Where I Go: The Nature Preserve of Memory 

Torrey Pines—A Mythic Hike in My Childhood Imagination—Feels Fragile Now

Like a giant’s sandy belly rising up from the gentle chill of the ocean, Torrey Pines Natural Reserve was a mythic force in my childhood imagination. Yet during a recent visit, over 30 years later, I became freshly aware of the ways that memory can dilate and stretch, and how places that seemed enormous from the wide eyes and small stature of youth can feel so different in an adult body.

Torrey Pines Natural Reserve is located in what is now called San Diego, the traditional and unceded lands of …