a bit like you’re out in nature, not in the middle of an urban park, with wide views of the less developed parts of the park. 

Bridle Trail goes right along the 163 and has some steep hills to climb, but also feels like a secret pathway through the heart of the park. Morley Field is flatter and an easier trek, and will take you past sights like the velodrome, dog park, and fields. This map has the details, and you can also consult maps along trails in the park.

Urban Hike: Mission Gorge Trails

Tucked away behind the Del Cerro neighborhood is a great network of trails for you to explore—a serene, still-wild space not far from a developed neighborhood. You’re surrounded by native plants and can hear the birds all around you. These trails are mostly flat, but you’ll have to tackle steep climbs to get into and out of the canyon. Some parts are also a little rough and rocky, so it might be better to throw on your hiking shoes instead of normal sneakers, though both would be fine. 

If you do the entire stretch of trails, it’s about three miles, plus whatever you walked to get there. Get to Margerum Avenue or Conestoga Court however you can and then hike the trail that connects the two. If you want to keep going past Margerum Avenue, there are other trails that lead you up into the Del Cerro neighborhood. This map has the details.

Urban Hike: San Diego Bayfront Walk

If you are looking for ocean views and breezes in your San Diego hike, try walking the waterfront. You can go all the way from the Convention Center, through Seaport Village, past the county waterfront park and even past the airport to Shelter Island. The full walk is six miles one-way, so if you go out and back you’ll rival those urban hike TikTok influencers. There will be nice, cool air all along the way; plenty of people watching opportunities; and chances to stop and get a snack. Try Carnitas Snack Shack along the harbor or Ketch Grill and Taps once you make it to Shelter Island.

The post 3 Urban Hikes to Check Out in San Diego appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

It also gave me the chance to explore some parts of the park I’d never seen before. I thought most of the park would be the same—rocky trails, views of the peaks, grassy fields—but there were some genuine surprises.

So here I’ve collected three hikes we did during our challenge that I’d highly recommend. We will probably be repeating them regularly, too.

Cowles Mountain via Big Rock Trailhead

5 Miles

Cowles Mountain can feel like Disneyland. There’s a long line of people waiting to climb, with loud music and chatter all around you. But go just to the other side of the mountain and there’s a beautiful trail with far fewer people on it. The views of the back of the mountain are beautiful, and the trail is clear. It’s a longer distance—about five miles out and back—than climbing up the front of the mountain, and you do need to do a small stretch on the steep service road. But the relative serenity of the hike makes it worth it.

Climber’s Loop

2 Miles

This is a short but steep hike in the middle of Mission Trails, with views of the rest of the park and the rushing river that I haven’t seen anywhere else. You can start at the Mission Trails Visitor Center and walk on the paved path for the first half mile, then start your climb. It’s about two miles total and can be steep, but my son loves clamoring over the rocks, and I love the views as you feel like you’re standing on the edge of a cliff. You can also check out the rock climbers who are ascending even higher. 

Corte Playa Catalina Trail

3-5 Miles

There are plenty of hikers to be found on the Grasslands Loop trails on the east side of the Fortuna Mountains, but far fewer explore the looping trails on the west side. For this reason, I love exploring the loops on the west side much better. The Corte Playa Catalina Trail winds through the fields with beautiful views of the Fortunas, and takes you past the Four Corners intersection with bike tools if you need a repair, plus a revegetation project. I like the three-mile loop along Corte Playa Catalina Trail, Suycott Valley and the Rim Trail, or Shepherd Pond Loop. There are a few steep hills, so be prepared.

The post 3 Hikes You Probably Didn’t Know About in Mission Trails appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

But hiking and running are already a staple of my life, and hopefully something that will never go away. And for hikers, either veterans who go out every weekend, or those who are brand new, there’s a pretty easy resolution that you can make and keep this year.

Try a new trail. That’s it. 

Instead of going to your usual routes that you’ve already done so many times, or going to the routes that come up highest on Google searches for San Diego hikes, try something literally off the beaten path.

The rewards will be great, I promise. You’ll challenge yourself in a new way—possibly physically—if you try a new trail that’s longer or steeper than your usual routes. And likely mentally, as you navigate a new course that’s unfamiliar to you. And those challenges pay off with fresh soreness in your muscles and fresh perspectives as you take in new sights.

Look, I’ll even make it easy for you. I have suggestions for three new trails that you very likely have not done before. 

Navajo Canyon Open Space

2 Miles

This little trail tucked into the canyons in the Allied Gardens neighborhood is really a hidden gem. You will feel like you’re miles into the wilderness, even though you’re basically walking through a neighborhood. It’s two miles out-and-back, and you can start it across the street from a playground. Park on Adobe Falls Road and take the trail up to the top.

Bernardo Mountain Summit Trail

7 Miles

This is a challenging hike in Escondido that is different from the usual Cowles Mountain/Iron Mountain/Mount Woodson routine. It’s a little more than seven miles out-and-back, with about 900 feet in elevation gain. The difference is the views, since it’s in North County, you don’t get the typical San Diego skylines you see on Cowles. The trail passes under Interstate 15, and takes you past Lake Hodges. It’s part of the Coast to Crest trail system, so you can make your hike even longer if you’re up for it. 

Tecolote Canyon Trail

6 Miles

A lot of people like to hike Marian Bear Park in the UTC area, and this trail gives a different option. You can make it six miles out-and-back, with only a few short hills—though those hills are pretty steep. It’s a great way to get into trail running, too, for the first time without having to drive way outside the city. 

Start at the Tecolote Nature Center at 5180 Tecolote Road off Morena Boulevard. Follow the trail and go left when you reach a junction by the golf course. Keep bearing left to hug the golf course and then follow the trail as it curves right. Stay to the right as you reach a crossing trail at 2.3 miles and continue until you reach Genesee Avenue. There, you can turn around and go back the way you came.

The post 3 Less-Popular San Diego Hiking Trails to Try This Year appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

“I didn’t finish it because I was probably close to 60 or 80 pounds heavier than I am today,” says Williams. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life physically. And that’s coming from somebody that was a D1 athlete in college and a competitive skydiver for four years.”

After not completing it, she found that she was starting to hate her own body and needed to change her relationship with it. “I just [wanted] to do more […] and not have my body be the thing that got in the way,” Williams says. “When we got back to cell service on the island […] I sent a DM to the Catalina Island Conservancy and said, ‘I’ve had two life changing experiences on this trail. How can I help protect and promote it?’”

The adventure caused her to completely change her relationship with her body which led to authoring a book and writing about her experience. In 2019, Williams launched her debut book: Hiking My Feelings: Stepping Into the Healing Power of Nature. Her story and book now serve as the foundation for the programs offered through her organization Hiking My Feelings which offers 12-week learning seminars, hiking retreats, a private social network, and live shows. 

On March 9, she’ll launch her second book: Hiking Your Feelings: Blazing a Trail to Self-Love at SXSW before making her way back to SD for a week of bookstore appearances. To celebrate the launch, Williams will head out to Mission Trails Regional Park on Saturday, March 16 for a group hike and stewardship project. 

We caught up with Williams to learn how hiking can be used as a tool to help you deal with big and small emotions. Here’s what she had to say:

Reframe Your Mindset

When a hike is physically taxing, Williams says it can become a focal point for your mind. “That first hike was so deeply physical that it was all I could think about,” she says. “All I could focus on was the deep physical pain, like the blister that I got a quarter mile into a 38.5 miles trail in a six-day journey.”

During a very hard hike, Williams says to honor your body and inner athlete instead of talking to yourself “like a jerk.” 

“I was like, well, this is hard, but so was running stairs in stadiums, so was training for nationals when I was a skydiver. Those things are hard. This is hard. I can do hard things,” says Williams. 

She says to ask yourself a question when you begin to doubt yourself: “What’s available to me if I’m not focused exclusively on what my body is or isn’t capable of?” The idea is to reframe your view of yourself and realize that you have completed hard tasks in the past and you can do it again. Trust in your own power.

Lean Into Your Feelings

It may seem simple enough, but hiking can be a good way to process your feelings without any distractions around. “[That Catalina hike] was the first time that I actually had time to process the loss of friends and that negative internal soundtrack that we have in our head,” she says. 

Williams says we all carry invisible backpacks on our hikes full of trauma, insecurities, and the weight of the highs and lows that we’ve carried throughout our lives. “It’s that thing your gymnastics coach told you about your body when you were in third grade, whatever. Like, those things that stick. They’re all in this backpack,” she says. 

Williams suggests using your time on the mountain to feel all the things you’ve been pushing down, allowing yourself to be uncomfortable. Working through your emotions can take time, but being intentional about doing so on the trail can be very beneficial. 

Shake It Off, Literally 

The actual mechanics behind hiking your feelings starts with simply getting outside. When you start walking and negative things come up, remember that your mind is a powerful muscle. When negative thoughts arise, Williams suggests finding a way to get out that energy physically. 

“Instead of [allowing] those thoughts […] and not having anything to do with that energy except shut it down, I [may] rage stomp for 100 meters or something, just up that ridgeline and just expel that anxious energy out through my feet and into the ground.”

It may seem silly at the time, but Williams suggests it can help free your mind and help you move onto the next challenge. 

Create a Safe Space for Others

“If you need to initiate a difficult conversation, going for a hike and walking single file is really nice. Sometimes eye contact is hard to maintain,” says Williams. “Sometimes you just want to get up and run from whatever table you’re sitting at.”

Hiking can be a safe place for people to connect and have a hard discussion. Being in nature can also invite a more peaceful mindset, so Williams suggests allowing it to be a place where you’re in motion for these types of convos.

“It gives us a way to stay grounded in the things and the topics and the challenges of the human experience in a way that I personally haven’t experienced in any other way, shape or form,” says Williams.

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The post 4 Ways to Work Toward Emotional Healing Via Hiking appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Further outside the immediate San Diego County region there are other rewarding but difficult hikes. There’s the Cactus to Clouds Trail to climb San Jacinto Peak in Palm Springs, a 20.3-mile point-to-point hike (you can take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway back down) with a 10,000-foot elevation gain. 

Or the Rubicon Trail (10 miles) near Lake Tahoe, the Bridge to Nowhere hike (10 miles) in Azusa, and the Clouds Rest hike in Yosemite National Park (13 miles with 2,500 feet elevation gain). 

I could go on. For all of these fantastic but challenging hikes, they require some training and a solid fitness base. 

To help those looking to do some of these more challenging treks, we asked expert Gordon Janow, director of programs and founder of Alpine Ascents about the best workouts to get your body ready for these hikes.

“We guide technical peaks, mountaineering around the world, help people climb the highest mountain on each continent and run schools and summit climbs in the Cascades, Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan and Mount Rainier,” says Janow. “My background is as a Himalayan historian and logistics expert. I run the company and also work with people in terms of getting fit or training for mountaineering expeditions.”

None of the day trip 10-mile expeditions listed here compare to climbing Mount Rainier, but Janow says they do still take training. He laid out his best advice. Here are his fitness tips on the best workouts to help you get ready for hikes over 10 miles.

Mimic the Climb

The guiding principle to training for hikes is sports-specific training, or doing something that’s as close to the sport as you can to get ready for it as one of the elements, Janow says. He recommends three days in the gym of using a treadmill or step mill (like an escalator that helps you continuously climb stairs, not a stair climbing machine) and then a hike on the weekend to build up endurance.

Gym sessions should be around 45 minutes with an emphasis on increasing your speed. “One misconception people have is like, ‘Oh, I’m slow but I can go all day.’ But if you’re hiking for 11 hours, your body is still working for 11 hours. So you want to achieve a certain pace,” Janow says. 

You don’t want what would normally be a six-hour hike to take 12 hours, because that’s too much wear on your body, he says. So before you go out, you can work on boosting your speed with interval training on the treadmill. 

Interval Training on the Treadmill

The goal for hiking at a good pace is usually 1,000-vertical feet per hour, Janow says. His training plans ask you to vary your incline from 5 percent to 15 percent, and then he says you can do intervals to build your speed. This could mean walking two minutes at a slower pace, then one-minute at 3 mph, and repeat. That way, you can build your speed over time.

Train on a Step Mill

You can also use the same method to pick up your pace on a step mill, going faster for one minute and slower for two minutes until you build up speed.

“There’s benchmarks, like being able to ascend 1,000-vertical feet per hour with a certain pack weight,” Janow says. “Each trip has a different pack weight. So you would prepare differently depending on the trip that you’re going on.”

He also has training programs and more fitness tips on his website, like this one to prepare for specific hikes such as Mount Rainier. 

Train Based on Whether You Can Talk

Try to climb at your anaerobic threshold, Janow says. “An easy way to determine [this threshold] is that if you can be next to somebody and kind of yell out a few words, but you can’t hold a conversation,” he says, then you’ll know you’re in the right spot. “But you also shouldn’t be entirely out of breath.”

“What we’re trying to do is to increase this anaerobic threshold. It’s not about going as hard as you can for certain periods of time,” he says. “I want your anaerobic threshold to be something that’s pretty close to an all-day pace where you’re walking and I can talk to you.”

Strength Training

In addition to cardio, one fitness tip to remember is weight lifting to build up your strength, says Janow. That includes squats and lunges to strengthen your legs and glutes, but don’t forget about your back and shoulders so that you can carry supplies.

“You’re going to be like, ‘My God, the backpack on my shoulders is killing me.’ Or, ‘My hips really hurt.’ Or, ‘My calves, my thighs…’” he says. “If it’s your thighs that are hurting, let’s say, then you start working weights there doing squats or box steps or things like that.”

Weekend Hikes

There’s no substitution for actual time on the trails, so Janow says whenever possible, get out and do some shorter hikes to build up your mileage. Do shorter climbs with the pack you’d carry on the longer trek and get used to the weight and pace. 

Some hikes to try in the San Diego region are Cowles Mountain (three-miles roundtrip), either of the Fortunas in Mission Trails (five- or six-miles roundtrip), Pyles Peak (six-miles roundtrip) and Iron Mountain (5.5-miles roundtrip).

The post The 6 Best Fitness Tips For Hiking Trails Over 10 Miles appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

“The group started in the 1980s as a monthly hike, usually on the last Saturday, led by a professor from SDSU, and loosely affiliated with the Libertarian Party of San Diego,” says Philip Erdelsky, the group’s current leader. “Announcements were printed in the Libertarian Party newsletter, and also emailed to those who had email.”

Subscribers were mostly students and staff at SDSU, but Erdelsky took over the group in 1993. “I used email for the hike announcements, and in the late 1990s started posting the announcements on the Caltech Alumni server, which appeared on the then-new World Wide Web,” he says.

Fast forward to 2012, and Erdelsky decided to add the group to Meetup.com, calling it San Diego Day Hikers. Today, the group has nearly 22,000 members who join up for multiple hikes across the county every month. 

Typically around five to 25 people show up for hikes which are free to join. Erdelsky guides many of the hikes himself, using resources such as Schad’s Afoot & Afield in San Diego county.

Joining a local hiking group is a great way to get to know other people who share similar interests and can even help with finding new routes. Thankfully, there are plenty of hiking groups like San Diego Day Hikers to check out—most of which don’t require any membership or fees.

If you’re looking for a new crew to join, here are more San Diego hiking groups to check out:

San Diego Day Hikers

This group gathers for hikes throughout the San Diego region with easy to moderate routes. The group usually hikes on the last Saturday of each month, but also has weekday evening excursions occasionally. Recent hikes include a Mission Bay five-mile walk, an urban four-mile hike through Marian Bear Park, and the five-mile Engelmann Oak Loop at Daley Ranch in Escondido.

UCSD Hiking

This group for the UCSD community has a discord channel where users plan hikes and other outings. To join, you must be a member of UCSD, either a student or staff. The group has almost 2,000 members, and usually about 20 people turn out for hikes.

Recent hikes include the Santa Margarita River trail, Cowles Mountain, San Clemente Trail and the Potato Chip rock.

San Diego Happy Feet

This group on Facebook has about 700 members and plans monthly hikes, including big challenges such as El Cajon Mountain. Organizers say the group is very active with regular events. They mostly focus on hiking, but also organize backpacking, camping, snowboarding, skiing, running, cycling, kayaking, paddle boarding, and road trips events. Members can also create their own events and post them to the group.

Recent hikes include El Cajon Mountain, Mt McGinty, and Black Mountain via Nighthawk Trail. Hikes are usually organized on Saturdays and Sundays early morning at 6 am, but also weekday shorter evening hikes at 6 pm.

San Diego Sloth Hiking Team

This Facebook group is great for those worried about being too slow for a regular hiking group. They have about 6,000 members and plan regular outings on easier routes. They’ll also organize more challenging adventures such as hiking Mt. Baldy. 

“San Diego Sloth Hiking Team at Mt. Baldy. Started [the] hike at 3:30 a.m. and finished at 3 p.m.! Long day of hiking, laughs, a few curse words and a ton of beautiful views,” one user wrote on TikTok. Other hikes include Kitchen Creek Falls, Cedar Creek Falls in Ramona and Devils Backbone.

Canyoneer Hikes

For a guided experience, the San Diego Natural History Museum offers free guided hikes throughout the county led by volunteers. Hikes are organized every weekend, but are capped in size, so you need to sign up in advance. Priority registration is given to museum members, but if there’s still space then anyone can sign up.

People often join to explore the canyons near their homes that they’ve always been curious about but were hesitant to explore on their own, according to organizers. They also take treks into the desert to explore in groups.

“I sought the Canyoneers out because I was looking to do more desert hiking, but I didn’t feel comfortable going alone,” said Daniel, one of the Canyoneer leaders, on the group’s website. “It’s easy to get lost, there’s spotty cell phone coverage, I’d think ‘what if I got a flat tire?’ The Canyoneers offered the opportunity to explore new trails that I wouldn’t hike on my own.”

Wilderness Basics Course

If you want more than just a regular hike to join, and are looking to boost your wilderness skills, you can check out the San Diego Sierra Club’s 10-week wilderness basics course. The course covers hiking, camping, and backpacking through 10 in-class lectures with four weekend outings.

Skills training includes selecting clothing, gear, and equipment; how to use a map and compass; physical conditioning; first aid and safety; food selection and preparation and water filtration; animal encounters; and sanitation. During the overnight outings, participants will have to supply their own equipment.

The course is offered each year from January to May with lectures at 7 p.m. on Tuesday nights in Escondido at San Pasqual High School and in San Diego at the First United Methodist Church – Linder Hall in Mission Valley.

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The post 6 Local Hiking Groups to Join in San Diego appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Backpacking Joshua Tree National Park Service Eco-Friendly Backpacking Tips

Courtesy of the National Park Service

Being in nature can change you. Sleeping and eating outside, far away from roads and stores and houses, forces us to unplug, reset, and notice the beauty that’s all around us.

But while you’re soaking in all the benefits of getting outdoors, it’s important that you don’t change nature right back. Conservation experts will remind campers and explorers to “leave no trace”—which means carrying out any trash, respecting wildlife, and letting rocks and plants remain where you found them.

But with so many aspects to consider when aiming to backpack sustainably (from sourcing eco-friendly gear to dealing with human waste), we’re sometimes leaving traces we don’t even notice.

To help you enjoy nature and keep it safe at the same time, we collected tips from two experts: Meg Carney, author and host of The Outdoor Minimalist, and Amber McDaniel, head of content at Sustainable Jungle. Here’s their advice for eco-friendly backpacking:

Flat Lay Gear National Park Service Eco-Friendly Backpacking Tips

Courtesy of the National Park Service

Rent or Buy Used Gear

To start, Carney says, if you’re planning a trip, you don’t need to rush to the nearest REI and buy a bunch of new stuff.“You can borrow [or] rent gear so you can see if you actually like the activity,” she suggests. “And then, if you’re investing in gear, especially if you want higher-end brands, it can be helpful to try and buy used equipment from gear consignment stores or Facebook Marketplace.

”If you do need to buy new, Carney advises doing your research and investing in brands with eco-friendliness at their core.“Every reliable company will have a website and so you can easily access their sustainability information,” she says. “If they don’t have [that] on their website, I just avoid that company, because in the outdoor industry, it should be at the forefront of … their marketing.”

Backpacking Cooking USD Eco-Friendly Backpacking Tips

Courtesy of the USDA

Pack Reusable Containers Vs. Individually Wrapped Items

Food can be one of the most challenging areas to maximize sustainability and minimize waste. Even in normal, non-backpacking life, food packaging is difficult to avoid, and when you’re packing to carry meals and snacks for multiple days, it’s even tougher to skip plastic-wrapped products.

Don’t be too hard on yourself if you overpack or eat a lot of pre-wrapped food on your first trip. Carney recommends keeping all the packaging from the meals and ingredients you purchase for the weekend. “Then you can do a waste audit,” she says. “Bring [the packaging] home and then lay it out on the ground. That physical experience of witnessing the amount of waste that you’re using is a good way to kind of identify and then narrow down areas you can reduce waste on future trips.”

For example, if your food-waste flat lay is full of oatmeal or nut packets, try purchasing oats and trail mix in bulk and dividing into smaller, reusable containers. Carney uses Lunchskins paper sandwich bags and beeswax bags instead of plastic. Energy bars can be tougher, since they usually come individually wrapped, but companies like TerraCycle can recycle the packaging from brands such as GoMacro.

Beyond that, Carney says she pays attention to the systems behind her food, including growing, harvesting, transporting, and processing. “Know where your food is coming from and support companies that are moving in the right direction and doing the right thing,” she emphasizes.

Local and organic fruits, for example, have a smaller footprint than those that traveled thousands of miles to reach your nearest grocery store—and they’re easy to carry, store, and eat without any single-use packaging.

Campfire Cooking Outdoors U.S. Forest Service Eco-Friendly Backpacking Tips

Courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service

Cook Meals With a Stove

If you’re cooking over a campfire, Smokey Bear’s adages apply: Be aware of fire restrictions and put out embers by shoveling dirt over them. But, especially for newbies, it may be best to put down the matches altogether. “Things can get out of control,” McDaniel says. “People don’t know how to build them or where to build them properly.”

She recommends bringing a small backpacking stove like an MSR Pocket Rocket. “I love it because it’s really light,” she says. “The downside is [they require] single-use white gas fuel canisters, which is fossil fuel, but they tend to last quite a while. That’s one of those sacrifices that I’ll make, knowing that it’s less impactful to do that than potentially deciding to build a campfire in an area where I shouldn’t and burning the forest down.”

Most campers know that safety and securely storing food is integral to avoiding unwanted animal visitors. But even water used to cook food needs to be properly disposed of.“If animals get too used to, ‘Oh, look, somebody dumped their water from their dehydrated meal over here and I can eat it,’ then it’s going to attract bears,” McDaniel says. At home, many of us drain the starchy water from pasta or oatmeal down the sink, but it’s completely safe to drink (and nutrient-filled and hydrating, to boot!).

Keeping bears at bay isn’t just safer for humans—it keeps the animals safe, too. Wildlife services have had to euthanize bears who became dependent on human food sources and attacked people as a result.

National Park Service Trash How to Clean Eco-Friendly Backpacking Tips

Courtesy of the National Park Service

Use Refillable Bottles For Hygiene Products

Even seemingly innocuous items like toiletries and soaps can create waste and have environmental impacts. To avoid extra packaging, Carney says she goes to zero-waste grocery stores like Earthwell Refill, The Mighty Bin, and The Nada Shop to refill reusable glass bottles with hygiene products and buy toothpaste tablets, shampoo strips, and biodegradable soaps.

But, McDaniel adds, it’s important to be aware of greenwashing. Just because a label says biodegradable doesn’t mean the product is safe to use however you want.

Many of these products “still have phosphates in them,” she says. “When phosphates get into natural waterways, they cause a nutrient overload which leads to eutrophication—essentially a process that [creates] harmful algae blooms that choke out natural plant life and then, eventually, natural fish life, as well. You don’t want any sort of phosphate soap directly in waterways. Your best bet is to use a natural bar of soap that’s made with olive oil and shea butter.”

Still, she says, never wash things directly in waterways. Instead, bring a collapsible bucket and rinse off clothing, dishes, and yourself 50 to 100 feet away from the waterway. “Then you can dump your natural soap in the brush and it’ll break down just fine,” McDaniel continues.

The same goes for brushing your teeth—even when using natural toothpastes, never spit directly into waterways.

Leave No Trace Toilet Paper Eco-Friendly Backpacking Tips

Courtesy of Leave No Trace

Bathroom Etiquette

Gone are the days when backpackers would just dig a hole and do their business, McDaniel says. Now, popular camping areas require what’s called a “wag bag”—and, even if it’s not mandated, McDaniel recommends it.

Wag bags are sealable, disposable bags used to store dirty toilet paper… and other things. “If you have to go poop, you poop in it,” McDanel explains. “With so many people going out into the woods, [waste left in nature] is going to keep piling up. So the recommendation now is to always pack out your waste.”
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The post Best Tips for Eco-Friendly Backpacking, According to Experts appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Pacific Crest Trail from Lake Morena

Courtesy of USDA Forest Service

My seven-year-old son and I love Mission Trails. Together, we’ve tackled all five of the area’s peaks twice, and we are currently on a mission to cover every inch of trails in the park. What’s great about San Diego, though, is that you can get lost scoping out every trek in one area and still have a world of great hiking nearby to discover.

If you’re willing to drive a little bit for a new route, you’ll find mountains to climb, waterfalls to see, and coastal trails to explore. Here are five of the best hikes within an hour of San Diego:

View of Lake Hodges from the Bernardo Mountain Summit

Courtesy of Get Go Outdoors

Bernardo Mountain Summit Trail

This trail—situated a mere 30 minutes from downtown SD—overlooks Lake Hodges and takes you past the longest stress-ribbon bridge in the world. It starts along the highway, but quickly detours through spectacular meadows and marshes along the lake.

To take on the seven-ish miles out and back, park in the lot on Sunset Drive next to I-15 and follow the path down the road. At 1.8 miles, turn right to trace the Summit Trail to the top.

The San Elijo Lagoon and ecology reserve located just off highway 101

Courtesy of San Diego County Parks & Recreation

San Elijo Lagoon

Looking for a laid-back jaunt? Try this flat and peaceful hike along the lagoon between Solana Beach and Cardiff, located around half an hour from downtown San Diego. The trails through the nature park will make you forget you’re just off the highway. Along the way, you’ll pass by a bird sanctuary, giving you a chance to see some nature up close.

One of my favorite parts is that the park has a seemingly endless network of multiple trails, so you can keep coming back without getting bored. Start at 2710 Manchester Avenue in Cardiff and follow the La Orilla route under I-5 to the Pole Road Trail, which covers eight miles out and back.

View of the valley from the El Capitan mountain trail

Courtesy of San Diego County Parks & Recreation

El Capitan

If you’re in the mood for a more intense adventure, this hike is my absolute favorite for a serious challenge. There are multiple hills to climb on your 11-plus-mile trek out and back. Soothe your sore muscles and catch your breath by stopping to admire the truly stunning views at multiple points along the way. There are also helpful signs letting you know how far you’ve gone—and how much farther you have to go.

Find the trail on Wildcat Canyon Road and Shenma Road in Lakeside (about 35 minutes from downtown, depending on traffic) and follow the signposts. But make sure to check the date: El Capitan is closed in August due to the heat.

Cedar Creek Falls located in Ramona

Courtesy of Mountain Made

Cedar Creek Falls

This hike leads you to a fantastic waterfall and, at just under six miles out and back, is a good choice for beginners starting to test their limits. Hit Cedar Creek during the cooler months to spot an 80-foot waterfall and a swimming hole at the end. The cliffs around the waterfall are closed to climbing, and no alcohol is allowed—because this spot used to be a place for daytime drinking and ill-advised diving.

To reach it, hop in the car for around an hour and park at the Cedar Creek Falls Trailhead on Thornbush Road in Ramona.

View of the U.S. Mexico border from the Pacific Coast Trail

Courtesy of USDA Forest Service

Pacific Crest Trail from Lake Morena

Cheryl Strayed’s memoir about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (and the subsequent Reese Witherspoon–led movie adaptation) made the path famous—so famous that it was completely overwhelmed with hikers for a few years. Now the crowds have thinned, but the jaw-dropping beauty of the trail remains. You can follow the PCT all the way from Mexico to Canada, but there are also gorgeous short stretches relatively near to San Diego.

Located about an hour’s drive away from downtown SD, one lovely section starts at the Pacific Crest Trail parking lot on Lake Morena Drive near its intersection with Lake Shore Drive, just outside the Lake Morena County Park. Take the PCT south for 2.9 miles, then turn north on a short trail that joins Morena Reservoir Road, which you can follow back to your start.

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