Alpine, CA (San Diego, El Cajon, Santee: renting, neighborhoods, to buy)

[freedomdove]

Thank you very much for that information, Rosie; it's quite helpful, as usual.

[RosieSD]

Thought I'd add this for you and others who may be interested in comparing San Diego County air quality to other parts of the country. It's the American Lung Association's State of the Air 2016 report:

State of the Air | American Lung Association

You can see the report by state, so you can look up the area where you are coming from on the above link.

And here is the report for all of the counties in California:

California | American Lung Association

[freedomdove]

I apologize for my late response. Thank you again for your help, Rosie. Much appreciated.

I suppose I'm less worried about air quality than I am about other things such as cost of living and the length of the growing season, though I wouldn't want to live in an area that was really smoggy.

[scott_the_zip]

Didn't see anyone mention this!

Alpine Beer Company: Drink Alpine beer or go to bed!

My bro lives in Alpine and absolutely loves it. It's very quiet for the most part. For a small town there are some great little restaurants. Not all is perfect though, I should add that his place almost burned down in 2003.

[freedomdove]

Originally Posted by scott_the_zip

Didn't see anyone mention this!

Alpine Beer Company: Drink Alpine beer or go to bed!

I watched a youtube video that stated there's a lot of microbreweries in San Diego, in general.

My bro lives in Alpine and absolutely loves it. It's very quiet for the most part. For a small town there are some great little restaurants. Not all is perfect though, I should add that his place almost burned down in 2003.

It sounds nice, except for the fires. Do they happen often in Alpine?

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by freedomdove

I watched a youtube video that stated there's a lot of microbreweries in San Diego, in general.

It sounds nice, except for the fires. Do they happen often in Alpine?

Yes. In fact, we just had a huge fire here last week that was not far from Alpine. In 2003 and again in 2007, many homes were damaged by fires in the Alpine area. They've had other fires as well.

Alpine is surrounded by mountains and canyons filled with chapparel, which provides lots of fuel. I am just a few miles south of Alpine, and we have been evacuated for fires more often than I can count (and our community has also lost homes in fires as well).

Of course, fires can -- and do -- happen any where in California (you might want to read through this thread: More on California Wild Fire Season 2016) But back country areas like Alpine are at higher risk for fires.

I don't want to scare you, but Alpine also has lots of rattlesnakes. You will have to be aware and careful when gardening there. For instance see: Giant rattlesnake discovered in Alpine backyard - 10News.com KGTV ABC10 San Diego (be sure to watch the video as it will give you some scenes of what the Alpine area looks like).

Again, you can find rattlesnakes any where in San Diego County (and in most of California), but in the back country areas like Alpine, you can expect to encounter them on a more regular basis. I find them in my yard (and once in my garage) quite frequently. If you have pets who will be outside, make sure you get them the rattlesnake vaccine each year.

Fires and rattlesnakes are the two biggest downsides to living in more rural areas in San Diego County, in my opinion. While you can encounter both anywhere, the risk is definitely higher out here.

Other critters you will find in Alpine: coyotes, bobcats, foxes, black widow spiders, lizards (lots of those), other types of snakes (gopher, king are most common after the rattlers), owls, eagles, hawks, rats, mice, rabbits, ground squirrels and the occasional mountain lion. One of the biggest challenges with growing vegetables out here is the critters -- we have to fully enclose our tomatoes in chicken wire "coops" if we want any tomatoes; otherwise, the squirrels, other rodents, and birds will eat them before we get them. On the other hand, we do have lots of amazing hummingbirds!

[RosieSD]

Also, you might enjoy reading this site -- it covers most of the East County areas, including Alpine. East County Magazine

The stories about Alpine will be in the rural news section which you can find here: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/co...al-communities)

I'd recommend following that section regularly if you are thinking of moving to one of the rural areas of east county like Alpine.

I love living out here, but it does have its challenges at times. Of course, every place does!

[RosieSD]

Also, this YouTube Video will give you a good glimpse of what the Alpine area looks like, with a couple of caveats. The caveats are that the lake they show where people are fishing is NOT in Alpine. It is in Santee, which is 20 minutes away. They show a lot of beaches and water in the video, but none of those places are in Alpine. Neither is the San Diego Zoo. They also say that Alpine is just 30 minutes from San Diego; it's more like 45 minutes. But, other than that, the scenes they show in Alpine will give you a pretty good glimpse of the area and how mountainous and dry it is.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qeVAuVhQxo

And, since you asked about fires, here's a video of a "small" fire in Alpine from the early 2000s -- that will also give you an idea of what the terrain is like:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xXfbUpvlIo (fire)

I personally love the Alpine area. Well, that's because it reminds me so much of where I live in Jamul.

[freedomdove]

Thanks again, Rosie. It certainly sounds like an exciting region! I'm also looking at Jamul and the other smaller towns in the area. Are they all about the same?

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by freedomdove

Thanks again, Rosie. It certainly sounds like an exciting region! I'm also looking at Jamul and the other smaller towns in the area. Are they all about the same?

The back country areas are very large and spread out. For example, Alpine covers 26 square miles. It has 14000 people spread out over those 26 square miles. Jamul covers almost 17 square miles, with about 8000 people spread out over the 17 square miles.

So within the "back country" and within each named rural community, there is a lot of variety in terms of geography and sense of place. You really can't say that such and such community is "this" because it will depend on where you live in each area.

In Alpine there are some areas along the freeway that are pretty suburban, but also some very rural areas where you won't be able to see your nearest neighbor. It's the same in Jamul, although "downtown" Jamul is closer "into town" then "downtown" Alpine. But, our "downtown" is much smaller than Alpine's for that reason: we can get to shopping and services quicker than they can in Alpine.

Keep in mind that Alpine and Jamul and other backcountry areas are all unincorporated. That means we do not have city governments, and must rely on the County Board of Supervisors, the County Sherrif and rural fire protection. While I like that I don't have city laws telling me what I can and can't do with my property, living in an unincorporated area means you have to be much more self-sufficient because there isn't a city hall to call when there is a problem, such as your neighbor doing something on their property that you don't like.