Last weekend was busy with my kid’s hockey games and honey-dos but I grabbed Sunday afternoon for a ride. I needed to get in some climbing and since I had not been on Nate Harrison Grade since before the 2007 fires, it was a good time to revisit the place.
It did not take long along the climb to realize that the visibility was exceptional on this day. As soon as I climbed out of the valley the ocean as well as Catalina and San Clemente Island could be seen. To the south downtown San Diego could be seen as well as the Coronado Islands. Simply impressive.
I was a little surprised to see that there was a few sections of the road that had been paved with some rough asphalt but understand the need to do so considering all the erosion issues that existed after the fires.
The views continued to just get better the further up I went.
B&W with Catalina in the distance.
Up near the top there was some remanents of snow here and there. Not enough for a snowball fight but nice to see none the less.
Just before reaching Boucher Peak view to the north opened up. San Jacinto in the distance.
The views from Boucher Peak at 5,438 feet were pretty impressive today. I was more than readay to chill for a while after the 4,700 feet of climbing to get here.
It did not take too long before the low angle of the sun urged me to get moving down the mountain. I knew this was going to be a twilight finish. About halfway down the mountain I stopped to watch the sunset.
It was simply fantastic. I even got to see a bit of the green flash thing you hear people talking about. I did not however have my camera setup to capture it.
After watching the sun finish up it’s march across the sky I released the hounds and enjoyed a blistering descent back down to my truck. Just another awesome day on a bike in San Diego County.