I really love it when great local companies give back to our wonderful San Diego Community. Runningskirts is an Encinitas based company that is sponsoring a weekly fun run. Here are the details from them.

RunningSkirts weekly fun runs kickoff!

Thursdays….
6:00 p.m. @ RunninngSkirts
676 2nd Street
Encinitas, CA 92024

Calling all skirts & all paces, our fun runs are lead by our own Skirthusiasts (coaches)! We’ll take you on our favorite beachfront & coastal runs each week.

* Stroller Moms
* Expecting Moms
* Marathon Moms
* Speedy Skirts
* Newbee Skirts
* Walker Skirts

Sponsored by Utlima Replenisher!

We’ll be giving away FREE running skirts weekly and tons of gear giveaways. Join us for the kickoff tonight and receive a special goody bag! (while supplies last)!

San Mateo Canyon Wilderness area is on of the few big open spaces in Southern California that are close enough to the Pacific Ocean that the habitat is affected by its vast body of water.  The area is lush,  with the canyon bottoms filled with oak and sycamore trees (and tons of poison oak).  Our campground was situated on an old sand bar above a pretty stream tumbling through the rocks, with a small beach where one could relax and listen to the water gurgle if the weather was more cooperative.  While it is still early, the wildflowers in the area are set to explode.  A trip through this area next month should be a very colorful experience.

San Mateo Canyon Wilderness

We car camped in a shallow canyon, that ended up funneling the early morning wind, making for a raucous wake up call for my students.  We hiked into Smugglers Canyon to visit the Pictograph rock, that is an easy very accessible hike for most everyone.  Located a relatively flat mile into the canyon,  this large boulder decorated with red and yellow pictographs makes for a grand lunch stop.  Unfortunately this weekend the rain made it rough to stop for too long.  As I was pondering this boulder and the secrets it contains for the umpteenth time,  I came to a realization.   In my travels to Europe and other places where their long history is recorded in the architecture, I often bemoan the lack of this sort of historical record in my native city of San Diego.  While we do have a past, one that is on display in places such as the Mission, Presidio Park, and Old Town,  it is relatively new; sparse and fragmented. We are often isolated from it in our daily lives.  What I realized when I was looking at this rock,  is the ancient history that I have admired in cities such as Paris is here. It is just not written in building. It is written in the rocks; the places where the people who shaped our region lived breathed and died.  They are not the people from whom I am descended, but they are the people who recorded the past in the place I call my home.

After stopping at the Pictograph rock,  we continued on through Smugglers Canyon to the dry waterfall that provided a spectacular view of the southern portion the Anza Borrego Desert.  We were a bit concerned as to the volume of rain,  and joked as to whether the dry wash we were walking in was going to become a river again.  Fortunately this wash is very wide,  and the walls provide easy escape routes if this were ever a problem. The View as always was fantastic.  We rounded out our Saturday with a trip to a mortero site, and a nice sunset on an overlook just down from these morteros.

After a windy night, we concluded our trip with a hike up Ghost Mountain, and visited the rapidly crumbling remains of the the Marshal South cabin site he dubbed “Yaquitepec“.  Marchall South and his family lived on the isolated, inaccessible Ghost Mountian without the benefit of any modern conveniences from 1932 through the 1940s.  His Thoreau like desert experiment which he documented in a monthly columns in Desert Magazine brings another piece of the rich history of the desert that so many perceive as a barren dead landscape.

When you circumnavigate an entire continent, a party is most certainly in order. The celebration starts in San Diego on February 6^th with record-setting kayaker Freya Hoffmeister presenting her “Race Around Australia” west coast speaking engagement.

Kokatat, a 30 year old, independent paddlewear company, and Thule are the presenting sponsors of the seven-city tour that celebrates Hoffmeister’s circumnavigation – the first and fastest solo and unsupported circumnavigation of Australia by a woman and only the second successful circumnavigation of Australia, period.

San Diego retailer Aqua Adventures will host the event at Adventure 16, beginning with a 6 P.M. “meet and greet” followed by Hoffmeister’s presentation from 7 – 8 P.M.

Expect stories of crocodile encounters (and nights spent avoiding them) among other harrowing plights.

Hoffmeister’s sea kayaking resume is padded with “firsts”: in 2007 she completed the fastest-ever circumnavigation of Iceland in a sea kayak. She set the fastest solo time for the circumnavigation of the South Island of New Zealand in 70 days, a week faster than the previous record. Kokatat supported Hoffmeister’s Australian circumnavigation by providing essential waterproof product and safety gear, including the industry-leading Ronin personal flotation device (PFD).

Adventure 16 Outfitters in Mission Gorge
4620 Alvarado Canyon Road
San Diego, CA 92120

If land Paddling is more you style, Kahuna Creations is having a sale on all of their gear, and are offering free shipping on orders over $100.00 using the code kcship06.

I tested the Kahuna Creations Big Stick last year, and it continues to this day to be one of my favorite cross training workouts. There is something about pushing yourself down the boardwalk that makes it seem more like cruising that exercise.

A significant factor in my return to skiing was the opportunity to introduce my two young children to the sport.  Both my daughters hit the slopes for the first time this weekend,  and all indications point to a positive experience.  My older daughter decided that snowboarding was for her, while my 4-year old used skis for her first time on the snow.  They both took joined an all day ski camp which allowed for a lot of interaction with the instructors, and allowed them to learn with their peers in a isolated section of the hill.

Bear mountain is a nice ski resort, with a good variety of terrain,  and runs are long enough that do not make you feel like they are over too quickly.  The ski lifts are relatively fast, and the lines on the busy day we were skiing moved respectably.  Bear mountain is undeniably a snowboard centric resort, providing a multitude of options for boarders, including a huge superpipe that they were finishing up the weekend we were skiing.  The snowboarding accommodations do not take away much in the way of skiing, but if you are looking for a pure alpine skiing experience, it may behoove you to go to another resort.  The ski school is top notch,  with a good ratio of instructors to students, and a great isolated area for learning.  In addition, there is a separate bunny run open to everyone that provides a great option to expanding your new skills after the lessons are done.

It was a perfect day for skiing,  mild temperatures, sunny skies,  and plenty of snow.  A day to fall in love with slopes all over again.  It was like connecting with an old friend, enjoying the company, and wondering why you lost touch in the first place.   The connection is made, and there will me many more encounters between the slopes and myself to enjoy.

Fall is the a wonderful time to be on San Jacinto the temperatures are cool, but not freezing (the overnight low was about 42 degrees), and the crowds were not overwhelming.  I am not sure there is a bad time to visit San Jacinto. The winter is often a snowy wonderland with cross country skis and snowshoes available for rent at top. and spring and summer provide a great opportunity to escape the heat during a visit to Palm Springs. While the drive is not short (in the 2 hour range from San Diego), you do get Sierra like habitat without the Sierra like drive. The views are spectacular, with a variety of terrain, from the sparse desert landscapes looking down on Palm Springs to the lush pine groves of the park. There is a little of something for everyone.

The backpacking trip to round valley is a perfect trip to bring a young one on an overnight adventure. The tram ride up from Palm Springs is an odyssey in itself for kids, while the hike into round valley is just long enough to expend excess energy for a good nights sleep under the stars. There are enough interesting rocks and trees in round valley for an afternoon of exploration, and the hike out, when there are tired legs, is mostly downhill.

If you are looking for a quick weekend backpacking getaway, you would have a hard time doing better than the San Jacinto State Park.

The trailhead for Orriflamme Canyon is located about 3 miles just on the north side of mile marker 27 on hwy S2.  It is about a mile or so past the Box Canyon Historical Marker if you are heading south from scissors crossing where Hwy 78 and the S2 intersect .  The trail is marked by a small sign that indicates “Oriflamme Canyon”  You will follow the sandy dirt road north a ways, paralleling the well marked and fenced Daley Ranch private property on your left.  As you enter the canyon the road splits; the right fork heads into Rodriguez Canyon while you stay to the left, into Oriflamme Canyon.  The road becomes pretty rugged at this point, and gains altitude.  About 1 mile from the fork, you will come across a side road, on the left, where a barbed wire fence begins.  Take this side road for a short drive into a well shaded, abandoned old complex that is in ruins other than a few  intact foundations. This is a great place to park and begin hiking. It is worth spending a little time wandering the area before heading up into the canyon, as there are several impressive morteroes in the vicinity.

There are several routes up Oriflamme canyon.  The most rugged is an overgrown game trail that winds back and forth through the riverbed.  Be sure to wear long pants and long sleeve through this trail as the brush will eat you alive.  There is a much mellower trail on the west side of the canyon, that winds through the much less overgrown scrub up from the stream bed.  The high trail crosses through the stream bed a bit less than 2-miles up, in one of the nicest sections of the canyon,  where there are numerous trees, and flowing water tumbles through boulders.

Unfortunately October is a very dry time in San Diego County, and there was not a speck of flowing water to be seen in this area of Oriflamme canyon.  This made for a pretty uneventful hike,  and not one I would repeat in the fall.  I will return later in the season, when the rains have had an opportunity to refresh the spring that feeds the canyon, and see what it looks like with water flowing through this interesting area of the Anza Borrego State Park.

“Outdoor Outreach empowers at-risk and under privileged youth to make positive, lasting changes in their lives through comprehensive outdoor programming.”

In a nutshell,  Outdoor Outreach provides the opportunity for kids to experience nature, and chance to make good choices and build self-esteem.  Outdoor Outreach is helping to build the next generation of stewards for our wilderness areas.  I am happy to provide my time, effort, and the limited funds I have available to this organization, but I also need your help.  I need to raise money to attend the event, and to help this fine organization.  To make this process of fund raising a little more interesting, I have a bunch of really cool gear to give away to the people who donate money to Outdoor Outreach via my fund raising page.  Here is how it is going to work:

• For every $ 10.00 you contribute via my fund raising page, I will put 1 ticket into the bucket to win the prizes I am giving away.  So if you donate $40.00 you will have 4- tickets in the drawing,  $50.00 will get you 5-tickets and so on.
• I will randomly draw 1 ticket for each prize I have available, and contact that person for shipping information.
• I will cut off the drawing on September 4th and conduct the drawing on September 5th.
• I will announce the winners on September 5th here on Outsidesd.com and email the winners on September 5th
• Not every will win, and the odds for winning will change depending on the number and amount of donations that come in.
• You will increase your chance of winning by donating more money.

With these rules in mind, here are the awesome prizes I will be giving away to the lucky winners.

1. A gift certificate for a pair of Hi-Tec V-Lite Thunder HPI A great pair of light hikers with Ion -mask waterproofing. (send in the certificate with your size and they will send you a pair of shoes)
2. Etowah Outfitters Ultra-lite Mini Day Pack
3. Deuter Streamer 2.0 Liter Hydration bladder
4. Guyot Designs Tapguard
5. Restop 2 Wilderness Waste Containment bag
6. 2- Outside San Diego Coffee Mugs
7. $25.00 Gift Certificate to Dick’s Last Resort

Good luck everyone, and know that your donation will go a long way in helping young people as well and helping protect our wild places for future generations.

Donate Here