The Wilderness Preserve

Just up the road from Fallbrook, on Palomar Mountain, there is a great preserve called the Wilderness Gardens.   I've wanted to go there for a long time, but it's pretty isolated so I needed to wait for Aaron to come with us.  When he was finally able to take a break from home repair, we hit the trail. 

The boys love hiking with Daddy.  I love Lilly riding on someone else's back.
There preserve sits on land that was once a ranch.  Some of the old buildings are still there. They are worn and weathered, and fun to explore.
It's not very often that we get to be in a place where we can hear quiet.  But with only mountains and trees around, the sounds of the world are muffled.  
For the boys, the best part of the adventure was climbing rocks in the river.  At first we kept telling them to "stay out of the water", "stay on the dry rocks", and don't get your feet muddy." We quickly abandoned that idea.  

They had a blast climbing the biggest boulders they could find, fording the river, rolling logs into the water and getting soaked to the skin.  That is why I always carry a change of clothes. 


The boys have asked often to go back to the Wilderness preserve, as they call it.  We're planning a trip when it's hot and we can play in the river all day long.