A grant from the California Coastal Conservancy has enabled San Diego Canyonlands (SDCL) to begin the process of expanding trails throughout several local canyon areas. The first on the list is a trail through Ruffin Canyon that will eventually link up with the San Diego River Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cRuffin Canyon has the potential of linking the Serra Mesa community to \u2026 Mission Valley and eventually linking to the San Diego River Trail system,\u201d SDCL director Eric Bowlby said. \u201cPeople could, theoretically, link into this trail all the way up in Serra Mesa and bike all the way to the beach; or go the other way towards the mountains because eventually there\u2019s going to be a coast-to-crest trail that follows the San Diego River both east and west to the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n
SDCL was awarded the California Coastal Conservancy grant to plan canyon enhancement in 12 canyons in the city of San Diego. Other canyons on the list include Maple Canyon, Manzanita Canyon, Mission Hills Canyon and Chollas Creek Oak Park Branch.<\/p>\n As of now, the Ruffin Canyon trail is only in the pre-planning stage. The grant is funding the conceptual trail design and also the process of gathering input from all the various neighbors along the proposed trail.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the stakeholders \u2014 people from Serra Mesa, Mission Valley and Escala \u2014 will be involved in a discussion about linking trails and trying to fulfill a vision to connect down to the San Diego River,\u201d Bowlby said. \u201cWe want to be as open and have as much involvement with the stakeholders as we can; that\u2019s the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n Other stakeholders that own nearby properties include SDG&E and San Diego Unified School District.<\/p>\n Neighbors and interested parties will have an opportunity to hear first-hand about SDCL\u2019s trail plans on June 25 when the group will lead a guided tour through Ruffin Canyon. The tour is free and runs from 9 to 11:30 a.m. The tour starts at the trail head off the 9300 block of Shawn Avenue near the intersection of Amulet Street in Serra Mesa.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll hike in the canyon to look at all kinds of natural resources and our incredibly unique habitats we have in San Diego and we\u2019ll also talk about the need for trails and trail alignments and we\u2019ll talk about the vision of connecting all the way down to the coast,\u201d Bowlby said.<\/p>\n The tour will use the existing trail through Ruffin, which is at the bottom of the canyon and is perpetually damaged by rainfall.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/missionvalleynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Canyon1webtop.jpg\")
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