Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve

Activity: Day Hike, Chasing Waterfalls

5 miles, 550 elevation gain, 3 hour duration, rated Moderate

Date: May 6, 2021

This hike descends into a canyon rather steeply and there are loose rocks, so watch your footing. When you’re on top there are houses and power lines, all the things you are trying to get a break from.  Once you drop down into the canyon you gain much more of that natural ‘Pursuing Balance Through Adventure’ feel that you’re looking for with oaks, hills, streams and a quaint waterfall that’s so scenic that it it appears it could be the model for an A List Celebrities’ backyard.   It has several drops to it, but it is not very tall.  What Penasquitos Creek Falls lacks in stature it makes up for in South West ambiance.

San Diego’s Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve boasts varied habitats chaparral, marsh, grassland, and woodland.

While I was making my way along the trail, I caught a glimpse of a dark figure stretching it’s neck and eyeing me. It stayed as still as a grave not moving a muscle.  I snapped a pic of what I thought was a coyote while others are saying a dog. But to me the ears and the sharp snout and the slightness of it’s frame and shoulders. I thought it was a coyote. Also it was on it’s own and quite skittish. If I stayed still it would have continued be motionless, but when I took that first step In that direction it vanished like a ghost not down the trail, rather into the underbrush and without the slightest sound.  Like many SoCal trails there was plenty of scat to indicate a healthy and thriving coyote community, so I still say coyote.

Thanks for joining me on this fun hike into Penasquitos Canyon Preserve where the sound of rushing water tumbling over rock just sort of puts everything back together and really puts one at ease. For more mending experiences in nature stay with me by doing a couple of very simple things: LIKE, COMMENT, FOLLOW and SHARE. The menu above shows many wonderful spots throughout the West that PBTA chases that equilibrium that we all need. The escape we desire from the mundane and the monotonous, as well as the Helter Skelter of modern life. Each location is a separate Website and thus needs to be FOLLOWED independently. Click this link: SHOP APPAREL for top adventure gear from PBTA. Each piece carries the logo and mantra.

Happy Trails-

Roger Jenkins

Pursuing Balance Through Adventure