We met at our usual time, 8:30 am in the parking lot at the club for our Saturday morning hike. This week it was the SycamoreCanyon / Goodan Ranch Preserve.
The weather looked dark & threatening, but we were confident the rain would hold off till the afternoon.
We carpooled up & headed to the parking lot at the trailhead. There we met our last man to join us for the morning hike.
After the obligatory group picture we headed up the trail.
A short distance up was the high point view looking over the entire Sycamore canyon area.
An awesome panorama.
There we dropped into the north east end of the valley walking thru mixed groves of trees.
Most of this area was burned in the Cedar Fire in October of 2003, but has been making a great recovery.
Oh, by the way, there is poison oak everywhere thru the riparian areas here.
Plaques are placed here & there on the trail with loads of information.
There were metates made by the Native Americans in these boulders in this bottom land. These were used to grind acorns.
From there the trail took us across open fields & past an impoundment in the bottom of the valley.
A short while later we found ourselves at the site of the original Goodan Ranch house.
The house built in 1938 was destroyed in the Cedar Fire leaving only the walls standing.
A ranger station was built at this site making use of the footprint from the old barn.
There is also an amphitheatre & a public restroom at this location.
The Ranger who lived & worked here was full of information & more than willing to share it.
We left here to head up the long hill (about 3/4 mile) with about a 500 foot climb back to the parking lot.
The total distance on this hike was 4.25 miles.
After filling a low tire on Bobby G’s jeep we were back to the club in time for the noon meeting. We did need the windshield wipers as we turned onto Poway road. The timing couldn’t have been better.
