Gotta Go Hiking

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

This past Sunday, Father’s Day, my girlfriend and I went hiking at Daley Ranch in Escondido, CA.  This hiking trip was training for Montana later on this summer.

The drive up to the trail head is pretty cool all on its own.  It isn’t very long, but it is STEEP.  I think it kicks up around 15-20% at one point.  I had to down shift my Tacoma into 2^nd gear to have the proper torque.

There is plenty of parking at the top for free, but if you want, there is also a Forest Service booth at the start of the park that you can pay to park inside the gate.  We opted to park for free since there were plenty of spaces available.

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

Dixon Lake - Original photo by Clayton Plummer

Once we were on our way, the trail starts off dirt, but switches to paved road for a short while.  We split from the paved road at the Middle Pond Trail fork.  As we approached the pond, I could hear a bull frog doing his thing.  My girlfriend had not ever heard it before, so she got a kick out of the drumming bass note the bull frog produces.

We hiked for a short while and as the trail wound its way around, we came to a spot where we could hike up to The Dixon Lake Reservoir.  So, that’s what we did.  Dixon Lake is a small reservoir but is actually a real body of water made bigger.  The water reminded me more of what lakes are like back where I’m from in Michigan versus any of the reservoirs I’ve been on.  The water was clean, healthy, and clear.  So, it had that black appearance out where the water is deep.

We hiked all the way around the north side of the reservoir until we had to go up into a parking lot, through that parking lot, up another trail to a nice grassy park where families were setting up birthday parties and such.  Once through that park we hiked around the bend in the road, through the paid entry gate, and back to the car.

Of course, I forgot my Garmin.  So, I don’t have any data to share, sorry.

I did bring my phone and snapped a couple of pictures, though.  Enjoy.

Until next time, keep it rubber side down!

Clayton