Elfin Forest, Elfin Forest-Harmony Grove, CA

Elfin Forest is a creek-bottom and chaparral community in unincorporated San Diego County, set in the Escondido Creek valley below the San Marcos ridgeline. With its neighbor upstream, it makes up the Elfin Forest-Harmony Grove area, and Rancho Santa Fe and Olivenhain lie over the hills to the south. The planned streets of San Elijo Hills are less than a mile away, and they feel much farther. Houses are spread across the slopes on big parcels, reached by long private drives off Elfin Forest Road and Harmony Grove Road. White rail fencing, barns and horse trailers are part of the scenery. The mix runs from older ranch homes to large custom builds placed for the view, which on clear days stretches to the inland mountains and, from the higher lots, to the ocean. New construction comes slowly, and residents have pushed back hard on bigger projects proposed nearby. The Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve is the reason many people chose this valley. It sits on Harmony Grove Road just east of the neighborhood, with about 11 miles of trails open to hikers, mountain bikers and riders, plus picnic tables by the water. The creek runs all year beside the staging area, and the Way Up Trail switchbacks from there to overlooks above Olivenhain Reservoir. Plenty of riders head out from their own gates without loading a trailer. Paint Mountain, with its all-around view, and the Double Peak trails in San Marcos add more climbing. Eating out starts with a drive over the hill to the little town square at San Elijo Hills. The Sanctuary, a Lost Abbey tasting room in the old visitor center building, pours the brewery's beers on a patio facing the fountain. A sandwich shop and a pizza pub share the same block, and the Albertsons on San Elijo Road is the closest supermarket. Errands mean the car, every time. Highway 78 through San Marcos and Escondido is the main link to the rest of North County, and the beaches at Encinitas are roughly nine miles off. The roads are the price of the quiet. They are narrow and curving, with few ways in or out, and the reserve closes on Red Flag days when the dry brush is a concern. Elfin Forest still holds its own Fourth of July parade, and on a weekday afternoon the loudest thing on the road is often a horse.