Florida Canyon Started City’s Major Hiking Group

By Priscilla Lister

Florida Canyon could serve as the very definition of urban oasis.

This 150 acres of coastal sage scrub habitat within the 1,400 acres of Balboa Park is said to offer a glimpse of the original landscape of Balboa Park. It is mostly natural vegetation, having had little interference from the city in the last 100 years.

Several trails are scattered throughout Florida Canyon, on both sides of Florida Drive. You’ll find Florida Canyon east of the main part of Balboa Park, nestled in a natural canyon that’s also a small earthquake fault, aptly named Florida Canyon Fault, according to the San Diego Natural History Museum. On the east side of Florida Canyon is the municipal Balboa Park Golf Course.

I sought the trail on the west side of Florida Drive, just below the Desert Garden and Rose Garden off Park Boulevard. You can access this trail from the Desert Garden, but I found easier parking and another trail head near the intersection of Upas Street and Florida Drive.

Starting from this trail head, I passed through a verdant part of the canyon — not as natural — before reaching Morley Field Drive, where I crossed to continue the trail.

In this first patch are several enormous eucalyptus trees and some interloping, albeit colorful, canna lilies.

Once past Morley Field Drive, the trail winds through a stand of Coast Redwoods, which seem a lot healthier here than elsewhere in Balboa Park.

Quickly, the trail becomes exposed to the sun as the coastal sage scrub habitat consists mostly of low-growing, aromatic, drought-deciduous shrubs. Common plants in this habitat include black sage, chamise, buckwheat and prickly pear.

Sometimes the park rangers of Balboa Park and the Canyoneers of the San Diego Natural History Museum lead walks through Florida Canyon identifying the native plants.

In fact, the Canyoneers of SDNHM were originally named the Florida Canyoneers, since Florida Canyon was the first place where the museum began offering guided nature walks.

During the summer of 1973, Helen Witham Chamlee, Nancy Inman and Betty Robinson began the Florida Canyoneers by training volunteers regarding the plants, animals, geology, history and Native American uses of the canyon, according to the SDNHM Web page, www.sdnhm.org/canyoneers/history.html. Two years earlier, Lee Wolfram had coordinated trail-building in the canyon by Boy Scout groups, as a community service project.

In November 1973, the Florida Canyon Nature Trails formally opened to the public, and 27 Florida Canyoneers graduated. Some 5,000 people participated in the hiking program by the next year.

During the 1980s, several more hiking destinations were added to the group’s schedule, so “Florida” was dropped and the group became simply the Canyoneers.

Canyoneers today — all museum volunteers — continue to be trained in San Diego’s plant and animal life, geology and Native Indian uses of their environment, according to SDNHM. “By leading public hikes at all points of the compass — San Diego’s canyons, regional parks and preserves, lagoons, deserts and mountains — Canyoneers help the public to appreciate San Diego’s special places,” says the museum.

Unfortunately, we were too late to alert our readers to a guided walk through Florida Canyon on Sept. 13 with Helen Witham Chamlee herself, one of the original founders. Perhaps she’ll do it again, though Florida Canyon is not on the schedule of the museum’s guided hikes through June 2010. (Check the museum’s calendar of guided walks at www.sdnhm.org/canyoneers/calendar.html.)

Since I was on my own, I tried to observe the native plants along the trail. While many appeared dead during the heat wave of late September, they are actually just dormant for the season. Blooms will occur again in spring.

The trail winds through the canyon with periodic sign posts pointing the way. It appears there are three different trails that converge here, according to those sign posts: Trails No. 3, 5 and 12. Nos. 3 and 5 are on the main Balboa Park Trails map, which you can download at http://www.balboapark.org/maps/TrailMapBalboaAndSixth.pdf. I’m not sure what Trail No. 12 refers to, but those are the markers I followed.

From the trail just past Morley Field Drive, I basically took the high road south, eventually reaching the end of this trail at Florida Drive. I retraced my steps, essentially taking the low road on my return. My walk lasted about an hour, round-trip.

There are several trails dotted throughout this area, including lesser ones that aren’t marked. You can’t really get lost here — Florida Drive is always in sight — but you can meander for several miles if you’re so inclined.

It was interesting to note the dry stream bed of rocks at the bottom of Florida Canyon, suggesting there once was a river running through it.

This wide expanse of natural landscape truly offers an easy respite right in the middle of the city.