At The Backroads

Twin Peaks from a Distance

Trailhead: Silverset Park, Poway

Hiking Distance: 2 miles round trip

Elevation Gain/Loss: 700 ft

Difficulty: A short ( 1 mile to the peak) but steep trail of hard-packed dirt road and very steep narrow trail of jagged rocks.

Directions: From I-15, take Ted Williams Parkway Exit, then drive East on Ted Williams about 2.5 miles, make a right turn at Twin Peaks Rd, and then make a left turn at Silverset Rd. Drive North at Silverset Rd until you hit Silverset Park which is the end of Silverset Rd. You can park inside Silverset Park if you think you would be back before sunset, but if you think you would still be at the trail by sunset, park outside of the park since the park closes at sunset. 

Boulder Strewn Promontory, Twin Peaks from the Trailhead

The first time we went hiking at Twin Peaks, we spent more than an hour to the peak because we combined it with geocaching. We saw three geocaches, and it was fun.

One of the 3 Caches we found, @ Twin Peaks

We combine hiking and geocaching sometimes to add fun to our hike, that is if we are doing a short hike. Sometimes, finding the cache takes a lot of time, in fact, there was supposed to be a cache at the peak of Twin Peaks, but we never found it, and we tried 3 times! Geocaching is like a treasure hunt using GPS where we have to enter the coordinates of the geocache in the GPS. It is fun finding the treasure or the cache, I saw a lot of kids having fun with this activity, together with their family.

However, without geocaching, hiking at Twin Peaks is a very short one. It will take less than an hour to reach the peak! Though short, but it does not seem really that easy because of the steepness of the trail and some portions are on jagged rocks. I know my 12 year old niece enjoyed the hike tremendously though. For her, it was fun, fun and fun, for she had to scramble on the rocky portion of the trail, sometimes, would have to use both her hands to assist her on the way up. The hard packed dirt trail is good for biking,

Trail for Hikers and Bikers

but to go to the peak, one must park the bike at the end of the dirt trail since the last section of the trail is very narrow and on jagged rocks. One may end up with a flat tire if he continues to bike, or I doubt a bike can go up at all without harming the biker. At the summit, one can enjoy the fractured rocky outcroppings and the view of Poway and its environs.

From the Top of Twin Peaks (1)

Looking Northeast from Twin Peaks

Palms At Oceanside, Dusk

Last Monday, we had to leave home  . Not for a vacation, but for termite fumigation, since our house has been invaded by termites. Thankfully, it was still at an early stage that no damage to the house was evident yet. I would like to express my thanks to those who kept on visiting, pouring comments and dropping EC despite my absence. To my fellow Entrecard droppers, my apologies for having not returned your drop for 2 days. Since Tuesday was a holiday, we didn’t really have to take any day off. We left San Diego in the afternoon for LA to stay at my mom-in-law’s place. We slept there for 2 nights, arriving Monday night and leaving early morning of Wednesday. The packing and unpacking of foods and other items to protect from the fumigant gas took a lot of time and also energy. I just felt lazy

On our way to LA, we decided to stop by Oceanside Pier to get more doses of sunset sceneries. Besides, I have never photographed Oceanside Pier at sunset or at dusk before.

 Oceanside Pier, Dusk

Oceanside is the Northmost city of San Diego County. It is about 35 miles North of San Diego, and about 83 miles South of LA. Its pier is one of the longest wooden pier in the West Coast.

Family Enjoying Sunset

Oceanside Pier (1)

Oceanside Pier (2)

Oceanside Pier (3)

The pier opened in 1987 , and is located on 3rd Street. There were several people fishing at the pier. When we were there, the little clouds on the sky provided for a beautiful sunset.

Sunset, looking West from the Pier

Moon Over Pink Clouds, Looking East from the Pier

Looking North from the Pier

Looking Up the Pretty Sky from the Pier

A Look at the Sea Gull

Oceanside has 17 miles of coastline and is buffered between San Diego and Orange County/Los Angeles metropolis. This beach town is also an ideal place for family vacation, with miles of beaches, historic Mission San Luis Rey and close enough to Legoland in Carlsbad, and not very far are: Disneyland in Anaheim, Sea World in San Diego, San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, among others. But of course, for those who just want to revel in nature, you just take 76 East at Oceanside and the highway will bring you to Palomar Mountain in less than an hour. You can check my post on Palomar Mountain State Park here http://sandiegobackroads.today.com/2008/08/07/hiking-at-palomar-mountain-state-park/ .

I never am good in taking moon pictures, I guess because I still have not developed a habit of using tripod, and also, my hands are just naturally shaky. But last Monday, was a full moon, and the moon was enveloped by the pink clouds, I just have to give it a try .

Moon Against Pink Sky

For more information on Oceanside, please visit the site http://www.beachcalifornia.com/oceansi1.html .