San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Preserve
and Annie's Canyon Trail
From their website:
One of San Diego’s largest wetlands, this 979-acre reserve is primarily a shallow-water estuary, formed where the Escondido and La Orilla Creeks meet the Pacific Ocean.
On Friday, September 1st, Lorri and I decided to follow through on our New Year's resolution to do more hiking so we chose an easy (and nearby!) place to start.
The lagoon is at the southern edge of the City of Encinitas, bordered buy residential areas on the north, east and south, and by the railroad tracks, Coast Highway, the beach and the Pacific Ocean on the west.
Looking back at the Nature Center.
We started at the Nature Center and did the loop counter-clockwise with a short side-hike through Annie's Canyon.
Looking northwest from the pedestrian bridge over the lagoon.
Looking southwest from the bridge
and then straight south from the bridge..
And then west again to see the local commuter train, the "Coaster" going by.
Along the west side, the trail shares the access road for an SDG&E facility.
It's mostly marshy grasslands. It was high tide when we were there but still not a lot of water to see.
Looking east
Looking west you can see the ocean on the horizon as well as a maze of little estuaries.
Along the portion of the trail on the south side there is plenty of shade
It's a popular walking, running and hiking trail. By the way, Lorri's legs don't ordinarily look like this. She was turning around. I think.
Looking back along the trail you can see buildings on the left which are in Solana Beach
Continuing east, that is I-5 in the distance
Annie's Canyon trail is actually a loop up through a slot canyon to a viewpoint and then down some more moderate switchbacks, back to the main trail.
Lorri is heading up!
The slot canyon
It's only a couple feet wide in some places.
There are ladders in some places too steep to scramble up.
Lorri approaching the summit!
From the viewpoint
From the viewpoint toward I-5
The hikers
View from the upper viewpoint
A view of the lagoon with I-5 and the newly completed intersection with Manchester Avenue
Heading down from the viewpoint
Look! Hiking shoes and a day pack! This dude was ready to go!
The path along I-5
Looking from that path toward to Ocean in the distance
Along with the new interchange a new walking and bike path was built. Not sure where it begins or ends, but here is part of it.
What a nice retaining wall!
Crossing the bridge directly under the freeway was kind of weird.
Thinking of all those giant trucks and speeding Teslas above us. You couldn't even hear them.
And also, there was a sign stating that no more than 272 people are allowed on the bridge at the same time. Seriously. There were only two other walkers so we felt pretty safe. If we ever go back and there are a couple hundred people on the bridge, instead of counting them, I'm just going to turn around and go back the way I came!
It was a beautiful day and a fun walk with my favorite hiking companion! Happy New Year!