From waterfalls to narrow canyon trails to dense forestry to open sand, San Diego provides its residents with a wide variety of options to experience nature. Students and faculty share their favorite trails and what makes them special.
Viviana Hahn’s (12) love for nature — and eventually, hiking — started young.
“I grew up at my Lola’s house, so my sister and I were constantly outside and helping her garden,” Hahn said. “She’s teaching us ways to be sustainable and it’s just a really peaceful, really touching thing.”
While Hahn started hiking with her family at age 8, as she got older, she began exploring trails with her boyfriend and friends.
“My sister and I have gone to Annie’s Canyon a lot,” Hahn said. “If you live in this area, it’s such a classic hiking trail. If you’re claustrophobic, I would not recommend it.”
Ashwaq Manasrah (12) also loves Annie’s Canyon Trail.
“It’s unlike other hikes I’ve been on; it’s the first one I’ve been on where you actually have to climb through small crevices and stuff like that so it was fun,” Manasrah said.
Similar to Hahn, Manasrah’s love of hiking started with her family. Together, they have explored many trails across the United States.
“Every time we go to a different national park we have to try two or three hikes,” Manasrah said.
Another trail loved by Manasrah is the Torrey Pines Reserve Trail.
“I feel like you get so much — you get the cliffs, mountain, hilly terrain and you see the beach at the same time and you can choose what you want,” Manasrah said. “If one day I’m not feeling all the uphills, I’ll be like ‘Oh, I’m just going to walk on the beach.’ Or if I want to see the beach from overhead I just scale the top.”
Another San Diego trails enthusiast, Jeffrey Owen, who teaches AP Macroeconomics and World History, got into triathlon at University of California, San Diego, and later raced long distance triathlons like the Iron Man. Once he had kids, he had less time and turned to trail running.
“I found that running on the trails was a lot more challenging because I’m thinking about the environment, where I’m going, the rocks, the scenery,” Owen said. “I just started having a lot more fun. And where we live, there’s a lot of trails, so it kind of just worked out. I’ve always been really into running and outdoorsy.”
Owen, who either mountain bikes or trail runs every day, is well versed in local trails.
“I really like La Sarde Canyon — it’s off San Dieguito Road,” Owen said. “It starts off on San Dieguito and descends around and comes up to the Black Mountain open space park. I like it because it’s very few people, it’s wide open and there is not a lot of danger if I’m taking my kids out.”
Hahn remembers a more challenging trail that she hiked.
“There was a trail that I went on near the border, it’s Goat Trestle Canyon, and that is advanced — you really have to know where you’re going,” Hahn said. “I went with two of my friends last year and we actually got lost. It’s a nice, difficult hike.”
Besides running or hiking, Owen likes to utilize trails for mountain biking.
“I really like a lot of the trails in Del Mar Mesa,” Owen said. “In mountain biking you have tunnels, which is a trail that goes up the mountain, so it’s fun to climb as well as really fun to come down. Along the top it’ll take you down into Rancho Penasquitos.”
Owen also enjoys the Penasquitos trails.
“I really like doing all of those trails that are the flatter ones with my kids over to the waterfall,” Owen said. “But if you go up all the sides you’ve got cobbles on one side that leads you to Del Mar Mesa, you have tunnels that lead you towards Intuit and Westview High School.”
Manasrah believes others should use these recommendations to take up the hobby of hiking.
“People should start hiking more because it allows you to take in the scenery of the place around you,” Manasrah said.
For those who are interested in exploring more unique trails, Owen offered some suggestions.
“Start with the ones that are really exciting, that are more of a reach to get your interest, like maybe Annie’s [Canyon] Trail in Solana Beach where you go through the crevice, or maybe Iron Mountain or Potato Chip Rock or Mount Woodson,” Owen said. “These are the highlight ones that really drive your attention. Once you get the love of it, you can try the local trails. That way you can replenish your excitement and then you do your epic adventures on the weekend.”
