Another Beautiful Day

My Weekend's Pleasant Surprise

Right in front of our school, there is a canyon that has hiking trails. The canyon does not look very special, it is nested between hills and there is a railway that passes beside it.

Rose Canyon, San Diego

What stopped me before from hiking or walking here is that this canyon is just two blocks away from one of San Diego's bigger malls, and around it are many restaurants serving the many biotech, high tech and many other Science research firms. In short, this walk is very much within an earshot of civilization's noise. However, what made me take this trail is because of the fact that it is right in front of our school, where I can walk/and or run to get my dose of daily exercise after a day's work. What made the walk special is that, once we (my husband and I) entered the canyon, the civilization around us disappeared and was now blocked by plants and trees in this chaparral environment.

The Trail 

Oak 

Some Colors At the Trail

Plants that live in a chaparral environment are oaks (these are what provide some fall colors), but mostly are evergreen pines and mahoganies, and many other low lying bushes.

Low Lying Bushes Found in the Trail

Now that I discovered this place, I can't wait for spring when I am imagining the hills around this canyon would burst with color from a diverse display of wildflowers. Right now however, this chaparral environment looks very dry and brown. Don't get me wrong, brown has its unique beauty too. Even though the flowers are already dried up and brown, but they still hold their beauty like this one.

Dried Wildflower @ The Trail

One of the many things that made the walk special in an otherwise very ordinary place was the presence of tiny creatures and a lot of birds and bunnies around. I however did not get lucky enough to catch any singing birds and jumping and running bunnies, but I sure loved seeing them. There were still some wildflowers on the ground, and I was happy to see some busy bees, butterfly and moth.

Busy Moth

( you can click on this picture to enlarge to better see how happy this moth is )

And the moth looked so happy sucking out sweet nectar of the flower.

Busy Bee
( we may not see the hairs of the bees when we look at them, but thankfully, the lens could. you can click on this picture to enlarge )

Alone But Not Lonely

( was surprised to see this one poppy in the trail, thought all poppies were all gone summer, so this is another pleasant surprise)

This Is My Husband's Find

Now that I have discovered this place, I know this is one of the places I can go to if I have the time to stop and simply enjoy the small creatures around. Hopefully, someday, I will get lucky enough to picture some of the birds that frequent this place. This is a place that looks very ordinary and nothing special from the outside, yet, it abounds with life inside.

After exploring this canyon, we went to the nearby ocean cliff to watch sunset.

Torrey Pine Cliffs

Torrey Pine Cliffs

Though I may live close to the ocean where we may be able to see sunset year round, but each time I see the sun disappearing in the horizon, it always makes me thankful that I see its promise of a beauitful tomorrow.

♥♥