Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve is an urban park in San Diego, California . Stretching approximately 7 miles (11 km), the park encompasses some 4,000 acres (16 km) of both Peñasquitos and Lopez canyons, and is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. The preserve is jointly owned and administered by the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego.
14-519: Los Peñasquitos is also home to the historic Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos , an adobe home built in the early 1820s. Operated by the County of San Diego, the home has been restored and tours are available for the public. More than 500 plant species, more than 175 types of birds, and a great variety of reptiles, amphibians and mammals make up the rich bio-diversity of the park. Many of these species are rare or endangered. Mammals commonly spotted in
28-740: A distance of 18 miles. The road went on to San Jose Valley , Vallecito , across the Colorado Desert , to cross the Colorado River into Sonora. From the time of the California Gold Rush San Pasqual became a stop on the main road for wagon and stagecoach traffic following the American Conquest of California . The Kumeyaay of San Passqual were evicted from their land and homes in 1878 by San Diego County authorities. They have become known as
42-652: Is a historic 1823 adobe ranch home located in the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve in San Diego, California . The San Diego County Parks & Recreation department offers tours on weekends. The area has archeological sites , with artifacts found showing indigenous people living here for over six thousand years. The Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve park also preserves habitat on the former rancho lands for more than 500 plant species , with many being rare or endemic native plants in
56-405: Is found. 32°56′0″N 117°10′2″W / 32.93333°N 117.16722°W / 32.93333; -117.16722 Rancho Santa Maria de Los Pe%C3%B1asquitos Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos was a 8,486-acre (34.34 km ) Mexican land grant in present-day southwestern San Diego County, California , given in 1823 to Francisco María Ruiz . The name means "Saint Mary of
70-651: Is ongoing. A tree endemic to only this area is the Torrey Pine , the rarest native pine in the United States and an endangered species surviving in a single mainland population within Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and the adjacent coastal strip. 32°56′17″N 117°07′37″W / 32.938°N 117.127°W / 32.938; -117.127 San Pasqual, San Diego County, California San Pasqual ,
84-768: The Kumeyaay pueblo , in San Diego County, California , that was once located in the San Pasqual Valley and for which the valley is named. In pre-Hispanic times the Kumeyaay had lived for centuries in the San Pasqual Valley. Following the closing of the missions by the Mexican government in 1833, the Kumeyaay moved back to their San Pasqual Valley and the Kumeyaay pueblo of San Pasqual
98-587: The Kumeyaay settlement of Awil Nyawa . Ruiz built the first ranch house on the rancho in 1824, which was later expanded upon. In 1837 Ruiz sold his ranch to Francisco María Alvarado - a grandnephew. After Ruiz died in 1839, Alvarado moved to the ranch, and lived in the adobe home built by Ruiz. Alvarado married Tomasa Pico (1801 - 1876), and they gave the property to their daughter Maria Estéfana Alvarado (1840 - 1926) when she married Captain George Alonzo Johnson (1823 - 1903) in 1859. With
112-620: The cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War , the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Los Peñasquitos was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, Capt. Johnson inherited the ranch by the time the U.S. government granted a patent to the land in 1876. The rancho
126-449: The coastal sage scrub ecosystem . This locale was known to be quite wooded with riparian forests and oak woodlands as late as the 1880s, at which time California state survey recommended preservation of the locale's trees and woodland plant communities to prevent further erosion and subsequent flooding, which had already occurred from areas of prior deforestation . Additional present-day park land acquisition and plant restoration
140-658: The Little Cliffs". It encompassed the present-day communities of Mira Mesa , Carmel Valley , and Rancho Peñasquitos in northern San Diego , and was inland from the Torrey Pines State Natural Preserve bluffs. The Rancho Santa Maria de los Peñasquitos was the first Mexican land grant in present-day San Diego County . Ruiz built an adobe home on the rancho, which was north of the Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá , and nearby
154-474: The lady of the house. Rancho Peñasquitos was 20 miles from San Diego and 16 miles from the next station at San Pasqual . Capt. Johnson sold the rancho in 1880 to Colonel Jacob Shell Taylor, founder of Del Mar . Charles F. Mohnike owned the ranch in 1910. In 1921 George Sawday and Oliver Sexon bought the ranch and stocked it with cattle. Real estate developer Irvin J. Kahn bought Rancho Peñasquitos in 1962. Rancho de Los Peñasquitos ( Little Cliffs Ranch )
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#1732801005610168-571: The preserve include mule deer, bobcats, coyotes, and rabbits. A rare mountain lion attack occurred in May 2019. The geology of the Preserve area has been described in a geology book by John Northrup in conjunction with the University of California & published by Windsor Associates. Nearby is Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve , where one of only two extant stands of the endangered Torrey Pine
182-651: Was also a way station on the wagon road to Warner's Ranch from San Diego via San Pasqual and Santa Ysabel Asistencia , from the 1840s. From 1857 to 1860 the rancho was a way station on that road for the coaches of the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line on the 125 mile route between San Diego and Carrizo Creek Station via the Warner's Ranch road, and the Southern Emigrant Trail . Passengers were given meals here, served by
196-542: Was established on November 16, 1835. The village of San Pasqual was a stop on the road between San Diego and Sonora from the late 1820s. The road ran from San Diego to Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos then 16 miles to the village, then turned south and up to the ridge line bordering the south side of the valley, then eastward into the Santa Maria Valley (through what became Rancho Valle de Pamo , and later modern Ramona ) and on to Santa Ysabel for
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