I grew up in the Santee area and went to High school at Santana in the 60’s. As a kid my friends and I would ride our bicycles to the dam and fish for crawdads with bacon tied on a string. We also caught crappie and blue gill that my mom would cook for us. One year the river flooded the dam area and my buddy and I were out there at the dam and was standing on top of the part of it that you show in your video with the water running through it. On that day a reporter from the San Diego Union and Evening Tribune wax there. Back in those days there were two newspapers one in the morning ( San Diego Union) and in the evening ( The Evening Tribune) he was taking pictures of the flooding and took our pictures while we were standing on the dam ! I had a paper route delivering the San Diego Union in Carlton Hills and to my surprise when I got the papers to roll for delivery my picture was on the front page below the fold!!!! That brings back a lot of memories for me because I had explored all over that area. One of the mountains back behind the dam was nick named rattlesnake mountain because of all of the snakes on it. A guy I went to school with (Jim Davis) and his father captured the rattlers and would milk them for the venom and sell it to Scripts Ranch for serum to treat snake bites. There was always a story going around back then too that talked about there being a Spanish cannon in a cave up there somewhere, but I think it was just a myth because we hiked all over that place and never found it. It was a fun time growing up in Santee, there was always something different to do. You were never too far from the beach the Cuyamaca Mountains, the dessert Tijuana Mexico or a quick trip up to Disneyland, knotts Berry Farm or The Wax Museum. It was a great place to grow up.... oh the memories your video conjured up... thank you Steve!

Forgot about the Padre Dam until you brought back a flood of memories. A bunch of us used to ride dirt bike motorcycles around the area below Black Mountain as we called it. There was nothing but open space between Navajo and Mission Gorge back then and we had loads of fun. Several times we rode over to the Dam to explore. Never knew about the rocks where the natives ground their food. And the Dam area looks the same now as it did 55 years ago. Thank you for the memories.

Feels like The Old Mission Dam is really out in the middle of nowhere...yet as you mentioned Steve, it is literally 15 minutes away from multiple Walmarts. What a Treasure for San Diego! This was a fun hike and very interesting story! Really appreciate the time and effort you put into your videos Steve. It's quite obvious this is a labor of love for you AND We Fans do not take it for granted! Cheers From Ohio

Just want to say thanks for always giving us the chance to pause the video's so we can read any interesting plaques you come across. I felt like i wanted to lie beside the water & drift asleep imagining food grinding while children played.

I was just here Monday on a hike after work. You do feel like you are far away from civilization on some of the trails but it is an illusion. Unfortunately Mission Trails park is being loved to death. So many people are using it. The good thing is that there must be a lot of people who pick up the trash on the trails because I rarely see any. Graffiti is also minimal (except for the toilets near the dam). Probably my favorite hike is Oak Canyon. Thanks for making these informative and entertaining videos.

So cool to see the area so well preserved !

Thank you, Steve. Thanks for highlighting our San Diego history and great scenery. I appreciate your balanced research and acknowledging the difficulties with the Spanish colonialization.

Another fantastic video, San Diego Steve! As a kid, I always mistakenly thought the building on Presidio Hill was Mission San Diego. Not until I became an adult did I find out that Presidio Hill was just the original site of the mission. It is now the location of the Junipero Serra Museum, which stands prominently atop the hill overlooking historic Old Town State Park and Mission Valley. The Junipero Serra Museum contains thousands of artifacts unearthed from this historic site.

I grew up there , I wish now I had spent more time exploring. Thank you.

Lots of water down there this year. Love that place

I've heard the name Padre Dam for years, but never knew where it was located. Nice you were able to get some shots with water pouring through, and wildflowers blooming on the hillsides. I recall a picture on display at the 70th Street trolley station that showed the historic trade routes and trails of the native people all through Mission Valley. The last time I was there it was gone...I wish I'd taken a photo of it. All of this history is so interesting and I appreciate your honest and sensitive treatment of the subject. My relative of mine actually has grinding stones and pictographs above the creek at the edge of her property in East El Cajon. They had experts from SDSU and Museum of Man out to look at them.

Some traces of the flume are visible behind the 5th green at the Admiral Baker North Course, as well as a bit further upstream in the quarry area.

When I lived in San Diego in the 70's, I visited the Mission of San Diege several time, but never the dam area, Thanks for sharing.

Great content, as usual. You are an excellent story teller! I cannot wait for your videos to be released on Wednesdays. Keep up the great work.

Fantastic area! The running water is super relaxing and that old dam! Truly fascinating old history to the location. 👍

All these episodes are very good day trips, well done...

That Grinding Stones trail you show at 7:00 was closed off for years as was much of the trail around the river. My wife and I used to picnic right there on the rocks in the late '80s and early '90s. Beautiful place.

Wow Steve, I literally started traveling around that area every other day about 2 months ago, I deliver fuel to the Sycuan fuel station over on Dehesa Rd in El Cajon. I come from the North coming down 15S to the 8E and when I leave I take 8W to the 67N to 52W back to 15N. Gonna definitely try and check out Dam one of these days just gonna have to find room to park my Rig lol. Great Video sir.

Thanks so much for taking everyone on your travels. It is so interesting and you are a wonderful storyteller.

Live just a few miles from this spot. Enjoy your explorations.

Back in 1967 our family moved from Fanita Drive to Wistful Vista, a short bike ride to Mission Trails Park and the dam. Back then they had just opened up the new Mission Gorge Road, but what is now Junipero Serra Trail was the old Mission Gorge and was still open to traffic. The park was just a small parking lot and no buildings, signage or organized trails. I knew every rock on the south side of the dam, and my fishing spot was the little protrusion next to the spillway as seen @3:48.Garter snakes, bullfrogs, crayfish, pollywogs, bluegill, jackrabbits and redtail hawks were abundant. Much of the north side of the dam was covered in scrub oak and tamarisk, and only a handful of us local kids ever explored that part. After a hot day of riding down there and back, we could stop at a local water bottling company and just guzzle from the spigots they had out front. After enjoying that for a year, we then moved to the avocado covered Rattlesnake Mountain on the Lakeside side.

Once again. Top notch sound editing. Thanks.

I attended San Diego State College in the 1960's. I knew about the dam, and the mission, but never went there. Thank you.

When I was a kid, back in the 50s, early 60s, we used to play there.

That is an old dam, damn. Thank Steve for another fun hike and I'm not even sore.

I don't know if you already covered it but once around WW2 a Navy Aircraft had to ditch in Otay Lake. The story of its recovery is full of intrigue as well.

Be sure to check out the San Inez Mission and Mission Purisima. Both are amazing. Also, Solvang is adjacent to the first mission. Don't forget to go to the Solvang Restaurant and have a breakfast of Danish sausage and Æbleskivers! You can't say you've been to Solvang if you haven't eaten those!! Danish Days is the absolute best time to go! The 22 mile drive between the two missions is one of the most beautiful. You feel like you are driving through a beautiful oil painting landscape. A great place to stay is the Split Pea Inn. They have awesome morning authentic Danishes. Good prices; nice people. Next door is the Split Pea Restaurant (no connection). A lot of history there! Be sure to get the split pea soup with "All the Fixings", so worth it!

It would be nice to connect the history of the Alta Californian missions with the missions in Baja California. This connection is often missed and many people don't realize that the San Diego mission was not the first in the chain. Thanks for sharing your stories. I enjoy it greatly as it gives me a sense that I am part of something that is vast, beatiful and ancient.

Mission Trails Regional Park is big and beautiful, and I remember it with great affection. Wish I were there right now!

Thank you for finding these old places that we would never known excisted.

Just for fun, brought up Google maps. Set position at the park headquarters and did a search for "walmart". Exactly one (Murphy Canyon) came up with a 15 minute driving time. The Grossmont store showed nearly the same distance, but driving time was not indicated. After closing the search panel to see more map (without re-scaling) additional Walmart's didn't appear but up to three Costco's were in plain view. Steve's commentary was so funny I just had to do it.

I went there many times as a kid growing up in San Diego,,,,, WOW! What memories... It was called Padres Dam back then,,,

Thanks for bring back fond memories, Steve !!! Another great video !!! :)

San Diego is really just the best. I’m so grateful I live here.

Another great video and history lesson Steve. Thanks again.

Love the great videos, the little snippets of relevant history and the maps of the area. Wish I had the money to visit all these great places, but since I can’t I’ll rely in your great content to see them. Thank you.

Great video & especially from the 8:15 mark on truly beautiful, moving & funny, thank you!

Wonderful historic place!I need to head west!

I used to live in Poway many years ago, enjoyed the video.

Love seeing all of these areas that I didn't know where there. Thanks for another adventure!

Steve, your postings about San Diego County topics are really a trip in Mr. Peabody's wayback machine for me! We learned about metates and grinding acorns way back at John Paul Jones Elementary in the 1960s. And as I recall, ground acorns tasted like crap! Thanks for the reminder of the past!

I really enjoy your adventures Steve. Keep them coming. Thanks!

Great job on both the beauty and the history of the area. Mission Trails was totally unknown to me until I moved to the area. It’s really something special. I always laugh at how many people flock to Cowles Mtn every weekend. If they only knew…

Awesome stuff ,love your videos. Good history lessons. Keep them coming

Thanks for another informative and interesting video, Steve. Keep 'em coming. ❤

Thank you Sir. As always.

Another awesome vid…!!! Thanks for the history tour.

I'm from that area and went there when I was a kid to swim and fish, 55 years ago.

Thank you for sharing this piece of history, really enjoyed it

Awesome videos, keep em coming my man

I really like how you narrate vids brother. You seem like a cool dude who would make a great neighbor. I enjoy all these topics.

That was a Damm good episode 😁, thanks 😊!

Very cool! Love the indigenous history! 👍🏼

Great Work. Love learning History

That was cool. You can still see the notches where they had the wooden planks across the mouth of the dam to make the water deeper. Incredible. Catch you next time, i always enjoy these little sidetrack adventures🙂

This was great, thanks again for sharing your experiences

You're so funny! 🤣😂🤣😂 At the end there about being so close to home. 😂😂😂keepin' it real, huh? 😘😘😘. I want to visit San Diego now.

I revert going there once as a kid to catch crawfish with my dad. Thanks for the memory!

This was super interesting and cool !!!! Thanks

Thanks Steve for another historic tid bit . I have never heard of this dam, and would love to go and visit it someday.

Well done....... thanks

Very cool! Really Dig your channel man!

Thanks for the mini adventure!

Nice historical information.

I've camped at the campground and it's a great way to enjoy the park and explore the area. Have you ever thought of doing a video about the Diamond Valley Lake up near Hemet? A lot fossilized bones of extinct animals were found there.

Thanks! Steve

This was a good episode

Great video Steve

Another Dam Good video from my favorite history documenter! Thanks again, Mr. Adventures.

EXCELLENT STEVE..VERY COOL..SAFE TRAVELS..

This was great ❤

Wouldn’t it be great to turn the clocks back and see how the area looked when only the Natives were there! Such beautiful scenery, Steve.

That’s just a lovely place. I would love to spend the day fishing there. I’m a catch & release 🐟 fisher except for mountain trout. I never heard of the San Diego river. I liked all of it including the Indian structures. It’s hard to believe that wonderful park appears to be in the middle of nowhere and it’s 15 minutes from big box stores and all the rest. Thanks for sharing and providing the history. 👍☮️🌞❤️

Good one Steve !

Great job

Awesome videos - great to have travel videos of USA, now i have to add a USA trip to bucket list

Growing up in Santee we used to call it Padre Dam I believe. 34 years ago I got busted bass fishing just up stream from there 🤣

The navy takes me out from texas to San Diego about four times a year. I love Mission Valley Park. The trail past the dam and up Fortuna is always a must when I’m there. I’ll be there again in June and I’d be really cool to take a hike with a local expert if you’re free.

I’m new subscriber I love you show ; been learning so much about the USA south west, Thanks

You have some really interesting videos Sidetrack Adventures. You travel to some really interesting places and must have great stories to tell. Great video. You can eat fish from there just make sure you cook it very thoroughly!

Great presentation! It's a part of history often overlooked by Americans.

Thanks!

The missionaries had the same problem (soldiers abusing their converts) at the San Saba Mission & Presidio which is why the Comanches led several tribes in killing the Spanish trespassers and burning the buildings. While reading all the Spanish communique between Mexico city, San Antonio, San Saba and several other missions I was able to get a first hand account of the attitudes of Comanches toward the missionaries there. Thanks for your posts and most of all thanks for being honest about the heinous crimes committed against the natives by those representing Christendom. If you ever get to Texas there's a treasure trove of sites you could feature on your channel including the best representation, Presidio La Bahio of one in this hemisphere. Try to visit during the annual reenactment!

I used to like hiking in that area, my friends and I used to also go 4wheeling in the hills to the north of the dam. Did you know there is a vertical mine shaft on top of one of the peaks near the dam towards the west, back in the late 70s we used to go up there with our trucks. Looking down the shaft it's not very far down there is an old car stuck in it, hard to say what they were mining for but the hole only went about 50 feet deep as far as we could tell without opening a hole big enough to squeeze past the car.

Love your videos! I climbed in Mission Gorge for years, before leaving San Diego, and while I was familiar with the dam, hadn't paid that much attention to it. I also lived in Poway for years, and have really enjoyed your videos of the surrounding areas there. Thank you!

This place used to be the gunnery field of Camp Kearny during ww2. If you're willing to hop the "habitat rehabilitation" barriers, you'll eventually come across a few signs that give the real reason they don't want folks hiking there - "unexploded ordinance". I used to find all sorts of stuff out there before the barriers went up.

There's serious rock climbing on the south side of the road. Oak creek falls is nice when it rains.

In the 1850's paddle wheel steam ships used to come up the river all the way to San Diego State University. I chubasco (hurricane in English) blew up the coast later that century. It caused massive flooding, Encinitas became an island, and re-routed the river to empty into San Diego Harbor.

Great video😎

Thanks for this video. I was previously unfamiliar with the Kumeyaay, and I'll certainly be looking up the other video you made on the topic. The burning of the San Diego Mission is an interesting topic too. I'm reminded of the old Elton John song, Burn Down the Mission, which has a similar theme.

Hello let me just say I love your travel vlogs they’re educational and therapeutic. They’re quite fantastic...Also, don’t know if you have already visited and shared old town, San Diego vlog. It’s where my deceased husband’s ancestors and ironically my sister’s deceased husband’s family dwelt. Casa de Silvas and Machado. It sould be interesting to get a brief historical perspective on these families and the town during Spanish occupation. 👍

Que Pasa we love ur vids Aqui en Tejas

Thanks for all your videos. This probably won't buy a tank of gas, but maybe lunch!

Thank you so much for your videos and info on places i never knew existed in San Diego...❤ Maybe you could mention how walkable these sites are... I'm not getting any younger!😢

My hometown 🤙🏻too bad you didn’t mention it Santee is the home of mission trails

You forgot to mention that those hills are millions years old.

Kwaay paay nearby is quite the hike

The dam is one of the prettiest parts of Mission Trails Park. You feel as if you're a world away, yet it's right on the border between Santee and San Diego.

The first Mission in Baja CA was built in 1697. Missions were commonly built as "exploration" crept north, although not always consecutively with distance. The Spanish thought CA was an island for quite a while. Junipero Sera was first Padre to cross desert from Arizona into CA crossing near today's Needles. Consider: how many Indian Reservations are there in Mexico, or any other Spanish and Portuguese colony countries?

You’re right that is a really polluted river. Fish catch and release. 👍