This is my (and my husband’s) favorite place to run. It’s also great for hikers and mountain bikers. There is such variety and so many trails, we’re constantly discovering new places and never get bored. Our favorite is the out and back trail (starting from the western parking lot on Sorrento Valley Blvd) over gently rolling hills to the eastern side of the preserve, where there’s a parking lot and a camping area. It’s almost 12 miles, but it’s a beautiful trail and you can just go any distance and turn around. It gets shadier the farther in you go, crossing a couple brooks.
We’ve seen amazing wildlife there, and to think that it’s hidden in the middle of so much residential and commercial development is hard to believe. We live in Del Mar so the closest parking lot for us is the lot on the south side of Sorrento Valley Blvd, about a mile east of Vista Sorrento Pkwy.
Funny story – a couple years ago, someone in our running group told us that Los Penasquitos is one of Meb Keflezighi’s favorite runs (he’s the US silver medalist in the marathon ’04 Athens Olympics as well as NYC Marathon winner, etc). Sure enough, one day, we were loping along at our 10-min mile pace and there goes Meb, just whizzing by us on a hill. My husband said, “Hey, Meb!” and he turned around, stopped and chatted with us for a few minutes. Very cool. Enjoy!
