Trip report: Palomar Mountain, east of San Diego

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great report. Isn't it funny that people that live within 50 miles of a Park like Palomar Mountain Never go there, it would take us less time than driving to Tuttle Creek Geeezzzz. We would never have known.

Good to hear. We woke up the next morning with 2 flat tires. That's what we were dealing with when the ranger stopped by.

No pictures of the Hale telescope?

Pat

It's not a reform school any more -- it is an outdoor science camp for the local schools. Not a trace of graffiti or trash or vandalism anywhere -- and the hordes of noisy folks who showed up on Friday night (after three blessed nights of total silence and isolation) were just large families and Boy Scout troops. Loud, but well-behaved.

I've seen campgrounds with gang problems (near LA), but this one was fine, I thought.

Dan,

The SP was empty when we were there, also, and the ranger explained that, too. Gang activity. He and his wife lived in the ranger house for a year or so but his wife refused to stay there. That school across the main road (near the pond) is (or at least was) a reform school.

The frogs in the pond were cute, though. ;)

Pat

profdant139 wrote:
Len, whose nose and whose tail? Yikes!! I have never gotten to see a mountain lion, in (literally) more than a thousand days of hiking and mountain biking. (We did see a bobcat, once.) What time of day? How close were you?

Our nose; his tail. It was the middle of the afternoon. He was facing at about a 2:00 angle to the trail and was looking back at us from about 10 yards. All I could think about was the Ziploc bag of salami and cheese in my backpack. We put our hands on our hips trying to look larger and slowly backed up the trail. He eventually wandered off. Of course, we knew that he was still out there somewhere. :E

We talked to a ranger later about the encounter and he was surprised. He said that he had worked there for over 10 years and never saw one. On the other hand, I've never seen a bear in the wild. Go figure.

LS

Len, whose nose and whose tail? Yikes!! I have never gotten to see a mountain lion, in (literally) more than a thousand days of hiking and mountain biking. (We did see a bobcat, once.) What time of day? How close were you?

Palomar is where the wife and I ran nose to tail into a mountain lion a few years ago. It made for an interesting few minutes. ;)

Excellent report, as usual, Dan.

LS

It's good to see you out and enjoying our local campgrounds. I have not been up to Palomar in years, so perhaps your trip report will inspire me.

Re the level issue: many of the state parks predate RV's, but you'd think they would have updated by now.

Re the bedrock mortars: in the desert, I often find one or two at obvious lookout points. Perhaps the lookouts needed something to do? The mountain groups or those near desert village sites are larger. Grinding must have been a very social thing.

Great pics folks, thanks for sharing.