Welcome to Rancho de los Peñasquitos (Ranch of
the Little Rocks), also known as PQ. And welcome to the Los Peñasquitos
Canyon Preserve. There
are miles of trails for hikers, bikes, and horses and a nice sized
creek (you got it, PQ Creek) that flows year
‘round.
It’s about 6 miles from the east end to the west. There are plenty of caches already
here that are Standard caches, and that’s great. I have a couple here
myself. But I have so
many ideas for puzzles but very little time or ambition to go
around town looking for unique locations to place them. So why not use all this open space
close to home? I know
there is an unofficial area down near Rancho San Diego called
Puzzle Valley , but why not have one in the North County
? North County
officially starts here on the north side of PQ Canyon (the south
side belongs to Mira Mesa). There you have it.
On with the first puzzle. You are looking for N32 xx.xxx W 117 xx.xxx and an
ammo box.
Start Puzzle:
End Puzzle.
Information on PQ Canyon (not part of the
puzzle):
Since the most accessible area is the eastern
end, I will start here at Canyonside Community Park where there is
plenty of free parking.
This is a wild area so keep an eye out for plants (poison oak) and
critters (ticks, snakes, coyotes, deer). The creek has a couple of
crossover places. I
wouldn’t call them bridges but they are made from wood and
are sturdy so you shouldn’t have to rock hop. There is one about every
mile. One is near the
Ranch House here at the eastern end. There’s another one called
PQ Creek Park Crossing near PQ Creek Park down along Park Village
Rd about a mile down the creek. And one down by the Power Towers
called Carson ’s Crossing another mile further
downstream. You can
also cross at what is called the Waterfall, but there is no bridge
there at around 3 miles. You have to boulder hop to
cross. This is a very
popular destination for hikers. Just a little further down is the
next crossing called Sycamore Crossing about 4 miles downstream (I
recently checked on it and found there is no bridge). There is also one way down at the
western end about 5 miles away called Wagon Wheel
Crossing. So welcome to
our gem that is here for everyone to enjoy.
Please note that there is additional parking
on the south side of the creek on Black Mountain Road at the foot
of Mercy Rd. However,
there is a parking fee for that lot. And the gates close at
Dusk. Also note that PQ
Canyon technically closes during rain storms. Closed signs will be posted in
that case. It is for
both safety and preservation reasons.
For a map of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve
check this link:
http://www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/pdf/penasquitoscanyon.pdf
Note: if you use the Conversion Link -
add .001 to North. That link truncates the numbers. If
you use a calculator, just round up.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com.