What do you love about Palomar? Are you looking to own property here? You can take your pick of homes, cabins and land for sale plus I usually have some extra keys in my pocket. You’re always invited to come on up for a tour.
How about the views? You see Point Loma out there with the San Diego skyline and islands dotting the Pacific – so close and yet so far away – with the beauty of the Four Seasons! Lots to share with you.
Would you like to join in on our old-fashioned fun? Scroll down to glance through the archives then simply subscribe to be the first to know.
Have a message to go out? Just send it my way. If you don’t see it posted within 24 hours, please reach out to me. Glad to keep the news heading your way about our favorite mountain!
Bonnie Phelps, Palomar Mountain News Editor since 1998
and Palomar Mountain Real Estate since the beginning of the Century!
Palomar Christian Conference Center is hiring a seasonal wrangler starting immediately through May 31, with the option to continue through the summer. This position is a great opportunity to join a positive team to refine and advance skills in trail ride leading, instructing, and horse care.
Candidates should be able to:
Live On-Site (sorry no pets allowed)
Groom and tack a horse without assistance
Show intermediate to advanced riding skills and knowledge of horse behavior
Do basic daily care of horses (feed, water, muck stalls, etc.)
Confidently and Comfortably teach beginner riders on trail and in the arena
Show a growing faith in God and able to share it with guests
Compensation includes: $16-$18/hr, housing and most meals and a fantastic, encouraging, knowledgeable community!
Where could the 500,000 volt transmission lines go over Palomar? Map updated April 26, 2024
We are only guessing, based on the people who were notified with very vague environmental survey letters by SDG&E with this route. The notified property owners are in orange. There are now several dozen parcels of about 1800 acres with much along the south rim of Palomar Mountain. Based on this map, updated often, it could travel through Warner’s Valley at Lake Henshaw off the left side of the map, up to Panorama Trail off East Grade (blue line). Then continue all along that very lush and beautiful East Grade Road, through both the Will and Dyche Valleys.
A recent orange addition is the Walls property below Crestline and straight up to the heart of Palomar where we have the General Store and Post Office. At our only businesses we would then drive under those lines then all along, below the left edge of State Park Road (yellow line). There is a row of new orange letter folks accessed by the first gate traveling down South Grade Road (in red). If that would be the route, a straight line drops down off the top of the ridge and points all the way to and through Nate Harrison Grade. From there it is on it’s way to San Onofre to supply power to Orange County and LA. But keep in mind, these poles do not carry residential power. No power would be available for any off-grid area. Power is only headed to the coast.
Every single person going home to their cabin or ranch, or our many visitors in our old growth forest with the World Famous Observatory and 2000 acre State Park would travel this route. You would be driving along these possibly 260 foot towers humming with 500,000 volts of electricity and a butchered swath of our beautiful forest, meadows and ponds, clear-cut under all the lines. Keep in mind, according to CalFire, “a faulty transmission line” caused the Paradise Fire that burned over 150,000 acres. The same thing could happen here with our 100 mph winds out of the rim where this line might cut through.
Palomar has so many historic Indian sites with hundreds of grinding holes and areas where many pottery shards and arrowheads have been found. One of our residents is working on a post showing the endangered species found on the mountain, and grasses and plants that are only known to this area for basket weaving by the Indians, and endangered species habitats that have been studied for preserving .
We are so thankful we had our last minute meeting Sunday afternoon. With this news for the nearly $3 billion dollars for this leg of the project to be awarded in seven days, we needed all the help we can get. Many of us are working every minute with the goal to stop the project over Palomar!
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Thanks to Keith Thygerson, one of the owners of an orange parcel who has researched this project online and provided the info below.
Keith discovered that the bid for the job across Palomar (nearly $3 million) is to be AWARDED next Monday, April 29th!!!
What can you do???
If you haven’t already, subscribe at https://palomarmountainnews.com to keep up on the latest. We do have a .org in the works and will let you know when it is up.
Please SHARE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS OF PALOMAR.
Any great ideas or leads? Please send my way by clicking reply or calling or texting to 760-533-1742
We must get this stopped!
Thanks for your support.
Bonnie Phelps, for the Action Group to preserve Palomar Mountain
Meanwhile keep reading for all the details from Keith:
<<<< From: Keith Thygerson Date: Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 6:15 PM Subject: The Policy-Driven Imperial Valley – North of SONGS 500 kV Line and 500/230 kV Substation Project To: Bonnie Phelps As part of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) 2022-2023 Transmission Plan
One Policy-Driven project is named: Imperial Valley–North of SONGS 500 kV Line and Substation (Service Area SDGE), Expected in-service 2034, Projected Cost $2,288M (SONGS is San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station)
The community meeting today is still on for 2:00 pm today per Robert Carlyle who has called this special meeting represented by the Fire Board. Robert has invited people who have been working on this, to share with the Fire Board and attendees what they have learned about this proposed 500,000 volt transmission line. Thank you Robert.
A new speaker will be Mark Andrews. He grew up on the mountain and graduated from the little school. Living in Borrego Springs for many years, he volunteered with the Borrego Springs committee addressing the transmission lines through their area and will share some of his knowledge. Mark also works for the County Road Department.
Mike Pique has spent many hours on this project, too, and will share a map of people who have received letters. Thank you to all who are taking time out of your beautiful day to come and get informed on this critical issue for our wonderful mountain.
Have you heard? The State of California is planning a 500,000 volt transmission line to run right through the heart of Palomar Mountain. Concerned citizens are inviting you to meet up for some initial information to stop this project.
Already some residents have received letters from SDG&E which is one of the four companies that is bidding the transmission job across the mountain. The letters inform the property owner that SDG&E crews of 3 people will be on your property doing an environmental survey over a couple of months period of time. They aren’t asking permission, just stating that they will be there. When calling the number on the letter, the information given has usually been very vague. I was told they were just checking areas for potential power poles. I mentioned the area on East Grade was all off-grid and they would have very few new customers. They replied their survey teams were doing an environment survey for endangered species. With more research, we learn the ‘new poles’ would NOT carry residential power at all, it is to be a 500,000 volt transmission tower line, over the mountain with an unknown path to San Onofre.
This project is to carry 500,000 volts of power, apparently twice the size of any other transmission tower in San Diego County, from other states and the Imperial Valley to provide power to South Orange County. Other potential routes have been blocked. Clear-cutting through our old growth forest is their proposed path-of-the-hour.
You might have seen trucks with teams of surveyors around the mountain recently. Even though each property owner I have spoken to has contacted the number on the letter saying they are NOT to be on their land, they come anyway. One property owner saw a crew on his trail cam. A neighbor was called and rushed over as the crew told him they “had permission”. That was not correct, they were told NOT to trespass.
Ray Carpenter, George Ravenscroft and Yvonne Vaucher will be presenting info known to date. The meeting is to be 45 minutes in length.
Here is some info for your initial review from Yvonne:
“This SONGS transmission project (CASIO in coordination with the CPUC) has been in the works for over a year with State transmission plan approval in May 2023. SONGS project description: “A new 500 kV transmission line running west from the Arizona border into southern Imperial County, new 500 kV transmission lines angling up from southern Imperial County to northern San Diego County and extending into the southern LA Basin, and upgrades to the existing 500 kV and 230 kV lines along the Interstate 10 (I-10) corridor. Together, these upgrades provide access to east Riverside County, Imperial County and Arizona solar generation, Imperial Valley geothermal, and New Mexico wind generation;” CASIO News Release.
See highlighted text in both CASIO attachments: Plan approval News release << https://www.caiso.com/Documents/caiso-2022-2023-transmission-plan-approved.pdf & detailed ASIO Transmission Plan Draft (pg 95) -it appears we are in the final Phase 3 out for bid phase (highlighted pgs 28-30); and the Jan 2024 SDG&E news release.
From the transmission plan n.b. SONGS (San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station) << https://www.wecc.org/Reliability/SDGE%202024%20APR.pdf >> is the search word for the Imperial Valley/North San Diego transmission project.
This is an issue of critical importance for the entire Palomar Mountain. The sooner we address this the better the chance of influencing the outcome.”
Please join us 2:00pm to approximately 2:45pm Sunday afternoon, April 21, 2024
Community Center House at Fire Station 21610 Crestline Road, Palomar Mountain, CA 92060
Hope to see you there,
Bonnie Phelps, Realtor on vary beautiful Palomar Mountain and hope to keep it that way
It’s a bit of a challenge on Palomar as we don’t have curb-side trash pick up at each property up here. Some part-timers take their trash back with them. Or those who work in the city have use of their work dumpster. Most people share dumpsters. You can have your own, of course, but Ramona Disposal is pretty proud of those dumpsters. Would you like to save some money by sharing a dumpster? Ask around or I can give you the contact info of a neighbor open to sharing.
What about that pile of stuff in the photo (not from Palomar)? When you have a lot of stuff to go away, Pala Transfer Station Disposal is our closest dump site. You don’t have a truck or trailer? Some folks have rented a UHaul trailer, loaded it up and haul it to Pala. Be sure to read their webpage of what they do and don’t accept, and info about their rates. Must pay in cash last time I checked.
We do have grants for occasional 40 yard dumpsters for use by the community with a donation, but they can fill up pretty fast.
Glad to get your questions answered.
Bonnie Phelps, Realtor, helping clean up the Mountain
Known for their ‘Super Sandwiches’ Agrusa’s is a recent addition to the Rincon Travel Plaza at Harrah’s. But, did you know they also serve up amazing Banana Bowls? Baking fresh cookies every day, they are also available as the most delicious ice cream sandwiches.
You might recognize a neighbor, Dylan Healey from the mountain. He is the new Assistant Manager at the Travel Center. And, that is Steve and Christine Locken with us. They are very happy new neighbors on Bailey Meadow Road. The kid with the foot-long sub? That would be Atticus. He is our youngest Treasure (aka grandson) and loved every bite! Well, almost every bite, we did help a bit. We all enjoyed the sandwiches and treats. I think YOU will, too!
Try Rainbow Oaks Restaurant around noon time and sing along!
Have you been to Rainbow Oaks? We’d enjoyed meals there with friends in the past but hadn’t made it at noon until recently. Everyday at noon, they play the National Anthem.
There are several reasons we love to go to Rainbow Oaks Restaurant. They have amazing home-cookin’ with great breakfasts, juicy steaks, large portions that are big enough to share. Also, years ago, after a fire on Palomar, they harvested the wood to use in the restaurant. The stools, table tops, live edge bar and hostess counter, were all made from wood from Palomar Mountain.
Here is a tip: You can also order to go, of course. During delicious dinners, I’ve been known to order another couple meals to heat up for the next day and enjoy a night off from cooking!
Do you know where the best price is to fill up and get your car washed at the same time? Rincon Travel Plaza Gas Station at Harrah’s Casino.
My trips up and down the mountain are usually planned for me to pull in the Travel Plaza with my car close to empty. I fill up and click on a $10.00 car wash. There are other car washes you can select. With any car wash you now get 60 cents off each gallon of fuel! So, when you’re empty, that saves on fuel and basically your car wash is free. Neighbor Renaud Tristen told me about this as he often doesn’t even get his vehicle washed but enjoys the discount on his gas as it works out in your favor.
Well my car ALWAYS seems to need washing and it is kinda fun to drive through.
Hooray for sunny weather and clean cars!
Bonnie Phelps, Realtor with a clean car for a minute!
Bob Becker and Crew were up recently working at three cabins. They installed an on-demand hot water system at one, fixed another water heater and did several repairs and additions for one of the recent escrows. They are close by, with an office in Pauma Valley.
Several electric gates have been installed on Palomar by one of our very happy weekenders up here. Simply call or text Steve Rodriguez at 760-224-2770 and he’ll gladly meet up to bid your project. He owns Sierra Pacific Fence out of Vista and has a great photo gallery waiting for you there. They do all types of fencing and gates.
Such a lovely day and should be a beautiful Spring!
Palomar Mountain News 