A Cool Getaway for a Hot Summer Afternoon
If the summer heat is getting to you and you need a short two hour ride in some big trees with lots of shade and a cool breeze blowing in from the coast, plan to arrive at the cold stream parking pullout in the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park on highway 79 two hours before sunset. Saddle up and head out on the West Mesa Fire Road on the opposite side of the road from where the parking is, be careful crossing as the visibility for drivers is difficult, but you can hear them coming from a ways off. Don't forget some water and especially your camera and everything else you like to have on the trail. There is no water along the way, but you are literally in the shade most of the way and your horses will be fine. You will reach a spot on the southwest slope of Cuyamaca Peak where the view is spectacular.
In a half mile the trail junctions with the Fern Flat trail, take this right turn and up hill through the dense oak, pine and cedar forest until you reach the first left turn onto the West Mesa Trail with a sign that directs you towards the Burnt Pine Trail. Be sure to bring your Cuyamaca Map just in case! I forgot mine, fortunately my memory served me well (contrary to what my wife thought of me!). Deer frequent the meadows throughout the area you are circling on the left, keep an observing eye and you stand a chance of seeing more than in most places. We came upon a pile of deer droppings I couldn't believe. This has got to be the biggest one I ever would see, and his tracks were so big it scared me. I crept along cautiously with all my senses in tack waiting and anxiously anticipating a record breaker. Suddenly I realized it was one of those "como se llamas" and not a deer at all. Being embarrassed I told my cynical wife that I knew it all the while. She was already mad at me because her back was hurting, nothing I could say after that would work.
As you begin to descend through the grassy hill side, keep your eyes to the right as a fabulous view is about to open up, hop into the trees and take a gander. If your timing is right the sun will be just about to set, giving you one of those "spiritual experiences". All of San Diego will lay out before you. From as far a San Clemente Island to Point Loma and La Mesa near Tijuana, Tecate Peak and the Range above Valle de Las Palmas, Baja California. Behind you to the east is Pine Valley and the Laguna Mountains, East Mesa and eventually Stonewall Peak to the north. On a sultry day of summer you might even see some giant thunderheads reflecting the setting sun. Keep moving as you will need another hour to return to your trailers. Shortly the trail junctions with the Arroyo Seco trail, but turn left and continue along Airplane Ridge enjoying the rest of the view as your descent will be quick. Passing the Monument Trail on the right and reaching the Airplane Monument, check it out as the trail will rejoin the main trail.
The remains you find are from a WW1 12 cylinder Liberty airplane engine. The plane was a de Havilland DH 4B biplane flown by Charles Webber with his sidekick Francis Marshall heading from Coronado to Tucson on December7, 1922. They went down in the clouds and weren't found for six months. Granny Martin said it took a cattleman to find him, George McCain " came off the mountain thinking he was the richest cowboy in the whole state, but they had called it off (the reward). You could have bought him for a quarter." Look around you and realize how hard it would have been to find the plane in such a remote spot when there were no trails. The brush was not so heavy and cattle kept the forest more open, but still a difficult spot to find.
The trail will junction with the West Mesa Fire Road and bring you back to where you started and parked. If water were needed you could take the right and double back a ways to the Japacha Spring and dig around for what might be there, but you are close to home and most likely won't need it.
At a walk we did this loop in two hours and had a little time to goof around, but be sure to be back to the trailers by 8:00 as the park closes. They give you a little fudge time, but do become concerned if your rig is there too late. The whole loop is 7 miles, so make your own judgment. Be sure to keep and eye out for some beautiful deer and don't let your wife intimidate your great white hunter instincts.
