Parks open as smoke clears

While news crews followed the advance of flames across the mountains of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in San Diego County last fall, flames were also claiming nearly half of lesser-known Mission Trails Regional Park, a 5,800-acre preserve of chaparral and hills at the eastern edge of the city of San Diego. Both parks have reopened sizable portions of territory.

At Mission Trails (www.mtrp.org), rangers reopened most park areas in early April and plan to celebrate May 22 with Explore Mission Trails Day, which is to include music, mountain-biking demonstrations, nature walks and programs exploring how the park’s environment is recovering from fire.

At Cuyamaca (www.cuyamaca.statepark.org), where 24,700 of 25,000 acres burned, roughly one-fourth of the park’s trails reopened Saturday. Other open areas, supervising ranger Gary Lyons said, include the visitor center at Paso Picacho (where rangers will offer specific trail information) and most of the Green Valley Falls campground.

-- Chris Reynolds