today's venture: a hill-mountain hike

The highest point in San Diego is named Cowles Mountain, after a rancher who lived in the area in the 1800s. It's only about 1500 ft high, but you can see a fantastic 360-degree view from the top. The west side of it is a rock cliff, a former sea cliff actually, from thousands of years ago.

This is not the west side (the west side would be the ocean, not more mountains), but it is a rock cliff.

 I made two trips up today. The first to scope it out, and the second to see how long it takes. It's only a few miles from my house, so I plan on making it a regular part of my day (running around here has not been so successful with all the traffic and people in general). 

The protected area it's in is very dry and desert-like with no trees, and the trailhead signage tells me that this is what southern California is naturally. No palm trees and pretty flowers! Just lots of dry dust.

It was all steep switchbacks toward the top and with runners (and stumblers) flying down and around the corners on their return, I was sure I was going to get knocked off the trail into the prickly scrub brush. I've never seen so many people fall down on a trail before either, but dust-covered rocks make for a slick descent.