Julian and Cuyamaca

This area in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is part of our "old stomping grounds" from our childhood. Almost every summer we stayed at the horse camp (destroyed by fire in 2003) and would walk up to the mine where I took these photos at sunset, watching for deer coming out to feed at dusk. Or we would ride our horses up through the mine on our way to ride around Lake Cuyamaca. We also used to climb Stonewall Peak (top photos) on every trip: two miles to the summit and two miles down of narrow pathways. Most of this area burned five years ago in the Cedar Fire of 2003, and the evidence of the fire is everywhere. We miss our camping trips to Los Caballos Horse Camp -- my mom camped there as a child, and my brother, sister and I camped there almost every summer, and even my own kids have camped there when they were very young.