Take a Hike: Guided excursions

NORTH COUNTY — We started by hiking up a private trail to the top of Volcan Mountain, the source of the San Dieguito River.

Near the summit of that 5,353-foot-high peak, we were shown a somewhat secret site that was once home to the Kumeyaay, where unusually deep morteros as well as metates and slicks in granite rocks reveal acorn grinding of indigenous people who lived here long ago.

Chris Khoury, a psychiatrist in Escondido and a longtime board member of the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy, led us to this historic place, sharing insights about the native peoples’ way of life here hundreds of years ago.

It was the first of seven guided hikes over eight months with various experts that would take us through the San Dieguito River Valley, where the 55-mile Coast-to-Crest Trail will eventually extend from Volcan Mountain to the beach at Del Mar.

Khoury and his wife, Linda Corey, started this program five years ago. Called “Exploring Our Sense of Place,” the series presented by the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy (www.sdrvc.org) was one of the most enlightening and informative experiences I’ve had on our county trails.

Meeting the first Saturday of each month at a different trail along the San Dieguito River Valley, our group of 25 explorers marveled at the beauty we found, as well as the lessons we learned.

Local architect Felipe Ricketts said he gained “a greater sense of place. I know better where I live and how interconnected it all is. The experts bring it to life, give it more depth.”

Our second outing in December focused on “Mammals and Tracking” at Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserve East with three experts from the San Diego Tracking Team showing us how to identify foot prints and scats of animals who also make their homes in the river valley. The Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserves — both East and West — present some of the most picturesque landscapes in the county, and learning how to “read” the evidence of animal life there engaged us all.

In January, we met at the San Diego Archaeological Center where we watched a slide show about researching indigenous people and their former homes before we headed up the Clevenger Canyon South Trail. One of our monthly trail escorts, Mike Thacker, regaled us on that ridge with his impressive knowledge of geology and how those boulders emerged here from way below the Earth’s crust millions of years ago.

Dr. Phil Pryde, author of “San Diego: An Introduction to the Region,” one of the two books each explorer received at the beginning of the hike series, is also an avid birder and board member of the San Diego Audubon Society. He led us on a birding expedition in February along Lake Hodges’ Bernardo Bay Trail. We counted 36 species we spotted that day, with Phil’s expert help as well as his spotting scope.

“Geology and Chaparral” were the focuses of March’s outing at Lake Sutherland. With geologist Bill Proffer, also a former president of the SDRVC board; Jeff Pasek, city of San Diego’s Watershed Manager; and Rick Halsey, founder of the California Chaparral Institute, we learned about the region’s geologic history and formation, about the reservoir we were hiking around, and about the characteristics of chaparral, our county’s most characteristic ecosystem.

James Dillane, a naturalist at the Daley Ranch preserve and plant garden volunteer at San Diego Safari Park, taught us about the extraordinary botany that colors our region. We boast more than 2,000 wild plants in the county — more than any other county in the country, he told us, and he helped us identify many of spring’s wildflowers on our April hike along Lake Hodges’ Piedras Pintadas Trail.

Our final gathering in May brought us to the Del Mar Lagoon, where Stephen Schroeter informed us about the ongoing effort to restore that precious wetland on both sides of I-5, where the San Dieguito River ends.

Our group of intrepid explorers, most of us in our 50s and 60s with a few much younger and even older, loved the experiences we shared and even made new friends.

“I realized how little I know about what I’ve been living next to all my life,” said Brad Bartlett, an attorney in Escondido, “how rich our environment is. I’m a little more informed and now I just want to know more.” He took the course with his wife, Janie Meyers, and his son, Jacob.

“I was born in San Diego but I never knew about all that backcountry,” said Susan Middleton, librarian at La Jolla Country Day. “I was just an ocean kid. It’s been thrilling to discover.”

Her friend, Sarah Lucy, librarian at Bishop’s School in La Jolla, noted that she was “born on the East Coast where everything is green and beautiful. When I came here, all I could see was brown. But this year, this whole sense of place has been the best thing. There are so many hidden treasures in San Diego County — we have everything. And with the guided hikes — I always have questions and someone is there to answer them.”

Next year’s guided-hiking program, limited to 25 hikers, is open for applications now. Participants must be able to hike at a relaxed pace at least 4 miles, and willing to commit to at least six of the eight monthly sessions (the first in September is an evening reception). Cost is $250, which includes Phil Pryde’s book as well as Richard Louv’s book, “The Nature Principle.” To learn more and to make an application, go to https://exploringoursenseofplace.org/.

Priscilla Lister is a freelance writer from San Diego.