Dictionary Hill Hike - Pics

[MattyB]

The Dictionary Hill Open Space Advocates put on a guided hike up to the summit of Dictionary Hill. Here's some pics of the local flora on our way up to the 1,080' summit.

Jim Merzbacher was our guide and educated us about the sensitive and decreasing Coastal Sage Habitat, one of the most diverse in the US. This coastal scrub habitat only occurs below 1500' elevation, which of course here in SoCal means that's where all the people live so 80% of this habitat is now destroyed and dispaced by development.

Apparently the rocky substrate that we live on is not granite afterall but something called Meta-Volcanic, formed from an ancient chain of volcanoes that runs from Mt. Miguel up to Black Mountain. This would explain the porous, fractured nature of the rock as you'll see in a few pics.

[MattyB]

We saw white sage, black sage, purple sage....lots of sage.

[MattyB]

Near the top, on the west slope, we came across this beautiful area of exposed rocky outcroppings. We saw coastal barrel cactus (Ferocactus), and a teeny tiny variegated dudley that was so small that you couldn't even see the leaves, only the tiny little yellow flowers. Jim had never seen the variegated dudley in these numbers before.

[MattyB]

Here we are at the summit. Go to http://www.dictionaryhill.info/ for more info about the preservation efforts on this unique piece of San Diego land. This is the only coastal sage brush haitat hilltop over 1000 feet in elevation that is not either protected/open space or developted already. Hopefully this unique spot in our city can be made into a park one day, similar to Cowles Mtn. for hikers to enjoy the beauty.

[Walter John]

That looks a great walk, wouldn't it be best to leave it alone Matty ?

here's some info I found, would this be true or false guys ?:

Dictionary Hill in Spring Valley was originally called Lookout Mountain because of the impressive views. In 1910, the Interstate Realty and Improvement Co. bought 480 acres there. Anyone who bought a $109 set of encyclopedias got a parcel of land free. The area became known as Encyclopedia Heights, which somehow changed to Dictionary Hill. Most lot owners lost their land because of unpaid property taxes.

[MattyB]

The story you've sighted about the Encyclopedias is true, that's how the area got it's name.

We do hope that this area stays "left alone". But since it's privately owned, it's constantly on the verge of being developed. The last developer, who's loan's fell through thank goodness, was going to blast 30 feet off the top of the mountain, flatten it, terrace it, and stack several hundred houses on top. CalTrans, our state highway management agency, is required by law to set aside a certain amount of "open space" for each road or highway they build, so just recently they were in negotiations with Dictionary Hill's owners to buy up the land, and hand it over to San Diego County. The problem right now is that because it's privately owned is there is a lot of off road vehicle abuse, dumping, drug and alcohol use, broken bottles everywhere, fires set, etc. If the land can be purchased by the County, they can put up barracades at the street end access points to stop the off-road traffic, and install signs so that any illegal activity can be subject to public laws and policed by the SD Sherrif or SD County Park Rangers. So, "left alone" is best done by making it an offical open space preserve/park.

[BS Man about Palms]

Was this during the weekend or are that many unemployed/retired in that area?

[MattyB]

They are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Is that ketchup on your hot dog or are you going to get a milk shake also?

[edric]

They are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Is that ketchup on your hot dog or are you going to get a milk shake also?

And I thought I had a way with words, Ed

[Gonzer]

Very cool Matthew! The Ferocactus and Dudleya are special treats. How 'bout some macro shots of the Dudleyas next time?

[BS Man about Palms]

And yet neither question was answered...

[MattyB]

Those were macro Gonz.

[Fouquieria]

I was going to go and got lazy. I see my friend Pam in your photos. I try to hike up there once a week but I've sort of tailed off lately. Matty lives on the nice (north) side. I live on the Dictionary (south) side.