URBAN REC: MARSTON HILLS CANYON CONNECTS TO BALBOA PARK

By Priscilla Lister

Marston Hills Canyon is a little-known finger of Balboa Park that offers a lovely trail through towering eucalyptus, olive and pepper trees.

Since the park renewed its emphasis on trails a couple of years ago, this area has been mapped and signed. It’s part of Balboa Park’s Trail No. 5, and connects at the Upas Street bridge over Highway 163 to trails No. 4 and 3. You could wander on these trails for a couple of hours, if you choose to ramble from one trail to another.

I found the northeastern-most gateway to Marston Hills Canyon off Richmond Street near Brookes Avenue — actually, there are two gateways here, one just north of Brookes and another just south, both on Richmond.

Taking the northern entry, the trail goes down some wooden steps into a really gorgeous canyon of old eucalyptus trees. This time of year the toyon bushes are ablaze with their red holly berries.

Old homes rise above the canyon’s walls, and a high-rise or two from Sixth Avenue can be seen from the canyon floor. But otherwise, it is a really pretty foray into nature here, right in the middle of Uptown.

Passing a couple of footbridges, the trail eventually runs into Highway 163. You can actually cross the pedestrian bridge at Upas to get to the other side of the highway, where the historic Marston House and those other trails await.

But I stayed on the east side of the highway, heading uphill on a paved portion of the trail through another finger of the canyon. Eventually the trail ends at the corner of Upas and Vermont Street, near the Boy Scout headquarters.

Retracing my way back through the canyon, I took the “high road” trail on the return route. The two trails essentially parallel their way through the verdant canyon, each offering a slightly different view of this natural oasis.

It’s obvious that some attention has been lavished on this canyon recently. Several tree seedlings, including oaks and pines, have been planted throughout the area.

A group of community volunteers came together a couple of years ago to make this park-wide system of trails more accessible. David Contois and Alyssa Wolven are credited with starting the project, according to Jeannette de Wyze’s San Diego Insider blog (http://www.sandiegoinsidertours.com/blog). Contois and Wolven approached Balboa Park Senior Ranger Casey Smith about the need for such a project, and also appealed to the San Diego Community Foundation’s Balboa Park Trust for funding.

There are five gateways to the park’s trail system: Sixth and Upas, Morley Field, Park Administration at President’s Way and Park Boulevard, Golden Hill and Marston Point.

A downloadable map at the Balboa Park web site (http://www.balboapark.org/maps/TrailMapBalboaAndSixth.pdf) shows the trails that begin from the first gateway at Upas and Sixth, and you’ll see the canyon into Marston Hills at the northern edge of this map.

The routes are all color-coded and marked, showing distance and degree of difficulty.

The map says Trail No. 5 is the most difficult, but this section into Marston Hills Canyon isn’t hard.

“The timeline for incorporating all the gateways is roughly the end of this year,” wrote Contois in the Spring 2009 newsletter of the Friends of Balboa Park (http://friendsofbalboapark.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/springnews09.pdf). “This vision is to then expand this series of trails beyond Balboa Park, affording fitness enthusiasts venues into downtown, by the harbor and through some of San Diego’s diverse central neighborhoods.”

The project in Balboa Park has certainly increased safety there, as clean-up for the trail system has also eliminated some hazards, including homeless camps.

Go see the improvements for yourself.