The Flies Have It!

The results of the voice vote were in:  we decided to bug-out one day early and return home from our Palomar Mountain State Park camping trip. The combination of an early summer heat wave and an unusually large bloom of native insects led us to this decision.

At just over 5000 feet elevation, and tucked away in the Doane Valley on the slopes of Mount Palomar, the state park is really quite scenic. There are lots of pine and cedar trees, mixed with very large old oak trees, all of which provide plenty of shade within the campground. The campground is one of the more vertical campgrounds we’ve been to. Most of the campsites are along a steep and winding loop road. We had one of the few sites where you could park a trailer. Even at that, we used all of our leveling blocks in order to get the right side of the trailer elevated enough to center the leveling bubble. Once that was done, we had to add a step stool below the entrance stair so we could get in and out of the trailer. We were within 100 yards of the restrooms and showers, but getting there and back was the equivalent of descending and ascending several flights of stairs.

We knew a heat wave was coming, but we figured it would be cooler up in the mountains. We lucked out and avoided any traffic jams on our way south down the 5 Freeway. When we pulled off at the rest area in Oceanside, the air was almost cold at 68 degrees. Once we got onto eastbound Highway 76, the temperature started to increase a few degrees each mile. It was in the 90’s when we reached the outskirts of Pala.

This is also where we got into a traffic jam. Cal Trans had a flagman working at each end of the road closure on the highway. We waited nearly thirty minutes for our group of eastbound traffic to move through the repair zone. While we were waiting, the flagman came up to our car to explain that his crew was removing rocks and boulders from a landslide zone next to the highway. The workers were actually rappelling down the side of the mountain to excavate and, if necessary, blast away rocks. Once we got through there it was smooth sailing to Rincon Springs, where we made a left turn and headed up San Diego County Road 6 (S6) toward Mount Palomar.

S6 is a steep and twisty road and it gave the Subaru quite a workout climbing up into the mountains. There are great views of the Pauma Valley and surrounding areas as you work your way up the mountain. We expected things to get cooler as we passed the 2000’, 3000’ and 4000’ elevation markers. However, when we got to the entrance to the State Park, the temperature was still in the high 80’s.

The friendly ranger at the entrance wished us a happy stay and with a wry (at least that’s the way I see it in hindsight) smile informed us that, “The flies are really bad this week, there are lots of rattlesnakes off the trails, and by the way we had a mountain lion sighting in the campground just recently.” This really pumped us up.

As I mentioned earlier, the campground is beautiful and we got things set up pretty quickly. We also quickly realized that the flies were, indeed, going to be more than a minor annoyance. While we were setting up camp we talked to a couple of fellow campers who were coming back from a hike. The most notable aspect of their hiking gear was the mosquito netting each of them had draped over their heads. They told us they had learned from last year’s trip that the nets (these are bags with an elastic band that slip over your hat and your head) were a critical piece of equipment for camping in this area. They told us the nets were available at a sporting goods store back in the big city.

It was still early afternoon when we drove back about four miles to a country store we saw earlier. Karen wanted an ice cream sandwich. When we got to the store we found the ice cream and to our great joy and surprise, we found a pair of insect head nets (the store also sold full-body insect net suits, which should tell you all you need to know about insect season at Palomar) which we bought along with a bottle of insect repellent and an anti-itch bite relief stick. We were ready to go up against the bugs.

On the way back to the campground we stopped at the Boucher Hill Fire Lookout Tower. The tower is actually an old army surplus air traffic control tower that was placed there in 1947 to replace the previous structure. The tower is staffed with volunteers who give tours of the tower and who commit to manning the tower for two days each month. As you’d expect, there is a great panoramic view from atop the tower. Inside, it has a distinct 1940’s vibe, helped out by the standard light green paint scheme, the old linoleum flooring, and a vintage range/oven/kitchen sink cabinet. Climbing the stairs to the tower reminded me of James Stewart’s climb up the bell tower in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, ‘Vertigo’.

Back at camp, the sun began to set and we noticed something – the flies were going away. It wasn’t long, however, before we heard a different timbre of buzzing. Instead of flies, it was mosquitoes moving in for their evening feast. So this was how it was to be: flies working the day shift and mosquitoes working the night shift.

The Aliner worked pretty good as a sanctuary from the bugs. We kept the door closed and this kept most of the insects out. Those who made it in were quickly dispatched by the flyswatters Karen and I each had at our sides. We ate most of our meals inside the trailer on this trip. We also learned how to lift our head netting before taking a drink or taking a bite of food. It’s funny how automatic eating and drinking can become and even more funny when you forget to move the net before doing so.

After a very warm first night, Karen got us up early to do some fishing at Doane Pond, which was about a quarter mile from our campsite. The pond is quite picturesque and is located at one end of a pretty alpine meadow. We started fishing at about 7:30AM and the flies were already out in full force. We had more bites from the flies than we did from the fish, so we called it a day after an hour or two. We saw a small family of mule deer in the meadow as we were leaving, and Karen spotted a couple of wild turkeys (the next morning I saw a group of 10 deer grazing in the same meadow).

Since the fish weren’t biting, we decided to jump in the car with a picnic lunch and check out the Palomar Observatory. The observatory, about 12 miles from the campground at the end of a scenic winding road, is operated by Cal Tech and is open to the public during the day. We did not get to go on a guided tour (they’re only given on weekends), but we did get to tour the museum and the observatory and the telescope ante-room. The star of the observatory is the 200 inch Hale Telescope. Until the last 30 years or so, it was the biggest telescope in the world. There’s quite a history to it, including the fact that the mirror construction began in 1936 and was not complete until 1948 (info at the museum says Cal Tech spent 11 years polishing the mirror to get it ready) while the observatory itself only took just over a year to build.   

After a picnic lunch at the observatory, we went back to the camp (stopped by the country store for another ice cream sandwich) and got things ready for dinner. We were adventurous enough to eat dinner outside that night. Thanks to the large and smoky campfire we built, we kept most of the insects at bay while we ate. After a rousing card game of UNO, we retreated to the shelter of the Aliner, swatted a few more bugs and went to sleep dreaming of cool breezes and a net-free existence.

Next trip:  Big Bear Lake in July