This Month’s E-News

#19 April 2004

Welcome to the Foundation’s nineteenth E-News, a monthly newsletter designed to keep you up-to-date with developments and progress related to the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail.

Maxim of the month

Events

Earth Day, Stonewall Peak and Blue Grass Music...What in the world could these three things have in common??? Well, come join us Saturday, April 24 from 8:30AM to 4:00PM for Earth Day at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. The rangers are opening parts of the park up for the first time to the public and are asking especially for our help. They’re expecting over 300 people, and that’s not counting our group. It’s going to be an event-filled day with Trail work on Stonewall Peak for the Sea to Sea Trail Diggers (that’s you and as many friends as you can gather), lots of great grub (Starbucks to wake you up and California Pizza Kitchen to keep you goin’ and lots more). And after all that hard work you’ll be serenaded by the Vulcan Mountain Boys, the best bluegrass band west of the Lagunas! So, sign-up by clicking here and let us know how many of your wily friends you’ll be bringing along.

National Trails Day 2004 at the
Adobe House in Los Penasquitos Park

Join us for National Trails Day 2004 on Saturday, June 5th from 10AM to 5PM– we promise not to make you work this year, as we’re celebrating along with San Diego County Parks and Recreation at Los Penasquitos Park. This year’s theme is “Trails and Health… A Natural Connection". REI will be conducting their PEAK children’s environmental education program out of the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail tent and we’re expecting a high attendance of outdoors enthusiasts. Come join in the fun!

TRAIL DAY 2004 - September 24-26

We are planning another camping weekend in support and celebration of National Public Lands Month. Those of you who joined us last year remember that we were the last large group to enjoy camping out at the horse camp in Rancho Cuyamaca State Park before the fires struck in October. This year there will be plenty of work to be done along with lots of socializing, great food and musical entertainment. Mark your calendars now!

Help Wanted!!!

Ever want to be King or Queen of the trail?  Here’s your chance....We’re looking for several leaders for our bi-weekly trail work days.  You will be trained by our daring and adventurous Rangers on the finer points of trail maintenance and then lead work parties along various points of the trail.   If you have one weekend day a month to work with us, click here.

Out on the Trail

Rancho Cuyamaca State Park
Nothing is open at this time. Trail work will commence around the Green Valley Falls Campground area and surrounding trails during Earth Day. Rangers will be re-accessing this area in May for a possible summer opening.

The Paso Day Use Parking area and Stonewall Peak Mine Trail are both looking to be opened in May for day use only.

San Diego Country Estates to Cedar Creek Falls
Cleveland National Forest is in the public scoping period for constructing the trail from San Diego Country Estates to Cedar Creek Falls. Contact Jeff Wells, Resource Officer for Palomar Ranger District for more details. He can be contacted at 760-788-0250, extension 3342.

Trail Construction

Highway 67 Underpass
SANDAG Grant Application We still have some missing links to complete our 140-mile trail and we’re hoping that our recent grant application to SANDAG for TransNet funds for a feasibility study to cross Highway 67 with an underpass will be accepted. This underpass has generated letters of support from the City of Poway, the Lakeside Community Planning Group and the County Parks and Recreation Department. This underpass will facilitate equestrian, bicycles, pedestrian and wildlife traffic across the highway, allowing users to reach San Vicente Reservoir, Oak Oasis and on down to Wildcat Canyon Road.

Wildcat Canyon Road Underpass
The County will be widening Wildcat Canyon Road and a multi-use underpass will be constructed as part of this project. Equestrians will be able to ride through the underpass, along with bicycles, pedestrians and wildlife.

Highway 5 Underpass at Los Penasquitos Lagoon
URS has completed the feasibility study for a multi-use underpass for Highway 5. The Sea to Sea Trail Foundation is in process of obtaining a copy of this study and will be happy to share its contents with those who are interested.

Donations

The Foundation is now a member of V-Dac.com, a free, convenient service for converting that extra car, truck, or RV into a tax deductible donation. You can donate online (www.v-dac.com) or call 866-332-1778 to make your donation. Thanks for thinking of us!

Trail goodies

Here’s the perfect opportunity to show you care in your support for the Foundation and the Trail, and to tell the world you’ve been out there. For your very own Foundation T-shirts, travel mug, coffee mug, Trail baseball cap and bumper sticker, just click here.

Adopt a Tree out on the Trail!

Adopting a tree – a native California Oak or Sycamore – along the route of the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail is a gift for a 1,000 years. Not only is it a wonderful gift for someone close to you, or even for yourself, but it is an excellent way to help support the building and maintenance of the Trail. And importantly it helps preserve and add to the Trail’s native habitats. All for $100.

Adopting a tree is easy. We do all the work for you, working with the agencies along the Trail to identify the planting sites, order the five-gallon trees, plant and care for the planting sites. And for your support, we’ll send you or your loved ones, a certificate of their adoption. For more information, just click here. 

Traveling?

If so, try Orbitz.com. Just click here and click on the Orbitz button. Every time you make a travel reservation of any sort, the Foundation receives a commission. That means more of the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail can be built and maintained for your enjoyment, and more of its environmental and historical treasures can be preserved for future generations.

Schools Community Service Credit

If you know of anyone who needs to collect credits for their community service projects, then we may be just the right project for them. We’ve got lots of opportunities for students to join us on Trail Work Days in the weekends. And if there’s an entire group or class who would like to get out on the Trail working as a team, we can arrange a workday just for them, any day of the week. The teams will by fully supervised by Rangers (as are all our workdays), and it’s a great outdoors experience! Our Volunteer Program Application Form can be found by clicking here, and includes a section specifically for California Schools Community Service Credit. Please e-mail us for further information.

Did you know?

In the Cleveland National Forest, 60,000 of its 460,000 acres burned in the October 2003 fires.

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