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Palomar Mountain ~3~ The drive down!

On the way up this mountain I noticed a million shots I could’ve of taken. I wanted to get to the picnic spot for our lunch before it reached midnight, so I waited until the ride home to take some of the pictures I wanted on the way up.

I took so many pictures this trip that I had to break this post into three different posts. For part 1 and 2 click the links below.

Palomar Mountain in San Diego County California -1

Palomar Mountain in San Diego, California -2

Now for the rest.

I pulled over as soon as we got to the main road. This road is built on the side of the mountain and offers great views. This is also the side of the mountain that got the most ravaged by the recent fires here.

I left off yesterday with two of the views from this stop.

Here is the whole view, panning from left to right.

1.

2.

3.

I mentioned that this side of the mountain went up in blaze. You can see where the fire was.

Here is an article that is really well written in 2008,  just after the fires were put out. It is a short read and worth it. If you would care to look it is in purple below.

https://www.firehouse.com/home/news/10503686/it-took-a-team-to-save-palomar-mountain-from-the-fire

Just more shots of the same view…

Here is an piece of the article that I mentioned above:

Toward sunrise they thought they had the fire cut off. But there were no aircraft flying water retardant drops and by 9 a.m. the fire jumped the line, “and we realized then we were going to get the brunt of this fire,” Chief Lucia said. They regrouped at the top of the mountain and started pre-treating and getting ready. They had two Cleveland National Forest Engines with a commander, their own engine and a couple of type six patrol units. Their Type III woodland unit had been dispatched with crew to another fire two days earlier but it was returned to them later in the day. And later he gained another engine and water tender through mutual aid.

By 10 a.m. access to the top of the mountain had been cut off by the blaze. There still was no air support. They projected where the fire was going and moved in to make a stop by pre-treating the roadside brush with fire gel and did some back burns. The fire direction changed and things were holding on top of the mountain.

The next is a straight down shot… There are no guard rails, just the boulders seen above.

More straight down shots. You can see the road in these. I think there are 11 switchbacks on this road, making this road a favorite drive for motorcyclists.

The view framed. You can see where they used the fire retardant. The left side was burned while the right was not. Those are Live Oak Trees that you see.

On more before we continue down the mountain.

The next stop is the spring water!!

There is a little roadside fill up station built long ago. The water comes straight out of the side of this mountain. These shots are panning left to right. The first I had to make black and white. It just seemed to fit.

All the faucets were in working order. You can fill up five gallon jugs for free.

We filled up a one gallon container to bring home.

Closer..

We also drank as much as we could from the drinking faucet. It sure was delicious.

The end of our day on the mountain!

We made it home, and Luna sure was tired.

She fell asleep early! lol

Now for the bummer, I did not realize that the Plague was found here. For that article you can click the purple below.

https://virily.com/science-nature/i-am-a-bit-worried-about-the-bubonic-plague/

It has been 6 days since we went up to the mountain, the dogs are not sick. I think the worry is over.

I hope you have a great day!

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What do you think?

Written by Kim_Johnson

6 Comments

  1. Those are gorgeous photos and make me want to drive up there, but do not worry I will not take any animals up there nor go very far from the car. Again, I don’t think there is any more plague up there than anywhere else in California. It is just that most places do not conduct testing for it.

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  2. Oh man I loved all of them and Luna’s nose at the end was perfect! The views form the top were wow. And too bad about the wildfires. At least there are live oaks left. The roadside station was something else to see and to still be able to get water form the faucets. That is just too cool for school Kim. Great photos and loved the journey as always.

    Devastating news about the plague.

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    • Thank you Carol. The roadside station was the highlight I think. I remember it as a child, mom and dad filled up the car radiator here one time, when it over heated. We stayed here for a few hours letting the car cool. Thanks again for coming along with me!