Open Space in the Urban Core: Canyons & Trails I Visit in San Diego

Thanks to concerned residents, organizations, and civic leaders, the City of San Diego has preserved natural open space even right in the middle of its urban core. So, while not perfect, it is a fine model for other cities to follow as it concerns development and planning. Which is yet just another reason, one out of thousands, why I love San Diego so much! 

While I do enjoy the urban environment, the Big City: the tall skyscrapers, the bright lights, the bustling streets, the cultural diversity and so on, there are times when I feel like John Muir who made a famous quote saying, "The mountains are calling and I must go." Also being drawn to the sands of the "lonely shore" and the waves of the "deep sea" like Lord Byron,  the land, the wild land, the mysterious mountains and forests, the bare, wide open deserts where you can see everything from afar thanks to its barren landscape yet still have to explore close up to find and contemplate an old mine or ghost town, is where I really belong. 

Like Muir, the mountains call to me. Beckoning me. Luring me. I need to climb to the top to see the view and to see what is on the other side. I am pulled into long, dark canyons and crevices, into trails fully covered and almost hidden by trees and other vegetation. I must take risks, I must be adventurous, I must risk life and limb just to see what is at the end of that canyon, that trail, what is at the top or on the other side of that mountain or hill. I must do this. And thanks, again, to the City of San Diego and those concerned residents, groups and civic leaders, as I do not have my own vehicle now, I can still do that, I can do that close to home. Blocks from my home, in fact. So close I can walk or cycle to it. Again, right in the middle of the the 3 million-strong city's urban core. 

Switzer Canyon

Tecolote Canyon

 Below are pics and videos from my favorite and most easily accessible locations in order   I routinely visit: Switzer Canyon, Tecolote Canyon, The San Diego River, and the Balboa Park Trails and Florida Canyon. I would include other hidden gems like my real favorite, Los Penasquitos Canyon, which has a waterfall in its center, and Maple Canyon, Mission Trails Regional Park, and Cowles Mountain, etc., but I would have to use pics and wording from other sources since I have been unable to visit them due to my car breaking down a few years ago.  I don't want to do that because I want as much of my work here to be as original as possible. For more information on "natural" and "open space parks" in both the city and county of San Diego, go to San Diego County Parks and Recreation/Find a Park/Preserves and to City of San Diego Parks and Recreation/Open Space Canyons and Parklands.

I hope you enjoy this, and I pray that this article inspires you to visit them and similar parks, while being good stewards, and encourages you to be actively involved in preserving natural spaces like these at or near your home and beyond. You can find many groups doing just that on my page "Organizations I Support." 

This post will go long and probably get broken up eventually and so will take a while to update, so please keep checking back to read about all these awesome and beneficial open space and natural parks in San Diego. 

 "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."
Albert Einstein

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#1: Switzer Canyon

Located close and connected to Balboa Park within sight of the skyscrapers of downtown just a mile or so away, lies my favorite and this most special San Diego canyon and “open space park”: Switzer Canyon.

Switzer Canyon lies in sight of the skyscrapers of downtown San Diego.

Whenever I enter Switzer Canyon, I feel like Alice entering Wonderland or a hiker accidentally falling into a hole in the ground and finding another world inside, such is this canyon so hidden, so narrow, so dark. Like a hole in the ground, you literally go down into this canyon as it is a very narrow crevice surrounded by canyon walls and homes atop them. Like discovering Wonderland or exploring another world after falling into a hole or discovering a cave, it is tight, narrow, and thanks to all the vegetation and tree canopy, even in Summer, it is mostly shady, dark and cool. The sounds of the canyon alternate between just nature-bird songs, a trickle of creek water, leaves rustling-and civilization-a lawnmower, kids hollering and splashing in a pool, a car engine. The sounds of civilization at times sound far away, so feel as if another world or dimension, the one containing the urban city you are actually in the middle of, is just next door, just beyond the dimension of nature you’re in, and at times echo throughout the canyon, as if the two worlds are supernaturally overlapping and colliding. 

Switzer Canyon is uniquely special to explore right after a fresh rain, which is rare in San Diego, when all the leaves, trees, and other vegetation and soil are wet and releasing their aromas, when mist hangs ghostly in the air, and you are forced to navigate mud and deep puddles.

To enter Switzer Canyon, you have to climb or hike down.

Switzer Canyon is best visited after a fresh rain.

Below are some videos I made of Switzer Canyon. For more info on it, go to . For more of my pics, go to my portfolio here. Thank you and enjoy! 

  

 

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#2: Tecolote Canyon

A story will accompany this in the near future, in the meantime enjoy videos and pics of my second favorite easily-accessible canyon and "open space" or "natural park" in San Diego, Tecolote Canyon. For more info on Tecolote Canyon, go here and here.