Overview—From behind the Visitors Center at Torrey Pines State Reserve, this panorama unfolds. Bluffs in the foreground are the home of the Torrey Pines, a unique species for which the park is named.  Coastline below 
includes Torrey Pines State Beach, part of the reserve.  Flat green area is Los Penasquitos Marsh Natural Reserve.
The park is just north of the Torrey Pines Golf Course, famous for its Master's Tournament play.

By Donald H. Harrison

LA JOLLA, Calif.—In our self-deprecatory humor, we Jews like to joke, "two Jews, three opinions," in recognition of what might be our Talmudic penchant for debating, refining, distinguishing, differentiating, clarifying, expanding or expounding upon a point. But if you should ever happen to spend some time  in the visitors center of Torrey Pines State Reserve, you can find proof-positive documentation that two Jews can occasionally agree—even two Jews who were elected to the state Assembly from neighboring districts in San Diego County.

On display along with photographs of botanists Charles C. Parry and John Torrey, and in addition to stuffed examples of mammals

Resolution and Visitors Center—Their  views almost as perfectly symmetrical as the Torrey Pines Lodge,
which serves as a visitors center, Assembly members Susan A. Davis and Howard Wayne agreed in 1999 that
the Torrey Pines State Reserve was a place of rare beauty, worthy of preservation. (Click resolution to enlarge)

and birds which may be encountered in the 2,000-acre state reserve, is an October 9, 1999, resolution by State Assembly Members Susan Davis and Howard Wayne congratulating a number of local organizations in  connection with the celebration that year of the 100th anniversary of the reserve being named a city park.

In the following year, Davis went on to be elected as a member of Congress. Wayne continued in the Legislature, eventually reaching the three-term limit for service in that body and returning to a position in San Diego as an assistant state attorney general.  The two colleagues, both Jewish Democrats, noted in their joint resolution that the park, was "possibly the oldest region in the nation set aside as a wilderness preserve" and that its namesake Torrey Pine is a species  found only on these bluffs on the northern coastal edge of  La Jolla and, curiously, on Santa Rosa Island off the California coast near Santa Barbara.

Parry, who visited San Diego in 1850, the same year that California became a state, recognized that the trees growing at a place Spanish explorers had named Punto de Los Arboles (Point of the Trees), were a unique species of pine.  He named the species in honor of Torrey, his former professor, sending to him some seeds. Torrey never traveled to California, so never got to see the tree named in his honor.  Today, the Parry Grove Trail is one of the popular walks overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Torrey Pines State Beach..  Another is the Guy Fleming Trail, named for a naturalist who worked hard to preserve the park.  The longest trail is the Beach Trail leading over the bluffs, past gullies and caves, to the beach below. From the Beach Trail one may take detours to such colorful sounding venues as Red Butte, Razor Point, Broken Hill Overlook and Yucca Point. 

Along with cousins Harry and Sherry Jacobson-Beyer of Louisville, Ky., I hiked along the beach trail on Wednesday, July 5, finding it to be an easier hike than I had imagined. Besides the namesake Torrey Pines, there were numerous plant species to see, including several varieties of cactus, juxtaposed against dramatic panoramas of the Pacific Ocean and deep gullies which suddenly presented themselves as the fenced trail wended its way westward.  We had hoped to walk all the way down to the beach, but were advised that rain damage had forced the closure of the  portion of the trail that descended all the way down to the sand.  So we hiked to an overlook, then turned around, and retraced our steps, finding in the ascent as much  fascinating scenery as we had encountered in the descent.

There are signs along the trail system alerting hikers to the fact that rattlesnakes may be encountered.  At the visitors center, I had heard a docent telling one woman who inquired that she need not fear the rattlers: "They are much more afraid of you, and because you are too big to eat, they have no interest in attacking you."  He advised her that if she saw a rattlesnake, she should simply give it time to slither off the path.  I am certain that the docent was correct; I've long believed that snakes have been getting unjustifiably bad press ever since that little incident that the Bible describes as having occurred in the Garden of Eden.

We saw a few birds and lizards but nothing particularly exotic from the animal kingdom on our hike, but the rock formations more than made up for this, and come to think of it, the rocks looked quite a lot like an animal.  "A camel," I said.  "No, a sphinx," said Sherry.  "Okay, well, maybe a lion."  See what I mean about two Jews and three opinions?  Harry kept uncharacteristically silent during the brief debate. Here's the formationl see with whom you agree:



One of the impressive sights along the walk was the root system of a Torrey Pine, which had penetrated through the side of the sandstone where it had grown and now was dangling over the deep gully below.  I imagine that some time in the future, as more of the bluff is eaten away by wind and rain erosion, the tree will lose its footing and tumble down toward the beach far below.

After returning to the visitors center, where our car was parked, we drove  down the hill to the beach parking lot.  The $6-per-vehicle admission to Torrey Pines State Reserve permits you to shuttle between the two parking lots.  We headed to the water that had been tantalizing us from the the bluffs above.  How good it was to soothe our  feet after trudging up a trail!  

Because there is an admission charge to the Torrey Pines State Reserve, the beach  typically is less crowded than nearby beaches.  It took us naturalists no time at all to find a spot to observe frolicking humans.