» laguna mountains
the laguna mountains are about 1 hour east of san diego and stand between the cleveland national forest and the anza-borrego desert, offerring views of the stark difference between the two. we hiked up garnet peak (5,900'), starting from the penny pines trailhead. the weather forecast for the area was a sunny 94 degrees so we weren't sure if we would be hiking or just cooking in the sun so we covered ourselves in butter and oregano, and hit the trails. but, it didn't really seem that hot, probably due to the constant 30-40 mph anti-hat wind.

the south end of the laguna mountains from the sunrise highway.

looking east from the sunrise highway.

garnet peak from the south.

monument peak.

looking down storm canyon towards the desert.

getting closer to garnet peak.

the south face of garnet peak, the desert floor below, and, in the mountains, burnt trees from the 2003 fire.

looking north from midway up garnet peak.

looking south (where we came from).

looking south, towards monument peak, from the summit of garnet mountain.

looking east, towards the desert, from the summit of garnet mountain.

looking north, towards granite mountain, from the summit of garnet peak.

we were there.

» torrey pines
i've been here many times, but it's always an interesting place to explore.

a rattlesnake, a jellyfish, a squirrel, and a lizard.

a stripe in the cliffs and the view from a big rock that lays in the ocean.

from yucca point.

» glider port
just down shore from torrey pines.

looking north and the ocean at sunset.

there are all sorts of trails up the cliffs from the beach. on this day we tried a new way up which turned out to be a really interesting canyon with a trickling stream and strange rock formations including a little "slot" canyon at the top.

» kayaking la jolla shores
i didn't bring a camera with me when we went kayaking around la jolla shores, so below are some quick sketches from memory (not accurate, or good). also, here are some written highlights:

• near the shore, the dark outlines of sharks swimming along the ocean bottom were visible.
• also near shore, schools of small fish (anchovies) floated in the waves. from afar they just looked like big dark spots in the water.
• a few jellyfish floated in the waves.
• near the cliffs, bright orange garibaldi fish could be seen through the water.
• far away from the shore there was a kelp forest in which a few seals appeared to be sleeping while floating in the kelp. i also saw an orange fist sized crab in the kelp.
• many people were fishing from their kayaks and a couple of people came back with huge (2-3 ft) sea bass.
• it was fun, and daunting, to kayak by the large swells and breaking waves near seal beach. these waves generally crash into rocks so you don't want to get caught by one.

since i'm sure you can't tell by looking at them, this is what they are supposed to be:

top left: a shark visible in a wave, a school of fish and a jelly fish. top right: the cliffs and garibaldi fish in the shallows. bottom left: seals and a crab in the kelp. bottom right: leopard shark, seal, garibaldi.