The "World Famous" San Diego Zoo

The steep admission price might seem like it disqualifies the San Diego Zoo from a blog about cheap things to do, but a student membership is a great way to enjoy this amazing park, and it's quite affordable too! As of 2008, 42.oo could get you a year-long pass to the zoo, and the Wild Animal Park as well. Since the zoo is one of our favorite places, we've sprung for the membership two years in a row now.

You might also protest that the San Diego Zoo is a place to see attractions, not to hike. There you would also be wrong. It is quite difficult to resist the urge to stop and see your favorite furry friends, but if you can manage it the zoo can provide a nice hike.  Unlike many zoos, ours has very nice landscaping (officially, it's a botanical garden as well as zoo), and it's situated in a hilly area, which keeps the train interesting, and challenging if you walk at a reasonable speed. While there are many paths through the zoo, there is at least one perimeter path that almost forms a loop, esp. if you are willing to double back once in a while. We walked most of it in about 2 hours, but we couldn't help but stop once in a while to ogle some of the cuter animals. I'm sure you could do it in 1 hour if you had more discipline. 

It would be good to plan this hike on a weekday, especially early in the morning. The zoo tends to be less crowded then, whereas on the weekend you will find yourself tripping over children left and right. We would also recommend picking up a map even if you are a return visitor- it can help you plan out your hike (we got lost a couple of times trying to follow our own route).

Also- it is the law that you have to say the words World Famous before saying San Diego Zoo. Ask anyone who works there.

Shade Index: Plenty of shaded places to stop and rest- 35% shade.

Bathroom Opportunities: Lots. If you don't watch your step you might find it hard not to end up in a bathroom.

No Gorp today- Jymm is currently experiencing technical difficulties that make consumption of Gorp hazardous.

Hiking: Balboa Park

Before we begin here, we should say that this entry is by no means meant to be a comprehensive guide to all things Balboa Park. There are many things, both free and not free, to do there. We plan to cover some of those things in later posts, but today we're going to focus on hiking. There are lots of trails in balboa park.  On the map at left we've highlighted several. (click on it to see a larger view)

The dark green line shows Alan's favorite hike, which has a mixture of green grass, shady trees, and a bit of Urban hiking through the main museum area of the park. Total loop length: about 3-4 miles.  Like most of San Diego, the shade is not complete - perhaps 30% of the hike has shade. At the southern tip of the left-hand loop you will get the thrill of seeing planes fly overhead, almost close enough to touch, as they come in for a landing at nearby San Diego International Airport. It's a bit noisy, but also pretty cool.

The red line shows Jymm's "favorite" hike. It's down in the canyon, which grants lots of shade, and is mostly wooded, with eucalyptus and some evergreens. Actually, Jymm only likes the lower half of the hike - the upper 

half is way too noisy, due to the very close proximity of the 163.  It's about a mile long, one way. 

The yellow line shows a more urban hike, which runs along Upas street, hanging a right onto Park Blvd, and then heads into Florida Canyon. We took a little bit of this route today, and it's a little noisy for our tastes. Florida Canyon also has the disadvantage of being completely without shade and devoid of any but the most scrappy plants due to lack of irrigation. On the map we've only shown the ~1 mile urban part of the hike; follow the arrow to get into Florida canyon. A loop of another 2-3 miles awaits you if you decide to do the canyon part. 

None of these hikes feature "his" and "hers" bushes. But they do have occasional public restrooms, if perhaps the most scuzzy examples of such facilities you will ever see.

Today's Gorp:

banana chips

ginger chips

peanuts

honey roasted peanuts

almonds

pepitas

dried cherries

dried currants

raisins

dried blueberries