Archive for the 'Travels' Category

In northern San Diego, south of Delmar and on a hill tucked in between historic U.S. Highway 101 and the Pacific Ocean is Torrey Pines State Reserve. It is also immediately north of the golf course with the same name. The name comes from a rare type of pine tree that grows in the area. Behind these torrey pines is the visitor’s center.

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During my recent trip to California, I went up to Palm Springs, where I had stayed on two separate trips during the 1990’s. My first time out there, I was shocked to find Rush Limbaugh’s TV program on at 6 PM, instead of 1 AM, its timeslot on one of the Washington, DC stations. The second time was on a tour of rock art (petroglyphs, etc.) organized by the Archaeological Conservancy.

Just north of the local airport, along state highway 111, I ran across the Palm Springs Air Museum. In front of the museum’s main building are several retired military aircraft, including this F-16…

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Founded in 1798 and located in Oceanside, California just off state highway 76, the San Luis Rey de Francia mission is the largest of the California missions, and is a National Historic Landmark. The mission includes a church, a cemetery, a garden and a museum, of which this is the entrance.

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While exploring the mountainous region east of San Diego, I came across these two small missions (to translate the post’s title). About a mile north of Santa Ysabel is the town’s namesake, the Mission of Santa Ysabel Asistencia. Founded in 1818 by Catholic missionaries intending to minister to the natives whom they called Luiseño and Diegueño, the mission also served as a rest stop for people travelling between San Diego and the Mexican region of Sonora.

Here’s the church, which is dedicated, not to Santa Isabel (St. Elizabeth), but to St. John the Baptist.

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I spent last week on vacation in a state where the sun is warm, the beaches are gorgeous, Mexican food is abundant, and the governor is a Kennedy in-law. (Oh well, three out of four ain’t bad.) Since some have suggested that it might slide off into the sea about three years from now, I thought I might visit the place while it’s still here.

I stayed at a resort a block away from the ocean, but still did some travelling inland. Going eastward in San Diego County, the tropical vegetation gives way to grasslands, forests and finally to desert. This is because the coastal mountain ranges are close to the sea, which is very different from my normal environment here in Maryland. Although lower in elevation than the coastal mountains, the Anza-Borrego desert still has some rugged landscape.

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Kolob Canyons is an area in Zion National Park located about 20 miles northwest of Zion Canyon (shown in parts 1 and 2). There are no roads within Zion connecting Kolob to the rest of the park. Instead, Kolob has its own entrance and visitors center, just off exit 40 on Interstate 15. From the entrance, a five-mile-long road winds and ascends to the Kolob Canyons viewpoint, from which a short trail leads to the Timber Creek overlook. Two trailheads are located along the road, for trails that lead down into the canyons. One of these trails eventually connects with trails leading northwest from Zion Canyon.

From the Timber Creek overlook, some of the cliffs on the far side of the creek.

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For my second hike in Bryce Canyon National Park, I decided to find the Tower Bridge, so named because it reminded people of an artificial bridge in London. The trailhead was about 100 yards to the north of the trail to Queen’s Garden. This trail would be longer, about a mile and a half. Once again, I got to see some impressive rock formations, such as this one.

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Bryce Canyon National Park is located in southern Utah, about 40 miles east of Zion National Park, and about 30 miles north of the border with Arizona, as the crow flies. The driving distances, as you might expect, are another matter. Unlike Zion, where the main road follows the bottom of the canyon, Bryce’s main road runs roughly north-south along the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, at the rim above the park’s namesake canyon and several others that cut into the plateau. The lower ends of these canyons connect to the Tropic Valley, to the east. Side roads lead to several overlooks and trailheads. This is the view southward from the overlook called Sunrise Point.

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As noted in Part 1, a seven-mile-long road extends northward into Zion Canyon from a visitor’s center near the southern entrance to the park. At the north end of the road is a place called the Temple of Sinawava, named for the coyote god of the Paiute Indians. Unlike many named features in the park, the “Temple” is not a rock formation, but an open area surrounded mostly by cliffs. From the end of the road, a paved trail leads visitors about a mile further up the Virgin River, as the canyon narrows into a steep gorge.
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Located in southwestern Utah, Zion is the state’s oldest National Park. The south entrance and visitor’s center are just northeast of the town of Springdale, on Utah state route 9. From the center, shuttle buses run up and down a seven-mile road extending into Zion Canyon, taking visitors to various attractions within the park or to trailheads where they can begin their hikes. Another set of shuttles connects the visitor’s center to Springdale. Beyond 2 miles north of the center, where route 9 veers off toward the east entrance, private vehicles are not allowed on the canyon road.
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