Everyone should visit the vernal pools when they are in one of their flourishing phases. Most of the year they are dried up and you wouldn’t see very much and would not be able to appreciate their unique beauty and understand why we need to protect the 10% of the original amount that still exist today here in San Diego. The middle of March in the average year signals the wetting phase of the vernal pool cycle and we will see aquatic plants, water fleas, boatmen, larvae, tadpoles, and fairy shrimp in the waters with minuscule rare and endangered plants, like the intoxicatingly fragrant Del Mar Mesa Mint, sprouting on the edges of the pools. You have to bend down and look closely but it’s well worth the effort.

Meet at: Carmel Mountain Preserve Trailhead at intersection of Fairpoint and Shorepoint. 

Sponsored by the Friends of los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve.