How to Hike Annie's Canyon Trail, San Diego's Only Slot Canyon

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of That Adventure Life. I am Dustin and I'm Zee and today we are taking on a very short yet fun San Diego adventure. It's Annie's Canyon. So the funny thing is that we used to do this trail all the time when it wasn't official. It used to be called the Mushroom Cave. So there was no sign, there was nothing and we almost died trying to find this place. It's a long story. It was a lot more dangerous back then. Yeah, but there was no sign, there was no one there. It was just the two of us. There was graffiti all over the place but they ended up cleaning out all the graffiti and make the trail into an official trail. So they put, I believe, ladders and, you know, make it look, make it, I guess, more friendly. So we want to show you. I mean, it's sad because I lost how it was before because it's just like you have to go like under the trees and under the rocks to find this place but you know what? It is what it is. It's pretty cool though. So we're gonna show you how to get there. It's pretty easy. There are two separate, there's a couple different trail heads that lead you to Annie's Canyon. The official one is actually off on Solana Hills Road and then they have another one on Rio's Gorge and then there was one more I forgot but we'll put the map right here so you can kind of see it. But we're starting our hike at Solana Hills. So it's, what is it, 47.5 miles? Yeah, if you just want to go to Annie's Canyon, it's like, yeah, about three quarters of a mile. Yeah, if you go longer, there's a way to go. You can try to elope. I'm not that ambitious today. We were up at five in the morning and we did like seven miles of hike before. So I'm not that ambitious. So we're just gonna go to the canyon and then go back. Sounds like a plan. All right, let's go. Even though this is most likely one of the most difficult routes to get to Annie's Canyon, it was absolutely packed when we showed up. Luckily there is a ton of street parking but if you don't get there early, you might have to walk up the hill for quite a ways. And with all the hills on this particular route, you may want to save your energy. This route, we usually go on a different trailhead. We usually take off from Rio's and it's a lot more flat and a little shorter and a little easier. I couldn't, of course, doesn't make me go to this trailhead than the Solana Hills and you have to go up the hill. It's not that bad but I'm not. After that initial climb, it gets dropping down pretty steep. It's all fun and games right now. That way back up is gonna be pretty tough. Both the uphills and downhills here are quite steep and slippery at times. And that's in dry conditions. I can't even imagine trying this after a rain. Either way, you're going to want to wear shoes with a good amount of traction. Over the course of the first four tenths of a mile, you'll be climbing over two hills. On the way out, you're going to be going downhill more than uphill but you know what that means for the way back. You're going to be climbing. Once you start on that second downhill, the trail will drop down right along the side of the I-5 freeway. With this being such a popular trail, everything is really well marked and up to this point, it would be pretty much impossible to get lost. But after passing this portion of the North Coast Trail and its mileage sign, you're going to want to start keeping your eyes on the left side of the trail because eventually you'll see this tiny marker and you need to turn left. There are several good things about this portion of the trail. Not only does it flatten out but there are a lot of trees to give you some shade as well. And if you visit during the spring, you can expect to see quite a few wildflowers along the hike. The views of the San Elijo Lagoon are really nice here and even though this is a popular trail, it can be pretty peaceful down here. Eventually, we reached another fork and since we're going to Annie's Canyon, we went left or kind of more like straight. This brought us to a clearing with an informational sign and plenty of downed trees that you can sit on. If for some reason someone in your group doesn't feel like taking on Annie's Canyon, they can wait for you here. The canyon portion of this trail is a loop and you'll end up right back here when you're done. We're finally here. I'm kidding, kinda. If you see that information kiosk, we're actually at the start of the Annie's Canyon itself. You can see the sign right there. The sign's right here. So if you go that way, it's going to take you through the actual canyon. It's a very short loop but steep. That will be where we're going. If you go straight, that will take you through the other two trailheads that we mentioned. Up, Up Homewood, I believe, and the other one is Rios. If you want easier trails, start from those trailheads. It's still going to take you here to the information kiosk. Without all that up and down. Without all the up and down hills. Yeah, thanks Dustin. But we're gonna go check out Annie's Canyon. Right before you enter the canyon, you are going to have a choice to make. If you go left, you will be taking switchbacks up to the top, which is considered to be moderate difficulty. As viewers of this channel may know, that's not really our style. Going right will take you through a slot canyon and this is more difficult. But in addition to being more difficult, it is also way more fun. Not a long ways into the canyon, you're going to come to a fork. And many many moons ago when we came, we found these people and we're like, which way do we go? Left or right? And they're like, I think you go right. So we went up in there and that's where we said that we almost died. Because there is some very unstable cliffs and thankfully now they've got a sign that says danger. It's not really a slot canyon. I think they were, you know, doing some stuff. So yes, they're the devil's lettuce. Yeah, so when we asked them, they're like, oh yeah, it's pretty easy. Just climb up the cliff. So we went and we climb up the cliffs and I mean, we made it to the cliff, but that was, that was pretty sketchy. Pucker factor 3000. But now you won't get lost because there's a sign there that say danger, do not enter. So just keep going straight. After curving off to the left, the walls are going to start to get a whole lot higher and you are now officially in a slot canyon. Back when we were first visiting here, you used to be able to climb up into all these little caves on the sides and it's really unfortunate that you can't nowadays. But I'm sure a lot of people were probably falling and getting hurt. If you are claustrophobic, this part of the canyon might be just a little bit intense for you. But don't worry, it is pretty short. If you're visiting during the weekend, the other thing that you might find in this slot is a lot of people. So if you are claustrophobic, it might be best to let them go a little ways ahead and then you can rush through. So they didn't block off all of the caves on the route. There is still one that you can get to and it's this one right here. Pretty cool. Unfortunately, you know, as with most things in the canyon, a lot of graffiti, a lot of carving in the rock. So if you visit, don't do it. Don't do it. Yeah, it's pretty sad because before I turned into Annie's Canyon, it was mushroom caves and it was just tons of graffiti and they finally cleaned it up, which is, you know, wonderful. And we went and visited when they first finished cleaning it up and it was really nice. And now it's still like people come in here and carve their name all over the place. I don't really care if you're here or not, you know what I mean? Like, please don't do it. Yeah, just take a picture, put it on Instagram, dang it. Yeah. But yeah, so and clean up after yourself if you come to, you know what I'm saying? Watching you. After leaving the cave, we continued on and things got just a little bit tighter. Things get pretty narrow. Wish I had a smaller lunch. You're a little tight. You're a little ripped. This is where one of the most drastic improvements to this canyon was made. You used to have to scramble your way up this narrow sandstone slot, but now they've put in this really nice ladder. Once you climb it, you will be out of the slot canyon. As much fun as it would be to go up to the viewpoint and come back down through this way, with the narrow slot canyon and the ladder mixed with the nearly constant flow of traffic, it's almost impossible to go back down this way and you should just go down the switchbacks. And another thing is that if you bring small children or dogs as you saw a second ago, you're going to have to carry them up the ladder. So keep that in mind. After a nice little climb, you will be at the top and this is where you can get a great view of the San Alejo Lagoon. A lot of people stop at the top for lunch or a snack, but we were on a mission and after enjoying the view for just a little bit, we were on our way. You would think that the most dangerous parts of this trail are behind you at this point, but the switchbacks are also quite slippery and V and I both slipped a couple of times on the way back down. The switchback section is only about one tenth of a mile long and after a couple more stair sections, you should be back at the fork at the bottom. Even though the canyon is a whole lot safer now, it's still pretty fun. Once you get back to that informational kiosk, if you're taking the route that we are, you're going to be making a right to head back to the One of the things that we noticed on the way back to the car that we didn't spot on our way in was that there was some poison oak lining the trail, so be sure to watch out for that. As we reached the last fork of our short hike, it was time to get to work. We had a couple hundred feet of elevation to gain in a very short distance. This is definitely a good little workout trail, but if this type of climbing is not enough for you, you should check out our video about our hike up to Potato Chip Rock. You can see that video by clicking in the upper corner right now. For some reason on the way back, I had a second wind and I was feeling pretty good, but I don't think that V was sharing in my sudden burst of enthusiasm. We had two downhill sections and one more pretty good sized climb left to go, and unfortunately I think I used up all my energy running up that last hill. It's 397 feet elevation gain, so it's a little steep, just a little bit. It's not that bad. We definitely had a good sweat going as we reached the top of the last hill. The good thing is though, it is all downhill from here. Well there you have it, the abbreviated version of Annie's Canyon. Yes or no, it means it takes you to the Annie's Canyon, it's just not the loop though. Yeah, you can stretch it out a little bit more if you don't feel like you've scratched that hiking itch so far, but we've put in some miles on some other trails today, so we're satisfied with that I'd say. 11 miles. Yeah. I'm good. So I would definitely say that nowadays with all of the ladders and other kind of equipment that they have in the canyon, it's way easier and I think that this is actually kind of a perfect spot where you want to take some junior adventurers, maybe take some kids on their first adventure hike and stuff like that. There are a lot of families, we've seen families older, like older people, little kids, you know. It's really not that difficult. It's not that difficult, but I feel like it's more moderate because along the canyon, I mean you've seen it, there's steps along the way, so you don't really have to like try that hard. But yeah, perfect spot for families, for children, for, you know, more active elderly, beginners. If you've done tons of slal canyon, it can get a little bit boring. It's a little bit boring for me, but it's still really pretty. It makes a good hike. Yeah. So, um. But I'm gonna, we're gonna go. Yeah, we're gonna go. She's tired. Yeah, I'm tired. We were up at five in the morning and we did like over seven miles and we just did, I don't know how many along that day, so. I'm sleepy. She's sleepy. She's gonna go sleep in the car on the way home. So if you enjoyed this, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe. And we have several other awesome San Diego hikes for your viewing pleasure if you're interested. So, uh, hopefully we'll see you in the next one. All right. Bye-bye.