Kelly Ditch Trail Offers Range of Riotous Color

Leaf peekers, or leaf peepers, as autumn tourists are dubbed in New England, will enjoy viewing the brown, yellow, and crimson leaves of the Cuyamaca Mountains high country. The 100-mile trail network crisscrossing Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in San Diego County offers homesick New Englanders--and native Californian day hikers--some colorful adventures.

One fine autumn pathway is the newly completed Kelly Ditch Trail, which travels from Cuyamaca Reservoir at the north end of the state park to William Heise Park. Along the way, you’ll cross mile-high slopes, which host rich forests of ponderosa and Jeffrey pine, fir and incense cedar, as well as some wonderful specimens of live and black oak.

Kelly Ditch Trail is so named because it follows Kelly Ditch, a century-old waterworks project. Chinese laborers dug a ditch in order to channel runoff water from the Cuyamaca Mountains into the then newly formed Cuyamaca Reservoir.

If you can arrange a car shuttle or if you have a non-hiker in your group, Kelly Ditch Trail can be a one-way day hike. You can begin at the state park trail head and arrange to be picked up a few hours later at William Heise Park, operated by San Diego County. Most hikers will prefer beginning at the state park end of the trail, because the route will be mostly downhill.

For more visitor information about Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, drop by the park headquarters/nature museum, just off California 79 in the middle of the park. Hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on the weekends. Information: (619) 765-0755.

Directions to trail head: From Julian, drive eight miles south on California 79. As you reach Cuyamaca Reservoir, just past the point where Engineers Road crosses the highway, you’ll see a state park boundary sign and another sign that reads “Trail.” Park in a safe manner on the shoulder of the highway.

If you’re planning a one-way hike, here’s how to get to William Heise Park: Drive one mile west of Julian on California 78/79. Turn south on Pine Hills Road and proceed four miles, following signs to the park. Kelly Ditch Trail departs from the picnic area near the park-entry kiosk.

The Hike: The trail crests a low rise and promptly descends into the historic ditch. Oaks and tall brush overhang the ditch and for a mile you feel as if you’re walking in a tunnel. Sometimes you parallel the ditch and sometimes you walk in the ditch itself. Through gaps in the oak canopy, you get glimpses of nearby canyons aflame with fall color and when the light is just right--the blue Pacific.

After a mile, the ditch continues, but the trail turns north and ascends over a manzanita-covered slope. Soon you’ll cross paved Engineers Road and pick up the trail again on the other side near a horse trough.

At an unsigned junction, the trail meets an old dirt road. Bear right on the dirt road, which curves up and around a forested slope of North Peak. You hike through a pastoral Southern California that you thought had disappeared a hundred years ago. Gnarled old oaks stand above a blanket of ferns and dry grasses. After a few more bends in the road, you pass through a handsome stand of sugar pine.

About 2 1/2 miles from the trail head, you’ll encounter another unsigned junction. Stay left and continue on the more-traveled road, which soon becomes a trail.

Your descent to William Heise Park begins on an acorn- and pine-needle-covered trail that travels through a forest of black oaks, ponderosa and Coulter pine and cedar. Two miles of steep switchbacks and a 1,000-foot elevation loss bring you to Cedar Creek.

The trail climbs out of the creek bed, descends one-half mile on a dirt road, then climbs another half mile to the picnic area in William Heise Park.

Round-trip hikers will gather their strength for the return to Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, while those employing a car shuttle will relax in pretty William Heise Park.

Kelly Ditch Trail

Cuyamaca State Park to William Heise Park

Eleven miles round trip; 1,200-foot elevation loss and gain