Nice colorful sunset surrounding the cross atop Battle Mountain in Rancho Bernardo. Timelapse coming soon. Shot with a Canon EOS R and Sigma 15 mm EX DG lens at 1/8 sec f/4 ISO 100. Battle Mountain got its name from a battle that was held at a mountain nearby called Mule Hill in 1846. Mule Hill/Starvation Mountain got its name after the battle when the soldiers ran out of food and had to kill some of the mules in order to eat. In 1966, a group of local churchgoers put the cross on the mountain. In the 80’s the cross fell down and was replaced by a man named Jack Templeton who built it in his backyard. He lived below the trailhead and would frequent the hill regularly. The cross was actually funded by a Jack in the Box nearby. -- Thanks to Hidden San Diego for the above history lesson. While the mountain was once private property, the developer of the newer subdivision below the mountain donated the land to the county and it's now a public park. To satisfy the constitutional separation of church and state requirement, the land immediately below the cross belongs to a non-profit organization. The non-profit also maintains the lighting for the cross.
What a fitting name for this location. After doing some real estate shoots today, I decided to head to the coast to shoot the sunset. My original plan was to climb down to the nearby cave and shoot the sunset from inside it (there are a couple of large openings in it), but aftering sizing up the path down there, I figured I likely wouldn't be able to make it back up. I chose to stay up top to shoot the sunset instead. Timelapse video coming later.
Rush hour traffic on Camino del Mar / Torrey Pines Road and Torrey Pines State Beach to the left. Sadly, the torrey pine trees in the foreground here appear to be a victims of the bark beetle. :( Shot from a cliffside trail above Torrey Pines Beach at sunset on January 21, 2020 with a Canon EOS R and Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens at 30 sec f/10 ISO 100 28mm. Torrey Pines State Beach is a coastal beach located in the San Diego, California community of Torrey Pines, and is located south of Del Mar and north of La Jolla. Coastal erosion from the adjacent Torrey Pines State Reserve makes for a picturesque landscape. It is a local favorite among surfers and remains a quintessential Southern California beach. Occurrences of bioluminescence have been noted.
