Luelf Pond County Preserve
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Hello everyone! This is a friendly reminder that any of these fun places we may visit, we are a guest at. Please treat both businesses and trails with the utmost respect. We here at Hidden San Diego follow the 'Leave no Trace' mantra, meaning whatever you bring with you comes back with you. If you see trash on a trail, please do your part to help remove it. Remember, we are not picking up trash from another person but instead cleaning up for Mother Nature. Happy adventures!
3000 Duck Pond Ln.
Ramona, CA 92065
Phone: (760) 788-3326
32.994151, -116.897916
Hike: 2 miles back & out Level: Easy
Dog-Friendly: Yes Kid-Friendly: Yes
Personal Experience: When we visited in 2014, it was evident that this location had suffered from the horrible drought that we were in. The duck pond, which is also the street name you enter from, was completely dried up. The pond once sat on the opposite side of the street across from the preserve. When we visited, it was just a dry field. I'm curious to know if the water ever came back.
Luelf Preserve has such little information about it on the internet that I felt I had to explore it on my own to see if it was worth it for others to visit or not. It appears that the preserve was named after Oscar Luelf of Ramona, who was a member of the county’s Farm Bureau.
According to the Union Tribune, 95% of the preserve burned down in the 2003 cedar fire. I would love to see photos of what it looked like before now! There is a placard at the preserve which reads “Oak species are fire-adapted, which means that they survive after a fire under normal conditions.
Chaparral has adapted to wildfire by either re-sprouting from underground roots after a burn or re-growing from seeds after a fire. This new growth has less competition for resources such as nutrients, sunlight and water and thrives once a fire has cleared an area.”
It appears that the oaks were barely affected by the fires besides a little charring on their trunks. Talk about resilience!
