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Get springtime vistas of mountain green and desert brown on Mount Laguna's Desert View Trail.

It's barely a month after more than a foot of late-season snow fell on the 6000-foot-high Laguna Mountains. The forest atop these rarefied heights is responding in a sluggish way to the melted snow and the warmer, longer days. Black oaks are sending out rust-colored baby leaves -- leaves that when aged for a week or two change to bright green. Acorn woodpeckers are tapping at the Jeffrey pines, the furrowed bark of which exudes a vanilla-butterscotch scent when exposed to prolonged sunlight. New blades of grass are pushing up amid last season's half-decayed leaf litter. Off the roadsides and on the trails, few hikers are seen now that day-tripping tourists have had their fill of snow for another year.

To join those few-in-number hikers, give the Desert View Trail a try. This easy 1.3-mile trail starts just inside Burnt Rancheria Campground at a day-use parking lot. (You'll need a National Forest Adventure Pass, $5 per day, to park here or anywhere along the roads of the Cleveland National Forest. The Visitor Information Office and the general store, across Sunrise Highway from the campground, have the adventure pass for sale.)

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Desert View Trail winds through Jeffrey-pine forest before joining the Pacific Crest Trail on a chaparral-covered ridge. Heading north on the ridge, you'll get a wide-open view of the La Posta Creek canyon, part of a remote southern area of the Lagunas that was swept by wildfire ten years ago. New growth, especially along the creek below, is softening the scrub-covered landscape.

Farther north, a view to the north and west opens. Ahead are old radar domes at a former Air Force facility on Stephenson Peak. Off to the right is a slice of the tan and ochre desert floor, some 4000 feet below.

Don't miss the trail junction, at a point 0.8 mile from the start, where the Desert View Trail diverges left from the Pacific Crest Trail. From there you descend and return straightway through the campground to the parking lot.

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It's barely a month after more than a foot of late-season snow fell on the 6000-foot-high Laguna Mountains. The forest atop these rarefied heights is responding in a sluggish way to the melted snow and the warmer, longer days. Black oaks are sending out rust-colored baby leaves -- leaves that when aged for a week or two change to bright green. Acorn woodpeckers are tapping at the Jeffrey pines, the furrowed bark of which exudes a vanilla-butterscotch scent when exposed to prolonged sunlight. New blades of grass are pushing up amid last season's half-decayed leaf litter. Off the roadsides and on the trails, few hikers are seen now that day-tripping tourists have had their fill of snow for another year.

To join those few-in-number hikers, give the Desert View Trail a try. This easy 1.3-mile trail starts just inside Burnt Rancheria Campground at a day-use parking lot. (You'll need a National Forest Adventure Pass, $5 per day, to park here or anywhere along the roads of the Cleveland National Forest. The Visitor Information Office and the general store, across Sunrise Highway from the campground, have the adventure pass for sale.)

Sponsored
Sponsored

Desert View Trail winds through Jeffrey-pine forest before joining the Pacific Crest Trail on a chaparral-covered ridge. Heading north on the ridge, you'll get a wide-open view of the La Posta Creek canyon, part of a remote southern area of the Lagunas that was swept by wildfire ten years ago. New growth, especially along the creek below, is softening the scrub-covered landscape.

Farther north, a view to the north and west opens. Ahead are old radar domes at a former Air Force facility on Stephenson Peak. Off to the right is a slice of the tan and ochre desert floor, some 4000 feet below.

Don't miss the trail junction, at a point 0.8 mile from the start, where the Desert View Trail diverges left from the Pacific Crest Trail. From there you descend and return straightway through the campground to the parking lot.

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The latest copy of the Reader

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A concert I didn't know I needed
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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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