Monthly Archives: June 2015

Local San Diego Review: Hiking in the Cleveland National Forest

A mere 60 miles from San Diego lies the Cleveland National Forest, a playground for hikers, mountain bikers, horseback riders, and backpackers. We recently spent 2 nights at the Laguna campground (checkout my review) and hiked various trails in the area.

We could walk just a few minutes out from our campsite in the Laguna Campground to all of the major trail heads in the area. It was awesome!

Using our guidebook A Foot and Afield in San Diego County by Jerry Schad and the National Forest map, we trekked across a good portion of the available trails. On the map below, we outlined all of the trails we hiked during our trip (the “O’s” outline the hike for day 1, and the “X’s” outline the hike for day two).

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Local San Diego Review: Laguna Campground

Laguna Campground is located in the Cleveland National Forest just under 60 miles from the city of San Diego. Close enough to spend more time camping and less time driving, yet far enough away to relax, unwind, and explore. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised and had an incredible experience camping here.

To get the to Cleveland National Forest you can either take the 78 through Ramona and Julian to Sunrise Highway or you can take the 8 East toward the desert to Sunrise Highway, depending on which part of the county you live in.

In my opinion, Laguna campground is probably one of the best campgrounds you could chose in the Cleveland National Forest area. The campground is pleasant, beautiful, peaceful, and so close to miles upon miles of great hiking trails. I could imagine that a weekend would be busier, but we were camping from Sunday-Tuesday, so crowds were nonexistent. In fact, there were only a handful of people staying on the entire campground. If you can avoid the weekend, I would highly recommend it.

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Paleo “Green Monkey” Smoothie Bowl

I love acai bowls. By love, I mean that I could eat them every day. However, it’s a pretty expensive habit, whether eating out or stocking the house with pure acai frozen packets. Alternatively, I occasionally make acai or other smoothie bowls for myself for breakfast or after a workout if I don’t feel like a full meal before dinner. With summer coming up, I will be craving them even more, so I have been testing out some new combinations lately.

This recipe that I came up with is really healthy, limits natural sugars, is packed with nutrients, is filling, and tastes great! It’s also a good way to incorporate more gelatin into your diet, and get the amazing benefits of including gelatin in your diet on a regular basis. If you’re not familiar with the benefits of gelatin, check out this post by Wellness Mama, this one on Chris Kresser’s blog, or this post from Civilized Caveman for more information.

There are two types of gelatin: regular (red can – which gels) and collagen hydrolysate (green can – which does not gel). This post on Butter Nutrition is a great resource for which type go gelatin is right for you, but the green can is cold water soluble so it usually works bests in smoothies and bowls. I keep both around the house and buy the Great Lakes brand. Definitely make that the brand you buy is grass fed!

Gelatin/collagen may not be healthy for everyone, so consult a physician or nutritionist if you have any questions about supplementing gelatin in your diet.

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