San Diego in 24 hours?

[+Fells Walker]

I will be visiting San Diego on business Saturday-Wednesday but will arrive early for one day of caching. I would love to have recommendations of what caches to try, given the following:

• I like to walk
  
• I like nice views, especially of the coast
  
• I will have a rental car and so can drive to trailheads
  

San Diego geocachers, what is the best your area has to offer?

 

Fells Walker

[+TrailGators]

I will be visiting San Diego on business Saturday-Wednesday but will arrive early for one day of caching. I would love to have recommendations of what caches to try, given the following:

• I like to walk
  
• I like nice views, especially of the coast
  
• I will have a rental car and so can drive to trailheads
  

San Diego geocachers, what is the best your area has to offer?

 

Fells Walker

There are many great ones in my signature link below!

[+Chuy!]

Well, if you like to walk, I'd suggest Mission Trail Regional Park. There's gotta be aver 100 or so caches out there and over 20 miles of hiking. Start with WOMLD (Weapons of Mass Leg Destruction) since it'll be taking you all over the Fortunas .

However, the coast is about 10 miles west. In that case start with the caches at Black's Beach; clothing is optional .

[+Miragee]

If you want to see some awesome scenery, and go for a hike -- and if it isn't too hot -- check out the caches that start with this one, "And so the adventure begins . . . ."

 

There is a Bookmark List for the caches in that area where the views, on a clear day, are astounding.

[+LeoGeo]

For a walk with nice views of the coast, you could do a string of caches near the UCSD campus, such as "Sunset Cache", "La Jolla View", "My Favourite View #3", "Million Dollar View" (do you sense a pattern here?), "Pitcher Plant", "Swim Suit Optional", "Father's Day Cache", "Up Up and Away", and others in the vicinity. They're not all connected by a single trail, though; you'll need to come inland a block or two and walk along sidewalks part of the way between some of them. Then you could come inside to the "Geisel Library" cache and get a panoramic view of the area.

 

Another great walk with excellent scenery (but without ocean views) is in Los Penasquitos Canyon Reserve, a several-mile-long canyon with good trails and lots of caches, from "El Cuervo de Mayo" near the western trailhead to "Carnival of the Animals" and "Geojays First" near the eastern. There are also a couple of trailheads in between, in the vicinity of the "Park Village Cache", "Spiny Norman", and "Ride of the Headless Horseman" caches. Note when planning caches in this area that a stream runs through the middle of it, and there are only a few crossings, about every mile or so.

 

For a walk along a beach, you can park at "Bells of El Camino Real - Torrey Pines" (you have to pay to use the parking lot, but if there are spaces along the west side of the highway just north of the cache, they're free, I think), then walk south along the beach and do several very educational Earthcaches where you can see and learn about the spectacular geology of this site. Check your tide tables first -- the beach here can disappear at high tide. The walk will eventually take you down to the infamous Black's Beach mentioned in a previous post! And there are other scenic caches just north and east of the parking coords as well.

 

Not many out-of-towners come caching in my neighborhood, Scripps Ranch, and although it's basically a suburban residental area rather than a stunning national park, there are some nice walking trails and even a couple of spots with very nice views across San Diego all the way to the sea, especially on the hills surrounding Lake Miramar, where you'll find such caches as "Lake Loot", "Geckos Galore Bike and Hike", and "It Rolls Downhill". From "Miramar Lake Overlook Park" you can, on a clear day, see Mexico. There are a lot of multi's that take you on trails through mini-canyons between the residential streets, too, such as "Jerabek Loop" and "Susan's Memory". With all the other options, I kinda doubt you'll choose this one, but hey, I had to put in a plug for my own neighborhood We've got a pretty good concentration of cachers out here, too.

 

Finally, Balboa Park (site of world, or at least hemispheric, fairs in 1915 and 1935, and home to about a zillion museums of all kinds as well as the San Diego Zoo) has a lot of beautiful trails, gardens, and canyons, with plenty of caches, some of which are especially good places to leave travel bugs, since lots of out-of-town tourists visit the park. "Heart of San Diego" and "Red Box" are just a couple of the ones where you can start your search for Balboa Park caches. To get "Aloe Virtualis" you have to pay admission to the zoo, and final of "The Artist's Secret" is behind locked gates at nighttime, but I think all the rest in the park are free of charge and available any time. Extra bonus: if you go inside the Aerospace Museum you can see an actual GPS satellite (one of the extra ones that never got launched).

 

San Diego is a great caching town. Have a good visit!

[+Fells Walker]

Thanks everybody for these great suggestions. I was already planning a visit to Balboa park; great to know that my GPS will be useful there, too!

 

Fells Walker

[+Chuy!]

If you going to do Balboa Park, I recommend Local Treasure. You may be heading to Cabrillo in Point Loma, which has stunning views of the ocean and a few caches; and you might be finishing at Balboa Park, but I'm saying that you are . I can be your lifeline buddy if you need one.

Edited June 6, 2007 by Chuy!