Channel Islands Kayak Trip

I had an excellent trip with my Dad out to the Channel Islands, which are referred to as the Galapagos of north america due to their unique and diverse plant and animal life. We started our trip launching our kayaks at Ventura Harbor and taking a SW compass bearing towards Anacapa Island. It took about 2 hours on the Kayaks until we could see our destination on the horizon and a total of about 16 miles until we made it to the island. It was a surprisingly easy trip and a unique way to travel and get to a camping destination. The camping area on Anacapa was overrun by seagull chicks that had notably just hatched and were vocal for attention. There were thousands of baby seagulls which answers the question where all the seagulls in Southern California originate. We also saw baby pelicans, bald eagles, and the endangered island fox.

From Anacapa we camped for a few days at Scorpion Bay on Santa Cruz Island and explored the deep and numerous sea caves around the island on our kayaks and did a fair amount of hiking. We had great weather and small surf our whole trip. The Channel Islands is a hidden jewel of Souther California that I didn't fully appreciate until this trip.

Channel Island Kayak 2011 from Chris Helmer on Vimeo.

Spring

Spring is visible on the land and in the ocean. Everything seems to be coming to life from the baitfish off the coast to the various shades of green on land. We had a moderately wet winter for San Diego standards and now it is time to celebrate the arrival of summer.

Horseback Riding Tijuana River Valley

I took my family out horseback riding through the Tijuana River Valley. It was a beautiful and unique way for me to show my family some of the projects I work on to clean up and restore the river valley. Imperial Beach is one of the few places in the State where you are still allowed to go horseback riding on beach.

San Diego Backcountry

I rediscovered the backcountry foothills of San Diego this spring. All the rain this year made the hills exceptionally green. The upper portion of the San Diego River watershed has a number of waterfalls that provide spectacular vistas and respite. I stumbled upon one of these falls while bushwhacking through the recently burned hills above San Diego Country Estates. This fall was on private property and had no trail out to it but was so cool that I had to show some friends the following weekend.  I’m sure there is a local name for this place because I can’t find any designated name on a map. 

Here is a link to another video on Vimeo: California Dreamin

What happened to Spring

I headed out to Antelope Valley with my girlfriend this spring to show her the normally spectacular poppy bloom. Unfortunately, the cold spring and above normal late rainfall this winter made for a dud poppy bloom.  By any measure it was still beautiful and it was still a great excuse to get out of town. We also made a stop in Santa Clarita to visit friends. 

Snow on Iron Mountain

We had an exceptionally cold storm hit San Diego and it brought a light dusting of snow to elevations as low as Rancho Bernardo.  I went for a hike later in the afternoon on Iron Mountain and found enough snow left to make a snowman.

Local Snow

This is definitely my winter for snow. This weekend I headed up to the local San Bernardino mountains with my buddy Alex. I had Friday off so we hit up Mountain High with some coworkers from Public Works.  This was my first time at Mountain High and will most likely be my last. It is hard to call the place fun when the runs are so small that it takes less than 2 minutes to board down from the highest peak. It only took 3 hours for Alex and I to get board so we left to find more entertainment in the towns of Wrightwood and Victorville. 

Another winter storm started to hit around sunset in Victorville and kicked up strong winds and ominous looking clouds. Alex and I decided it would be fun to ride the storm out in Big Bear and then hopefully hit some good snow conditions in the morning.  After a fun night of partying in town we awoke to 3 feet of fresh powder. The snow was deep enough to close the main highway into town leaving the fresh powder for the few who were already on the mountain.  After digging out my car, we boarded all day at Big Bear.