It was a beautiful day on April 11, 2021, I have decided to hike to Mt. Palomar, 6138 Ft in altitude. We decided to park the car in the 95/76 intersection (33.32953375294505, -117.16200644173152) and do the car pooling. It was about 1 hr 40m from the northern part of San Diego. We drove the curvy road after many years and passed the small town of Pala and Pauma valley. You can see the beautiful ridges of mountains stack one over another upto far away in horizon. THis is something I saw after years ( although I saw the long ridges in the hike I did at bridges to nowhere a couple of weeks back ).
I felt like I was in Nagarkot, - Nagarkot is a village in central Nepal, at the rim of the Kathmandu Valley. It’s known for its views of the Himalayas, including Mount Everest to the northeast, which are especially striking at sunrise and sunset.
The curvy road passes through the two big casino mansions that look like giant concrete in the middle of nowhere. As we start to gain altitude with curvy and snaky roads, we can see the beautiful view of the valley with 360 degree magnificence. It was green and beautiful. More importantly I started to feel that there were different kinds of birds in Mt. Palomar. As we reached the top and paid the parking fee of $10 and entered the parking lot , we realized that it's worth any dollar amount you paid. You see the breathtaking view from the parking lot ( see below)
The picture has a breathtaking view. Although it's only 6138 ft, the picture shows that you are in very high altitude, possibly more than 10,000 ft. I may have experience like that because it's been a while since I have been to this altitude. Because of the air quality or the marine layer we cannot exactly see the ridges on the further south towards the San Diego and west towards the Oceanside.
The park has a lot of spaces for picnic areas and very old ( about 400 years) old legendary tree guards you when you have your lunch - how exciting is that ? The bench looks very old and rusty, part of it built from concrete but shows its antiquities and the firmness that it continues to offer. Did you feel it ?
Oh, ya look at the legendary tree below. How can I believe that I have been to so many places all over the world and yet, I am going to die and this cedar tree has seen the generations and generations of human kind including the british monarchy ( sad to see Philip death and loss of the legend of british monarchy)
There were many trails mostly short ranging from 0.5 to 1.6 miles. However, you can make circles and spaghetti around it and spend your entire day hiking up and down Mt. palomar.
There were more than thirteen trails mostly ranging from 0.5 to 1.6 miles. However, you can make circles and spaghetti around it and spend your entire day hiking up and down in Mt. palomar. The nature is so beautiful with a lot of water streams and ponds. Also, I felt like there were a lot of birds chirping all the time on the trail and welcoming you with their beautiful voices. As it was time to mate, I felt like birds were singing and dancing all over the place.
The trails were not so crowded, you can meet hikers here and there but it was calm, peaceful and the tranquility you feel in the tributaries of your mind. It was the feeling of nature so deep inside you, it kept on going further deep and immersed, both physically and mentally in the conundrum of nature, for lopsided well-beings with unselfish devotions.
We took the rounded trails, - scott cabin, chimney, thunder spring and cedar trail making the bigger oval. When we reached the Doane pond, it was very beautiful. There were ducks swimming in the water, kids were playing and some folks were enjoying the fishing and the tranquility of nature. It was very quiet as we lay down, relaxed for a while and saw the blue sky.
Finally, we can see woodpecker's hole all over the forest in trail, it's amazing how such a small bird can create patterns in both dead and live trees to survive.
I really want to go this trail again as we missed going to the Boucher Lookout as most of things were closed because we are still leaving in the COVID era. [ Part II will be coming soon in future.]
