Читать книгу 101 Hikes in Southern California. Exploring Mountains, Seashore, and Desert онлайн

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Description: Two trails diverge from the parking lot. The wide one going up along the dry canyon bottom ahead is the La Jolla Canyon Trail, your return route. To begin, take the narrower Ray Miller Trail to your right. It doggedly climbs 2.7 miles to a junction with the Overlook Trail, a wide fire road. This is the major ascent along the loop—better to get it over with at the beginning. Ever-widening views of the ocean and fine, springtime wildflower displays keep your mind off the effort.

Turn left when you reach the Overlook Trail, and wend your way around several bumps on the undulating ridge. Enjoy the terrific views of Boney Mountain’s eroded volcanic core to the east and La Jolla Valley’s grassy fields to the west. You arrive at a saddle (4.5 miles from the start), where five wide trails diverge. Take the trail to the left (west) that descends into the green-or flaxen-colored (depending on the season) La Jolla Valley.

The valley is managed by the state park as a natural preserve to protect the native bunchgrasses that flourish there. Because so much of California’s coast ranges have been biologically disturbed by grazing for more than a century, opportunistic, nonnative grasses have taken over just about everywhere. The authentic California tallgrass prairie in parts of La Jolla Valley is a notable exception.