Torrey Pines; Guy Fleming Trail (#14)

June 10, 2010- My hike today was a little further from home but extremely close to where my son goes to college. So close that we even had lunch with him. UCSD is in a "sweet" spot. The beaches, minutes away, are awesome - La Jolla Shores, Wind and Sea, Scrips Pier, Blacks Beach, Torrey Pines... ...speaking of Torrey Pines, did I mention there are some righteous hiking trails there? One of the trails is the Guy Flemming Trail. First, though, you have get to Torrey Pines State Preserve. Piece of cake. Just get to Torrey Pines Road (however it is that you prefer to get there) and head north until the road meets the ocean and turns into Camino Del Mar where you will see the park entrance. Turn left into the park, pay 10 bucks at the gate, and drive up to the visitor center. Once there we found a variety of trails to choose from. The Guy Flemming was a very good trail that looped for about a mile and a half. Nice ocean views with a cool breeze made the walk very pleasing. The whole trip there would be worth it just to have seen and learned about the preserve's namesake - the Torrey pines. Quoting a Trails.com hiking guide, "The Torrey Pine, a relic of the Ice Age (over 11,000 years), is the rarest pine tree in America and among the rarest in the world." It's pretty cool to be so close to something so special. And the rest of the vegetation was eye-catching as well. There was an interesting sandstone formation (bottom picture) near the very end of the trail. As for lunch, the Sushi was great and so was the company!