Daley Ranch
Escondido
February 17, 2019
We had fun exploring a new (to us) place to hike, the Daley Ranch in Escondido. We had originally planned to hike out in East County, at Mountain Palm Springs in the Anza Borrego State Park, a place we had enjoyed exploring a year or two ago, but there was a high wind advisory. We figured that although our low-profile sedan could get us there safely, it wouldn’t be fun to hike in the desert with high winds blowing sand in our face. Another time!
We took out our Coast to Cactus book, a guide compiled by the Canyoneer volunteers of the San Diego Natural History Museum, and looked through it for something new. We had only vaguely heard of the Daley Ranch before; we found out that it offers a variety of hikes, of differing lengths and levels of difficulty. There are over 20 miles of trails. We elected to hike the Pond and Lake View Trail, a four mile loop that offers a glimpse of Dixon Lake and then meanders past Mallard Pond, Middle Pond, and a couple of unnamed smaller ponds. We saw a coyote on the verge of one of the ponds, eyeing some ducks who were too smart to swim close to him. Ultimately he gave up, and we watched him saunter off on one of the many game trails. We saw many birds in addition to the ducks and a profusion of lilac bushes, which the guidebook told us are Ramona-lilacs (Ceanothus tomentosus).
The Daley Ranch used to be a working ranch. Robert Daley settled there around 1869 and built a small cabin. The over 3,000 acre property was slated for development until the City of Escondido purchased it in 1996. It is now a wide life refuge and open space park. A short history of the ranch can be seen on the city’s website here. Someday soon we would like to go back and try the Stanley Peak hike, which is longer and steeper than the pond trail we hiked this time.
The ranch house which currently stands on the property was built in 1925 and is open for tours on some Sundays from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. (The city’s website says the second Sunday of the month, but a recent calendar posting listed a tour on March 24, the fourth Sunday, so check ahead of time.) The ranch house was not open when we were there; something else to go back for!