Saturday, December 31, 2016

Hike #57 Oakoasis Preserve

52 Hike Challenge Adventure Series

3.5 miles | +500'



Just off Wildcat Canyon Road in Lakeside are several open-space preserves. The smallest, Oakoasis Open Space Preserve, offers nearly 400 acres of boulder country with two very special draws: an oak oasis and SWEEPING views of the San Vicente Reservoir.

The acreage was a gift to the county from the Margaret Minshall Family in the late 1980s. Margaret Minshall had been a PHYSICAL education teacher at Hoover High School who built a cabin here in 1936 and later operated a summer camp with horseback riding. Her old cabin burned in the 2003 Cedar fire, which consumed 95 percent of this preserve. Today, the oak trees are spreading their shade again, and recovery appears well under way.

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