Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

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

L.A.'s Porter Ranch district features trails overlooking the wide San Fernando Valley.

Residents of the upscale Porter Ranch district of Los Angeles enjoy open spaces and neighborhood trails overlooking the vast San Fernando Valley. These are publicly accessible trails, so you don't have to be a resident to wander through the remaining vestiges of two riparian canyons and a cliff-rimmed hillside blanketed with aromatic sage. Suitable for horses and mountain bikes as well as hikers, these trails are best taken on a cool, clear January or February day, preferably when the often-murky L.A. air is replaced by the clean, dry air of a Santa Ana wind or by the infusion of fresh, cold air from the north following the passage of a storm front.

For a complete tour of the trails, follow the directions below, covering an eight-mile route. You can abbreviate the route as desired, of course.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Park on Rinaldi Street, west of Tampa Avenue, and pick up the equestrian trail going north through a landscaped linear park along Limekiln Canyon's trickling creek. After crossing the creek twice on bridges you come to a split (0.7 mile) where one branch of the trail bends easily left and follows a ravine toward a newer subdivision. Take the main branch (right), which goes up toward the shoulder of Tampa Avenue. You pass under a concrete bridge (a gated entrance road serving houses west of Limekiln Canyon), pass a junction with the Palisades Trail (your return route), cross Sesnon Boulevard, and finally join the Sesnon Trail, 1.8 miles from the start. Follow the Sesnon Trail east over a hump to Ormskirk Avenue. Turn south, walk through Porter Ridge Park, and go left on Sesnon Boulevard to where it dead ends on the edge of steep-sided Aliso Canyon. Walk around the pipe gate on the left and down into Aliso Canyon.

After following Aliso Canyon for 1.3 miles, turn right on the Palisades Trail. You double back up a ravine, climb a slope, pass some houses, and reach Reseda Boulevard. Cross Reseda, continue uphill on the west sidewalk for about 0.3 mile, and then veer off on the wide trail, bordered by a wooden fence, descending left along a sage-covered slope.

Soon you start contouring along the base of some craggy, sedimentary bluffs -- the so-called palisades. You're well above the valley floor here, so the view takes in thousands of rooftops in the foreground and the purple Santa Monica Mountains rising above the valley haze in the south.

At 6.5 miles the Palisades Trail goes over a saddle, and then it drops down to Tampa Avenue. Pick up the Limekiln Canyon Trail on the far side and return to your car, retracing your earlier steps.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Born & Raised offers a less decadent Holiday Punch

Cognac serves to lighten the mood

Residents of the upscale Porter Ranch district of Los Angeles enjoy open spaces and neighborhood trails overlooking the vast San Fernando Valley. These are publicly accessible trails, so you don't have to be a resident to wander through the remaining vestiges of two riparian canyons and a cliff-rimmed hillside blanketed with aromatic sage. Suitable for horses and mountain bikes as well as hikers, these trails are best taken on a cool, clear January or February day, preferably when the often-murky L.A. air is replaced by the clean, dry air of a Santa Ana wind or by the infusion of fresh, cold air from the north following the passage of a storm front.

For a complete tour of the trails, follow the directions below, covering an eight-mile route. You can abbreviate the route as desired, of course.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Park on Rinaldi Street, west of Tampa Avenue, and pick up the equestrian trail going north through a landscaped linear park along Limekiln Canyon's trickling creek. After crossing the creek twice on bridges you come to a split (0.7 mile) where one branch of the trail bends easily left and follows a ravine toward a newer subdivision. Take the main branch (right), which goes up toward the shoulder of Tampa Avenue. You pass under a concrete bridge (a gated entrance road serving houses west of Limekiln Canyon), pass a junction with the Palisades Trail (your return route), cross Sesnon Boulevard, and finally join the Sesnon Trail, 1.8 miles from the start. Follow the Sesnon Trail east over a hump to Ormskirk Avenue. Turn south, walk through Porter Ridge Park, and go left on Sesnon Boulevard to where it dead ends on the edge of steep-sided Aliso Canyon. Walk around the pipe gate on the left and down into Aliso Canyon.

After following Aliso Canyon for 1.3 miles, turn right on the Palisades Trail. You double back up a ravine, climb a slope, pass some houses, and reach Reseda Boulevard. Cross Reseda, continue uphill on the west sidewalk for about 0.3 mile, and then veer off on the wide trail, bordered by a wooden fence, descending left along a sage-covered slope.

Soon you start contouring along the base of some craggy, sedimentary bluffs -- the so-called palisades. You're well above the valley floor here, so the view takes in thousands of rooftops in the foreground and the purple Santa Monica Mountains rising above the valley haze in the south.

At 6.5 miles the Palisades Trail goes over a saddle, and then it drops down to Tampa Avenue. Pick up the Limekiln Canyon Trail on the far side and return to your car, retracing your earlier steps.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

3 Tips for Creating a Cozy and Inviting Living Room in San Diego

Next Article

Bringing Order to the Christmas Chaos

There is a sense of grandeur in Messiah that period performance mavens miss.
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
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
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader