Torrey Pines State Reserve

Torrey Pines State Reserve

A Torrey pine exhibiting salt pruning in its windswept native habitat.

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is a coastal state park located in the California community of La Jolla, California, off North Torrey Pines Road (formerly a part of U.S. Route 101). Although it is located within San Diego, California city limits,^[1] it remains one of the wildest stretches of land (8 km²) on the Southern California coast. It is bordered immediately on the south by Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course and on the north by the city of Del Mar, California.

The reserve consists of a plateau with cliffs that overlook Torrey Pines State Beach, and a lagoon that is vital to migrating seabirds. Many different kinds of wildlife and flora are found within the reserve, including bobcats, foxes, skunks, raccoons, coyotes, rabbits, cacti, coastal chapparal, and the rare Torrey pine. The eight miles of trails within the park offers an attraction for hikers and beach-goers (guided nature walks take place on weekends and holidays), and a small museum sits at the top, as was well as the Torrey Pines Lodge, a hotel and tour station. From the cliffs or many places along the beach, it is possible to see La Jolla to the south and Del Mar to the north. During whale migrations, it is sometimes possible to see whales from the cliffs. At the southern end of the beach is a large rock that projects into the ocean, called Flat Rock. South of this rock is San Diego's unofficial nude beach, Black's Beach.

Ecology

While chiefly known as habitat to an extremely rare and endangered species, the Torrey pine, the Reserve also is home to a wide variety of vegetation and wildlife. The taxon of Torrey pine occurring here is the subspecies Pinus torreyana torreyana, and this is the sole location worldwide where the subspecies occurs (including a small coastal strip immediately north of the Reserve in Del Mar.^[2] (Note that a closely related subspecies occurs on Santa Rosa Island)

A November beach-sunset as viewed from a cliff-overlook at Torrey Pines State Reserve, La Jolla, California. 180° panorama.

See also

• Los Peñasquitos Lagoon
• San Diego Historical Landmarks in La Jolla, California

Footnotes

References

• Torrey Pines State Reserve (2008) Torrey Pines State Reserve
• C.Michael Hogan (2008) Torrey Pine: Pinus torreyana, Globaltwitcher, ed. Nicklas Stromberg [1]

External links

• Torrey Pines Association
• Torrey Pines SR California State Park

Coordinates: 32°55′16″N 117°15′11″W / 32.92099522063923°N 117.25317209959°W / 32.92099522063923; -117.2531720995903

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