The slightly acrid tang on the back of my throat as I breathed in the smell of sage in the misty winter morning stirred up memories of my roots.   The smell is a signature of my childhood; wandering the hills and valleys of San Diego.   It is also a reminder of why I love San Diego, and why it has fostered such a love of the outdoors in me.
I took what started as a mild hike through Mission Trails this morning that took me up through Oak Canyon, up through the saddle between North and South Fortuna, up to the summit of South Fortuna, where I relaxed for a while watching the rock climbers on the Granite face across Mission Gorge, and gazed in wonder as a red tail hawk surfed the winds, gaining altitude while barely moving a muscle.   I then descended the “steps” on the west side of South Fortuna, and made a left turn of what appeared to be a pretty well used trial working its way down the south side of the lower part of Fortuna, thinking I would save a little time as this would deposit me much closer to the dam than cutting through Syucott wash, and into the quarry and then back around to the dam, several miles around.   What I found out is I would end up crossing the river at the quarry after-all as there was no way across the river at the base of the trail I thought was a well used.   I ended up bush whacking my way through the Mission Gorge; all the way to the quarry river crossing, and walking back along the Father Junipero Serra trail back to my car.   A total of 3-miles farther than I planned to hike, and several hours of off trail hiking and boulder scrambling that I did not plan to make.   On the bright side, I saw a lot of Mission Trials that I have not previously seen, and like most of the park it is beautiful.

Old Mission Dam- the brush was recently cleared for a unique view

view looking down into Oak Canyon

One of the oaks in “Oak Canyon”

Looking out towards Pt. Loma from South Fortuna