By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Kitchen Creek, where access in the vicinity has been limited by frequent road closures

September 7, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – In recent months, several readers have written to ask us why they are encountering “road closed” signs on roads in Cleveland National Forest that were formerly accessible to the public.

April 5, 2014 (Jacumba) – Tom Lemon sent this surreal looking shot of a buffalo sculpture and man-made caves at the Desert View Tower, long a favorite roadside stop of travelers in Jacumba. Visit it while you still can – word is its long-time proprietor may be set to retire in the near future.

By Tom Lemon

September 24, 2013 (Santa Ysabel) – Inaja. I always stop at the site when I drive through Santa Ysabel. I'll buy some bread and a sandwich at Dudley's and take in the view and watch the cars and motorcycles speeding by on Highway 79. The Inaja Memorial Picnic Site is a  picnic/day use area operated by the USFS  to honor eleven men who died while fighting a fire on  November 25, 1956.

July 23, 2012 (McCain Valley) - ECM reader Tom Lemon sent in these spectacular photos of McCain Valley, site of the proposed Tule Wind facility in San Diego's East County.

"I first visited McCain Valley around 1995 after reading Jerry Shaad's book Afoot and Afield in San Diego County. I began camping and hiking in the Valley and explored the trails and side roads to vista points where you can see the abandoned San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railroad tracks, the Salton Sea, and Castle Butte in Arizona. Yes, you can see all the way to Arizona," he wrote.

"My friend Brian getting into the spirit of McCain. Yeah, it does make you feel like that."