San Elijo Lagoon

We hiked this trail on a pretty Saturday morning last month. Shorts weather. That's not terribly uncommon for San Diego in mid-February, but still, it's a nice reminder how fortunate those of us are who get to live here. So on a day like this, we wanted to soak up some sun and stretch our legs, and we decided to visit San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Preserve in Cardiff.

• Trail: Rios Avenue Trail (map)
• Location: San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Preserve
  
• Length: Varies. We went about 2 miles out and 2 miles back
  
• Hike time: 2 hours (we took our time)
  
• Terrain: easy, with a couple of moderate climbs and a dodgy makeshift bridge to keep things interesting
  
• Path visibility: Very clear, and especially wide in a few sections, but there were some branches off the main path that were a little less clear
  
• Difficulty: easy
  
• Cost: free!
  
• Highlight destination: the lagoon itself, and the wildlife who make it their home
  
• Beware: Crazy mole creatures, and (allegedly) mountain lions
  

This was probably one of our more leisurely hikes. We really took our time. I think "meandering" is the right word to describe our pace, and that happens to also be a fitting description of the lagoon that stars center stage when walking this trail.

We parked up at the end of Rios Ave. and after a brief moment of indecision we headed to the right of the trailhead, down an incline toward the little loop of Gemma Parks Interpretive Trail that brings you just up alongside the water.

There are some nice little signs along this part of the trail that identify all the different foliage, and we noted them as we walked. But the plantlife didn't get nearly as much attention from us as did this little guy.

We heard him scratching around in the long grass by the side of the lagoon, and when we inspected more closely, we saw his strange little nose sniffing the air just before his looooong teeth pulled some shoots of grass down into his hole with him.

We loitered outside his home for a good 10 minutes, watching him sneak further and further out, until we were able to get a decent picture of him. The surprising thing about him was his size, which was a lot bigger than we first thought when we saw his nose poking out. At first we thought he was a little field mouse or even a little bird down in the grass. But as he ventured further out of his hole, we realized he was closer in size to a well-fed gray squirrel than a little mouse. And the teeth on him! They were some choppers. He had two long buck teeth coming way down out of his face. I certainly would not have wanted to wake up from a nap in the grass with that set of ivories staring back at me.

We finally pulled ourselves away from the Mutual of Omaha moment, and proceeded on the hike. There were some ducks paddling along on the lagoon who seemed to be making better time than us. But then again, they didn't have to stop to take pictures.

After coming to the far end of the interpretative loop, we left the open sandy flats and headed into a section that was a little more overgrown. It looked like a perfect little grove to get lost in for awhile, but we pressed ahead and came to where the trail meets I-5.

We made a short leap across a little offshoot of water from the lagoon and made towards the underpass. There are a few rocks here to climb, but not to worry, someone has kindly laid a little footbridge -- in the "old wooden pallet" style of architecture -- across the trickiest part. Frankly, I was more worried about crossing this thing than I would have been just stepping over the rocks.

Once on the east side of I-5, we walked on about a mile or so further, but other than an ominous sign warning of mountain lions and a particularly playful Yorkie out for her morning constitutional with her sidekick Rottweiler (and their human), there wasn't anymore wildlife to be seen. So we headed back the way we came.

Once we passed back under the freeway, we climbed the hill to take the higher branch of the trail back to the trailhead instead of doubling back on the interpretive loop again.

This gave us a great vista of the lagoon below as well as a little shade and a pretty view of a spider web glowing in the morning sun. It was an appropriate way to finish this decidedly unhurried hike.


Tipped off: Schad's Afoot & Afield San Diego County.