Switzer Canyon

#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.

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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