Sycamore Canyon: Loop From Sycamore Canyon Road Trailhead

9 September 1999: Susan Chester and I hiked the 4.5 mile loop given by Schad from the Sycamore Canyon Road Trailhead, 10:40 a.m. - 12:40 p.m. My pedometer read 4.42 miles, and the altitude gain and loss given by Schad was 500'.

Plants in bloom: there are three dominant flowers, in addition to some nice displays of red poison oak leaves.

Buckwheat is ending here, with many plants have only brown flowerheads, with others having half brown, half-white flowers.
Rabbitbrush is very noticeable, with fields of it in full bloom in several places.
A yellow version of baby's breath, with dainty small flowers on a profusion of small wiry stems. Jane Strong tells me this is likely to be Eriogonum nudum, naked buckwheat.

A few samples of these were seen: everlasting firmly in its dried flower phase, dodder's little white flowers on a yellow dodder, purple aster ending, sunflowers still blooming despite most of the plant being dead and black, a yellow daisy on a wiry stem, a normal cattail and a miniature cattail, brightly-colored pink and red galls on shrubs. Lots of star thistle is in its dried spiky form. A few shrubs that looked a lot like chamise had small white buds at the ends of the needle-like leaves.

It was probably too early in the fall and too hot to really appreciate Sycamore Canyon. The temperature at the end of the hike was 84°. There were some annoying bugs that would have made it a bit unpleasant to stop for any length of time. The trails were in great shape, with no overgrowth at all. Martha's Grove was filled with leaf litter, a good deal of which was red.

There were wonderful satellite photos at most trail junctions showing the preserve and its trails, with marked mileages. There was a brochure at the trailhead giving a topo map of the area with the trails with mileages.

Recording number Mileage Time arrived Time left Altitude Comments
0 0.00 10:41 1000 Trailhead
1 0.75 10:59 800 Martha's Grove
2 1.40 11:18 850 Field of rabbitbrush
3 1.70 11:30 800 Junction Road. Satellite photo.
4 2.00 11:39 750 Jct. Olive Grove Rest Area
5 2.26 11:45 750 Jct. Road. Went left.
6 2.62 11:55 650 South end of Preserve, trails curves west then north.
7 3.65 12:23 800 Jct. Road. Went left.
8 4.42 12:43 950 Car.

Recording number	Mileage	Time arrived	Altitude	Comments
0	0.00	10:41	1000	Trailhead
1	0.75	10:59	800	Martha's Grove
2	1.40	11:18	850	Field of rabbitbrush
3	1.70	11:30	800	Junction Road. Satellite photo.
4	2.00	11:39	750	Jct. Olive Grove Rest Area
5	2.26	11:45	750	Jct. Road. Went left.
6	2.62	11:55	650	South end of Preserve, trails curves west then north.
7	3.65	12:23	800	Jct. Road. Went left.
8	4.42	12:43	950	Car.

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Sycamore Canyon
Fallbrook Hiking
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Copyright © 1999 by Tom Chester.
Permission is freely granted to reproduce any or all of this page as long as credit is given to me at this source:
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Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Last update: 13 September 1999.