#18 March 2004 Newsletter

Welcome to the Foundation’s eighteenth 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

Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountains.
John Muir

Foundation update

You’ll probably have noticed there’s been a bit of a gap in our E-news. That’s because there’s been a few changes within the Foundation. The Foundation is very sad to say goodbye to Kristen Greenaway. Kristen was a driving force in promoting the Foundation and spearheading our volunteer efforts. She is now Director of Marketing and Communications for Sally Ride Science. Luckily for us she has agreed to lead several trail days this year and will still be a key player in all activities.

Lori Ramsey has taken over the Foundation’s administrative and development roles on a part-time basis and is available via phone at the Foundation’s office (619-303-6975) or at lramsey@seatoseatrail.org. Lori will be familiar to many of you from TRAIL DAY 2003 and 2004 as chef, and has been an active supporter of the Foundation for over two years.

Trail updates

With 50% of the Trail closed, many of you will be itching to find out just where you can go for a hike or bike near to the Trail. We have a report from Philip Erdelsky on some of the options around Mission Trails: Most of the part of Mission Trails Regional Park just east of Tierrasanta, which is a popular mountain biking area, was burned in the Cedar Fire. Much of it is closed until further notice. A significant area near Tierrasanta, including the popular Rim Trail, is open. The trails in Shepherd Canyon and Suycott Wash are closed. The parking area at the east end of Clairemont Mesa Blvd. is open. The adjacent bridge across the canyon is closed, but a steep trail on the south side of the parking area can be used to bypass the bridge. The trailhead at the corner of Calle de Vida and Colina Dorada is open. For a map showing the closed area, click here. Most of the Park’s closed sections are tentatively scheduled to re-open April 3, except for the Mast Avenue park entrance and the East Fortuna staging area, which will open for Mission Trails Day on May 22. The Clairemont Mesa Boulevard Bridge and Portobello Drive trail head and connecting trails will remain closed until they are repaired.

Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is still closed and will be for some time. Least damage was to the Green Valley area. This will be the first place where Trail work will start.

Sycamore Canyon was also heavily damaged and is still closed.

Los Penasquitos between Black Mountain Rd and the I-15 was hit hard with the recent rains and both bridges washed away. Keep an eye out for them!

The Trail from the I-15 to Sabre Springs is now open and the workers at the old Poway pumping station have left. Many thanks to volunteer John Shumaker for helping to keep the Trail above the water line!

Construction has begun on the new Los Penasquitos Lagoon bridge!

Next steps for Trail completion

We’re currently applying for a grant to finance an engineering study for the Hwy 67 underpass. Working with Tom Hart from the County’s Civil Engineering Dept and the County’s Park & Recreation Mary Ann Vancio, the Foundation is putting together a joint application. If approved, we’re hoping the study will be complete this year, allowing us to apply for construction grants in 2005. We’ll keep you posted.

Some good news, is that the Trail east of El Cajon Mountain’s summit is now being flagged!

National Trails Day 2004

Save the date! June 5 is National Trails Day and we’re inviting you for a fun day (10am-5pm) at the Adobe House in Los Penasquitos Canyon. This year’s theme is “Trails and Health… A Natural Connection". We’ll keep you posted!

New way to support Foundation

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 Lori 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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