One of the most amazing views in San Diego can be taken in from the Cabrillo Bridge. Jet planes soar in over the ribbons of traffic and the San Diego skyline in the distance. During several months of the year, the moon will be in plain view during the late afternoon and the night, rising in the east. The green of tall eucalyptus trees soften the harshness of the freeway; the elegant Cabrillo Bridge evokes feelings and memories of romance. The entire scene calls to mind the hues of a Maxfield Parrish painting.
Highway 163 slices through the Cabrillo Canyon below in a seemingly no-man’s land, but the canyon has a couple of walking trails which are must-dos for the avid walker and hiker. I had found out from a friend about these trails.
In late July, my husband and I scouted around to look for the hike through Cabrillo Canyon. The canyon takes off into several different paths. You can choose how much and which trail you want to take. At Vermont and Myrtle, you could miss the entrance if you drive too fast in the cul-de-sacs of this upscale neighborhood. Next to a grand mansion of a house, there is a stairway that leads down to a dirt path.
But before starting out on our trek, we stopped to watch the dizzying flight of a large black bumblebee. Unlike honeybees, bumblebees are solitary; they simply take the nectar and go on their merry way.
When we could no longer follow the flight path of the busy bumblebee, we set out towards the set of stairs which led down to a dirt path. Like most canyons in San Diego, the surroundings were nearly magical in variety of tree and bush, leaf and flower. The sunlight sparkled on dainty crystalline flowers that were only a couple of inches high. The surprisingly pretty light pink and white flowers of a budding Flat-topped Buckwheat, one of the most important plants in San Diego’s coastal canyons.
We spotted a flock of small birds, most likely House Finches, flitting about in the treetops in neighboring backyards. A few yards further down the path, a Desert Cottontail rabbit scurried into the bushes. Though he tried to hide, he was an easy find for us. The trail at this point came to a T-intersection. We turned right and the trail led us to a bridge over 163. The bridge led us to the back end of the Bridle Trail we’d explored earlier this year. (That trail eventually ends up at the Marston House.)
The other part of the trail veering off to the left was quite steep and since we were there on a very warm afternoon, we decided to come back and explore that region from the other side.
A few weeks later, after some scouting around using Google Maps on our iPhones, my husband and I found the other entrance to Cabrillo Canyon in Hillcrest at Upas and Vermont Street. The trail, which had a sign indicating that this was a Gateway trail starting at 6el and Upas, was mostly concrete and steep. I had to take it slow and easy because my knees were weak after a recent fall.
This part of the trail does not offer much shade; it is best taken in morning or late afternoon. But the light was golden at 2 p.m. as we trekked down the steep trail. To our left were very tall eucalyptus trees. We heard the high-pitched screech of a Red-tailed Hawk. The hawk sounded very close, but he was enjoying his hiding place somewhere in the tall eucalyptus trees. He probably had his eye on a rabbit or squirrel for dinner.
The trail was beautiful in its own way; in summertime, the ice-blue petals of the flowering Plumbago shrub provides a pretty archway through which you enter the lower part of the trail. Further down, there are the yellow rolled-up leaves of a Tree Tobacco—a non-native and poisonous plant, but attractive nonetheless—and the juicy-looking and tasting berries of the Lemonade Berry plant.
Once we came to the half-way point at the T-intersection of the other part of the Cabrillo Canyon trail, we turned around and walked slowly up the incline. We heard a lot of little birds skittering around in the trees as we reviewed what we’d seen. It never fails to amaze us how many nearly hidden canyons and trails there are in America’s Finest City, right in its urban center, and many near our beloved 1,200-acre Balboa Park.
