March 2013
Went for a walk to Torrey Pines State Park, located in northern San Diego. Had heard about these very rare pine trees that grew only in two places in the world, this small area being one of them.
Morning had some haze and clouds when arrived near the Pacific Ocean. Roads were already full of parked cars, people had come to either enjoy for a day on beach or for surfing. Paid parking lots had few empty slots still.
The State Park was above a cliff, making a huge drop from its edge to a beach. You were able to walk only on a well marked trails in there, strictly preserving vulnerable nature and its rare and gorgeous pine trees. Of course view towards the sea looked very nice, too.
Torrey pine trees had soft and huge needles, at least 20cm long. Their cones were massive, too. Worth seeing them.
Saw variety of animals and birds in there, e.g. a baby rattlesnake (highly dangerous as they cannot control their poison), few lizards, few ground squirrels, a seal, an Anna's hummingbird (cool!), a red-shouldered hawk, common ravens, lots of gulls and several other birds which specie I didn't know.
GPS recorded route, about 12km (show a larger map):
Some photos
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| Dramatic looking sandstones |
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| A Mojave Yucca |
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| And Yucca did have some curly hair, too (or was it beard?) |
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| As you can see, I like - EV stops in camera |
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| Eeeee!!! A rattlesnake |
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| A lizard disguised by nature |
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| Landing and flying practices |
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| A cute looking marine mammal |
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| A Hummingbird, never seen before. Awesome! |
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| Pelicans flying in a form |
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| Huge needles! |
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| Torrey pine trees |
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| A sandstone cliff |
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| A sandstone cliff |
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| A sandstone |
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| Trail |
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| Since 1864, just wow! |
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| Hey you, down there! |
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| A loophole towards the sea |
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| Torrey Pines State Park and the Pacific Ocean |
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| Growing on edge |
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| Sea has dropped off its beard |
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| Waves get washed over and over, day after day |
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| Walking |
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| Torrey Pines State Beach |
