Officials celebrate regional trail connection on Saturday

Regional officials will kick off the opening of a new trail connection at a ceremony at the Old Coach North staging area at noon on Saturday, Oct. 8.

All hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians are invited to join San Diego County, San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority, City of Poway and San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy for the opening ceremony.

Jim Cunningham, Poway councilman and San Dieguito River Park Board member, will lead a 10-mile hike from the Trans-County trail south of Poway, through the Poway trail system to the Old Coach North staging area in the San Dieguito River Park, where the hikers will participate in a ceremony to commemorate the new trail connection.

The Old Coach North staging area is at 12460 Highland Valley Road in Escondido.

Comments from participating organizations will take place with a ranger-led walk to follow. Light refreshments will be provided.

San Dieguito River Park, in cooperation with Poway, has established a north/south trail linkage between the San Dieguito River Park Coast-to-Crest Trail and the Trans County Trail through the City of Poway Trail system.

The new linkage almost doubles the length of continuous regional trail system available to trail users by joining the 23 continuous existing miles of the San Dieguito River Park system to the 14 miles of the Trans-County system through 8 miles of the Poway Trail system, according to Leana Bulay with San Dieguito River Park.

The regional trail overlays Poway’s trail system that includes 55 miles of linked trails providing regional trail access.

Established in 1989, the San Dieguito River Park is a 94,000-acre open space greenway in San Diego’s North County, stretching more than 55 miles from the ocean at Del Mar to Volcan Mountain near Julian.

For more information, including trail maps and activities, visit www.sdrp.org.