#15 August 2003
Welcome to the Foundation’s fifteenth E-News, an end-of-the-month monthly newsletter designed to keep you up-to-date with developments and progress related to the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail. TRAIL DAY 2003 bookings are still open. Everyone who worked with us last year will remember what a great day this was, and how much we achieved on the Trail. See YOU and your family this year!
Maxim of the month
The number of people out and about in the desert wilderness declines with the square of the distance and with the cube of the elevation gain from the nearest road.
Jerry Schad
Trail updates
News from Ranger Gina Brown in Los Penasquitos Canyon, that the portion of the Sea to Sea Trail between Black Mountain Road and I-15 will be closed from September 2 into November. “Metropolitan Waste Water Department is beginning a required cleaning of all canyon sewer lines", said Gina. “And portions of the trail will be widened to accommodate the large equipment need to perform the sewer line cleaning. The City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department and the Metropolitan Waste Water Department thank you for your cooperation in regard to the trail closure."
The California Native Plant Society San Diego Chapter is holding its annual native plant sale on Saturday October 18th at Balboa Park, Casa del Prado Courtyard, in San Diego. The event is open to Society members at 9:15am, and to the public from 10am to 3pm. If you’re not a Society member, never mind, you can join at the event. In addition to Southern California nativeplants, posters and books on sale, there’s also free advice from experienced chapter members. For more information, please click here, or phone 619-685-7321.
September 19/20/21 - book now for this year’s TRAIL DAY 2003 right here! Bring all the family as we’ve activities for everyone and for every age.
TRAIL DAY 2003 will be held up in the Cuyamacas this year. We’ll all be camping at Los Vaqueros Group Camp from Friday night. Saturday you’ll be fully fed and watered with breakfast, lunch and a huge barbecue dinner, while spending the day working out on the Trail. Saturday night also includes live entertainment and our own real live magician, the Amazing Dana. We’ll even look after your children for the day (16 and under) who won’t be eligible to work on the Trail, with a fun-packed education day.
Sunday’s a fun day for all, with a large variety of activities to chose from, including SDMBA-guided mountain biking for a range of ability levels; guided hikes and walks 
ranging from sweat’s up to learning all about the local flora and fauna and history; REI clinics on map reading and using a GPS and; from our very own Bill Gookin of Gookinaid, a variety of orienteering courses.
Goodies abound for TRAIL DAY this year! Every worker receives their own REI working T-shirt, Nikwax Fabric and Leather samples and a 30mm Pacsafe padlock – and there’ll be more! Prizes in this year’s opportunity drawing include Nikwax Care Kits; Kelty backpacks, including their large 50 Year Anniversary pack; Princeton Tec headlamps, Alpine Beer Co T-shirts and more. And for the ultimate in breakfasts, J C Resorts is sponsoring mouth-watering pastries. Any queries, please e-mail Kristen just as soon as possible.
This month’s Web site
Did you know that we had an American Ecotourism Association in the US? Ever wondered what the concept of eco-tourism really meant and how it could relate to holidaying within the US? Then this is the site for you - See America Naturally – the home of the American Eco-Tourism Association. The American Ecotourism Association (AEA) is specifically promoting ecotourism and cultural awareness within the US. Their purpose is broad and changing as we better understand ecotourism and its impact on the traveler, local community, economy, environment and tourism industry.
2003 Water Monitoring Day
Hold the date, folks – October 18 is this year’s World Water Monitoring Day. Last year you all helped make San Diego the US’s largest and most successful Water Monitoring Day – this year we want to do even better and help get even more school children out into the field to learn all about watershed management. San Diego County’s watershed is rich in biological resources and diversity, but much of this has been depleted or is currently threatened – you can help protect it. For more info click here - and we’ll keep you posted on activities coming up.
Extra updated Trail maps
With the trusty help of dedicated volunteers, we’re now offering marked-up USGS topo maps of the Trail as it currently stands. Courtesy of Philip Erdelsky, we’ve now maps from the Pacific Ocean up to the Cuyamacas. Click here to see them. Philip is regularly adding maps to the site, so keep an eye out for his updates.
In the News
We haven’t mentioned this page lately, but there’s been a fair bit of activity in the papers (even The New York Times!) and on local television – more info here.
A cry for help!
The Foundation is looking for a few more volunteers for some of our outstanding community outreach programs, as well as for generally getting the word out. Let Kristen know if you can see yourself in any of these roles, or would like any further information on them.
- Join the Trail Day 2003 organizing committee: we’ve a dynamic group of nearly 20 people who are helping to organize the most amazing Trail Day you’ll ever experience (this year). If you want to be a part of what’s going to be an awesome September weekend, then this is your chance.
- Help ensure as many kids as possible get to experience Outdoors Education 2003: we’ve got an terrific education program for local kids, out on the Trail, and would like extra help getting the word out and the kids to the events. Click here for more details on OE2003.
- A business database: we’re very keen to create a database of all businesses within a half-mile to mile radius of the Trail, from where you can develop the shots you just took of you and your pals out on the Trail, to where you could purchase a plaster for that nagging blister.
- Pacing out the Trail: here’s a good one! We have the use of a measuring wheel (courtesy of Trail volunteer Gene Dixon) and, starting from the Pacific Ocean, we need the Trail measured in miles – all 140 miles! And then we need each mile point’s GPS coordinates. Easy!
- Team building out on the Trail: we want as many San Diego businesses as possible to know that the Trail is an amazing resource, whereby their people can help create and build a priceless local resource. Qualcomm, Nokia and Callaway Golf are leading the way! Click here for more details.
- Learning out on the Trail: sponsored by REI, the Foundation is launching an experience-based program, helping to get children, and adults, out on the Trail to experience what it means to go hiking, backpacking and even to spend a night out under the stars. We want to get them out there, and we’ll try and give those children an overnight hands-on outdoors-learning experience that may change a life. If you’d like more information on ‘Learning out on the Trail’, either as a volunteer or want to experience the program for yourself, please e-mail Scott, manager of the Foundation’s program.
Trail goodies
Here’s the perfect opportunity to show you care in your support for the Foundation and the Trail, and to tell the world you’ve been out there. For your very own Foundation T-shirts, travel mug, coffee mug, Trail baseball cap and bumper sticker, just click here.
Book now for OE2003 events
Book now for our Outdoors Education 2003 events for middle school children, to be held along the Trail and looking at environmental issues facing San Diego County. For all information on the events, click here. Our OE2003 events now have a very cool flyer – if you’d like copies to distribute at a middle school near you, please e-mail Kristen. NB. Please note that the July 22 event at the Kumeyaay-Ipai Interpretive Center has been moved to October 18; and the September 14 Los Penasquitos Lagoon event has moved to October 26.
Sign up to the Foundation’s eScrip Program!
As another way of raising money for the Foundation’s education program, we’re thrilled we’ve been accepted into the national eScrip Program. Many of you, especially those with school-aged children, may be already familiar with eScrip. eScrip’s a hassle-free way for non-profits such as the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail Foundation that support children’s programs to raise funds through everyday purchases made at eScrip merchants.
eScrip and over 150 merchant partners have created a system that rewards customer loyalty by contributing a percentage of purchases to your chosen group. You shop the way you like to shop (grocery shopping, buying clothes, travel and entertainment). It’s simple, safe and convenient; all you need to do is register your grocery club card and debit/credit card(s). It’s also simple to register:
• Log on to http://www.escrip.com/ and go to ‘sign up’ (orange bar at the top), or e-mail Kristen for details.
• Designate the Foundation to receive contributions. Our Group ID is #150734477.
• Register your grocery club card from a participating merchant, your Chevron card and your debit/credit cards.
And that’s it! Visit eScrip merchants to shop and earn. It’s automatic! For more information, just click here.
Sign up as a Friend of the Foundation for 2003
To assist us in our ongoing mission, join up as a Friend of the Foundation, by clicking here and helping us make it all happen! And don’t forget to check out our valued Supporters page.
Adopt a Tree out on the Trail!
Adopting a tree – a native California Oak or Sycamore – along the route of the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail is a gift for a 1,000 years. Not only is it a wonderful gift for someone close to you, or even for yourself, but it is an excellent way to help support the building and maintenance of the Trail. And importantly it helps preserve and add to the Trail’s native habitats. All for $100.
Adopting a tree is easy. We do all the work for you, working with the agencies along the Trail to identify the planting sites, order the five-gallon trees, plant and care for the planting sites. And for your support, we’ll send you or your loved ones, a certificate of their adoption. For more information, just click here.
Traveling?
If so, try Orbitz.com. Just click here and then click on the Orbitz button. Every time you make a travel reservation of any sort, the Foundation receives a commission. That means more of the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail can be built and maintained for your enjoyment, and more of its environmental and historical treasures can be preserved for future generations.
Schools Community Service Credit
If you know of anyone who needs to collect credits for their community service projects, then we may be just the right project for them. We’ve got lots of opportunities for students to join us on Trail Work Days in the weekends. And if there’s an entire group or class who would like to get out on the Trail working as a team, we can arrange a workday just for them, any day of the week. The teams will by fully supervised by Rangers (as are all our workdays), and it’s a great outdoors experience! Our Volunteer Program Application Form can be found by clicking here, and includes a section specifically for California Schools Community Service Credit. Please e-mail Kristen for further information.
Did you know?
San Diego County is rated one of the 25 wildlife hot spots in the world.
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