{"id":456335,"date":"2026-09-07T16:02:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T16:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/456335\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T16:02:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T16:02:16","slug":"take-this-california-road-trip-for-fall-foliage-apple-pie-and-seriously-dark-skies-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/456335\/","title":{"rendered":"Take this California road trip for fall foliage, apple pie and seriously dark skies"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m walking the Kanaka Loop Trail at Santa Ysabel East Preserve<\/a>, about 20 minutes from Julian, when warm Santa Ana winds sweep in from the east. Eric Jones, president of the Volcan Mountain Foundation<\/a>, tells me the trail’s name comes from Native Hawaiians who came to California<\/a> during the Gold Rush, including people who worked in the region’s gold mines.<\/p>\n

Today, Julian’s gold rush is much more leisurely. Visitors come each autumn for changing leaves, along with tasty apple pies and hard ciders worth slurping down after a hike.<\/p>\n

Southern California may not be the first place you think of for a fall foliage drive. You won’t find New England’s tunnels of red and orange maples here. But San Diego County is a biodiversity hotspot, and the road to Julian gives you a front-row seat to that variety.<\/p>\n

\"Breathtaking<\/p>\n

An aerial view captures the golden serenity of a clearing along Julian’s Stonewall Mine Trail in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. Three individuals stand surrounded by tall trees.<\/p>\n

(Stefan Tomic via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Head east from San Diego toward Julian, and the landscape passes through coastal hills and grasslands to chaparral shrubland and conifer forests as the road climbs.<\/p>\n

Julian sits at about 4,200 feet in elevation, high in the Cuyamaca Mountains<\/a>. You’ll know you’ve arrived when you start observing apple orchards and a small mountain town with dark enough skies to see the Milky Way.<\/p>\n

\"Scenes<\/p>\n

Scenes from Julian, California, including its historic downtown, rural landscapes and apple-growing country.<\/p>\n

(Visit Julian)Arrive in Julian hungry<\/p>\n

Julian has built a considerable reputation around one very specific fruit: apples.<\/p>\n

The town’s apple-growing history dates to the 1870s<\/a>, and today visitors come for apple pie, hard cider, orchards and the general pleasure of eating warm, cinnamon-dense treats after spending the day outside.<\/p>\n

For an afternoon apple-pie stop, both Julian Pie Company<\/a> and Apple Alley Bakery<\/a> are natural choices for their historic Main Street locations.<\/p>\n

Pair your pie with a flight from Julian Hard Cider<\/a> made with the town’s signature fruit. Go with a classic like “Harvest Apple” or experiment with tasty flavors like cherry, apricot, pear, caramel apple, ginger hibiscus, watermelon tamarindo and passion fruit iced tea.<\/p>\n

See Julian’s full list of bakeries<\/a> and cideries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Milky Way arches over Lake Cuyamaca, nine miles from Julian’s Main Street.<\/p>\n

(Michael Lauffenburger via Getty Images)Stay late for the stars<\/p>\n

Julian is an International Dark Sky Community<\/a>, meaning it’s been recognized as a place that works to protect night skies from light pollution.<\/p>\n

Turn off your headlights after the sun goes down, and you’ll feel for yourself how remote you really are.<\/p>\n

Look up at the jet-black sky, and the stars will look so clear, you’ll think you can reach out and touch them.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The California Wolf Center, a sprig of sage along a trail at Santa Ysabel East Preserve and breakfast at Purple Owl Cafe in Julian, Calif.<\/p>\n

(Megan DeMatteo)Meet wolves in the mountains<\/p>\n

Julian is home to the California Wolf Center<\/a>, which has been working on wolf conservation and public education since 1977, when it opened with two North American gray wolves.<\/p>\n

Today, the center focuses on Mexican gray wolf recovery via its resident wolf packs. Guests can take guided conservation tours and observe wolf behavior while learning about recovery efforts.<\/p>\n

Visits are by reservation only, so make sure you plan this stop ahead.<\/p>\n

Follow Unimaginably Good Travel<\/a> for more off-the-beaten-path adventures, and pick up a copy of my book, Emotionally Sober and Unimaginably Good<\/a> for more about the patterns we carry from childhood, and how we can clear the way for better ones.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: The author was a guest of Visit California. Hosting organizations do not review or approve articles before publication. All observations reflect the author’s independent review.<\/p>\n

How this was made: AI assisted with structure, formatting, interview transcription and metadata. All reporting, product testing, research, interviews, fact-checking, writing and editing was done by Megan DeMatteo, an independent writer and editor who, like many solo creators, handles the full workload of a traditional newsroom team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’m walking the Kanaka Loop Trail at Santa Ysabel East Preserve, about 20 minutes from Julian, when warm…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,108183,2258,19819,19816,338,180080,180079,75808,17523],"class_list":["post-456335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-eric-jones","tag-julian","tag-julian-hard-cider","tag-julian-pie-company","tag-santa-ana","tag-santa-ysabel-east-preserve","tag-the-california-wolf-center","tag-trails","tag-wolf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}