This week, take a moment to appreciate America's public lands

This is the Trail Report, a weekly email newsletter from reporter Maura Fox about hikes and San Diego County's outdoors. Sign up to get it in your inbox first, every Friday.

There's a lot to reflect on as we celebrate 250 years of the United States. As an outdoorsy-minded person, I've been thinking about my time spent on the country's public lands: camping in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, summiting Mount Whitney and San Gorgonio, rock climbing in New Mexico and hiking on trails in the Smoky Mountains - what a gift to have these places.

Over the next 250 years, I hope we prioritize and better care for the land that gives us so much.

I'd love to hear about some of your favorite outdoor locations, in San Diego and around the country, that make you grateful to live here, so drop me an email.

For my hike this week, I headed to Buena Vista Park in North County for a short loop. This is a great option for families - it's shady and travels along the Agua Hedionda Creek, and it begins at a park with a duck pond.

In La Jolla, city officials and lifeguards are urging hikers to avoid using unmaintained trails - AKA "false trails" - on the cliffs above Blacks Beach. "Many of the rescues in the area involve people who leave the main trail and end up on terrain that is much more difficult to navigate than they expected," a city spokesperson said.

I was also delighted to see that James Hubbell's San Diego County home was accepted into the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios, which preserves homes and working studios of American artists. Hubbell designed sculptures and structures on a few of my favorite walks (one at Shelter Island and the other in East County) and he believed that art and nature exist in harmony, my colleague Madeleine Kashkooli reported this week.

A few state and national stories also caught my eye this week. In New York, a couple climbed the Empire State Building (with no ropes) for an extravagant marriage proposal. They also unfurled a sign that read "When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace." They're now facing a handful of charges.

Back in California, a man was rescued after falling into a vault toilet while trying to retrieve his sunglasses at a Sierra Nevada campground late last month. Any camper will tell you about the less-than-awesome experience of using those vault toilets (hello, flies and stench), and the thought of falling into one fills me with dread, to say the least.

Stay safe out there, folks.

Enjoy the holiday and the rest of your week,

Maura

Hike of the week: Buena Vista Park in North County is a summertime gem

Lifeguards warn of hazards on ‘false trails' near Black's Beach

Hike of the week: 5 shady hikes for the heat of summer

Sculptor James Hubbell's San Diego County home accepted into Historic Artists' Homes and Studios

Couple charged with felonies for Empire State Building climb-turned-proposal

Man rescued after falling into vault toilet at California campground

A marine heat wave caused seabird deaths off California. El Nino could worsen the die-off

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This story was originally published July 2, 2026 at 4:19 PM.