SO BE FREE 30
Jamul, CA

March 27–30, 2026

Jamul, San Diego County, CA

Coordinator: Chris Coshland

Report by Jake Bauer

This year’s SO BE FREE was hosted at Indian Hills Camp in Jamul, which is as the southernmost portion of San Diego County. This area south of the 8 freeway marked a particularly understudied area when it comes to bryophytes, and so it was expected that surveying the region could provide southernmost range extensions to the known distribution of several California bryophytes. Indeed, finds like Ephemerum serratum and Riccia cavernosa in this area extended our knowledge of these species practically down to the border of Mexico.

Our group of both expert and budding bryologists had a particularly fun time at this camp, as we took over what is normally a children’s summer camp! Attendees staying on-site slept in gold-rush themed cabins along the “main street,” and we ate our delicious meals in a large cafeteria themed like an old western movie. We set up our microscopes in “the barn,” which provided ample space for socializing with our bryo buddies and looking at our collections from the day.

We had an especially significant amount of new attendees this year, and so the beginner workshop led by Brent was particularly important. Chris Coshland and myself led the other field trips on Saturday and Sunday, and we had a blast showing off the beautiful bryophytes that live in our neck of the woods! We even were fortunate enough to be escorted through a sensitive vernal pool habitat owned by CNPS in Mira Mesa by the San Diego Chapter board member Lee Gordon, where we discovered a thriving population of the rare liverwort Geothallus tuberosus!

It was certainly a trip we will all remember fondly, and we had a lovely time hosting everyone down here in a beautiful part of California.

Additional photos will be found in the trip report in Bryolog #43.