View from The Trail to Sugg Peak

Elevation Gain: 1,205′
Miles: 8.5
Trailhead

I was excited to get back to Cuyamaca and excited to be going after a peak that I could see from my hike up to the top of Oakzanita Peak.

I am glad that I didn’t attempt this the same day as Oakzanita hike, since the bushwhacking involved would have been compounded by the snow all over East Mesa.

Brady (@HikingSanDiego) and I got to the trailhead just after 6AM and were the only people there. The sun wasn’t fully up yet, but it wasn’t cold at all, so I was worried that it might get pretty hot as the day progressed. We headed out on the East Mesa Fire road and were almost immediately presented with a nice view of Oakzanita Peak, which would dominate the landscape for most of the day.

We saw plenty of tracks in the road; deer, turkey and even some large mountain lion, but saw nothing other than lizards, squirrels, quail, and some rabbits.

While hiking up the road, we shared our varied hiking experiences and approached the area where we would start bushwhacking. I had scoped out the region from Google Earth, but I couldn’t tell which way was the best way.

Trail Sherpa

I was asked by Tim at Trail Sherpa if I wanted to be interviewed as a part of his #hike2020 series about my recent hike to Mount Whitney, as well hiking in San Diego in general. The interview was conducted using hash tags in Twitter, which ended up being pretty interesting and encouraged audience participation. Tim is a great interviewer and I thought he asked some great questions. I was his second interview in the series, with Pamela Wilton, of the 8 Thousand Kilometer Challenge being the first.

Read the interview at Trail Sherpa if you get a chance.

Trail to Tooth Rock in Poway

Elevation: 1,167′
Miles: 2.12
Trailhead

Well, it’s been about a month and a half since I hiked any peaks here in San Diego. Not that I haven’t been hiking, mind you. I did a nice trek to Mount Whitney last month which put some perspective on things.

What I mean is that the hike this morning seemed more like a warm-up than an actual hike. However, I am writing a guide book in the hopes of getting not only the adventurous seasoned hiker out on the trail, but also the inexperienced person, willing to give hiking a try.

That being said, it was really nice to get back out on the trail here. San Diego is great. You usually don’t have to drive more than a few miles to find a trail. The PD and I got up at around 6AM and headed out to Poway after grabbing a quick bite. We strapped on our day packs and headed out. We encountered a woman walking a dog, which is pretty typical when the trailhead is near a suburban area, and, in this case, in a neighborhood.

From North County Times:

“RAMONA —- Four hikers suffering from heat exhaustion were rescued Saturday in Cleveland National Forest, officials said.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection workers responded at about 4 p.m. to reports that hikers had suffered heat exhaustion on the Cedar Creek trail, CalFire Capt. Daryll Pina said.

He said rescuers drove to the hikers and rescued them along with one of the two dogs they had taken on the hike.

The other dog died because of the heat, he said.

Ramona Community Emergency Response Team volunteers were at the trail head to provide shelter and water to hikers who braved the 115-degree heat reported in areas of the canyon, Pina said. He said rescuers have responded to more than a dozen heat-related injuries on the trail during the last three weekends.”

This brings me back to my rant on my hike to Cedar Creek Falls. If it’s hot, start early and bring plenty of water. Or try a more moderate trail.

Be careful out there and make smart decisions, people.

It’s been over a week since I’ve been back from the Sierras as I am writing this. I’d hate to wax poetical, but the landscapes that the PD and I hiked and scrambled through have permeated my thoughts, resonating within me each time I close my eyes.

Days of Hiking: 3
Total Miles: 33.42
Total Elevation Gain: 7,473 ’

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Mount Whitney from the Lone Pine Visitor Center

The PD and I left San Diego Thursday at 4AM. Due to getting some work done and preparing for the trip, I was able to get to bed at 3AM. So, on one hour’s sleep, we avoided most of the traffic through Riverside and San Bernardino and were speeding over the rolling landscape of the 395 by the time the sun rose.

At almost exactly 8AM, we arrived at the southern end of Lone Pine. We stopped by the visitor center to pick up our permits and ask some questions about snow in the passes. The extremely helpful people at the center let us know that people had gone through all the passes on our route (New Army Pass, Crabtree Pass (we would question this one later), and the route up to Mount Whitney Summit Trail), and that all was clear. There would be no need for any special gear.

We had rented a bear canister at REI here in San Diego, so we didn’t need to rent one at the Visitor Center. It was slightly more expensive this way, but it was nice to be able to make sure all the food we needed was going to fit within the confines of the canister.

San Pasqual Valley

San Dieguito River Park
14103 Highland Valley Road
Escondido, CA 92025
760-765-3020
sdrp@sdrp.org
Agency: San Dieguito River Park Conservancy

Beginning in 1989, the San Dieguito River Park envisioned a 55-mile hiking, biking and equestrian trail from Vulcan Mountain near Julian to the beach at Del Mar. Over the past 21 years, park officials have completed about 35 miles of the trail, along with another five miles of side trails, and other projects such as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge over Lake Hodges and lagoon restoration projects.

The San Dieguito River Park is currently in a budget crisis, as is best summarized by a SignOnSanDiego article by Logan Jenkins (from June 2010):

I usually add a little commentary about safety here and there in my posts, but was considering dedicating an entire post to trail safety when I came across a post from one of my online friends (The Running Fat Guy). He is a trail runner, and the post leans in that direction, but all of his points apply directly to hikers, as well.

The Dangers of Trail Racing – Part 3

Parts one and two, while great reads, don’t truly encapsulate what I’d like to say as well as part three does.

Before I moved to San Diego, I had visited the charming little town of Julian and heard that it was a mining town. I had also visited Lake Cuyamaca and enjoyed the area. Once I moved here and started hiking in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, I was curious about where some of the names came from. I then purchased San Diego County Place Names, A To Z, by Leland Fetzer and really enjoyed reading the short descriptions of the places I was hiking.

Recently I saw his book The Cuyamacas: The Story of San Diego’s High Country and had to pick it up.

I wasn’t disappointed. Starting from the Kumeyaay Nation, to the Spanish Colonists and to the American Settlers from the east, this book really goes in depth at how the Cuyamaca Mountains fall into the history of the area and how their natural resources were both exploited and loved throughout the years.

Inlcuded are old photographs, old plat maps and descriptions of how and why certain areas were named, such as Airplane Ridge and Stonewall Peak. It is a great read, although, at points, it gets a little cumbersome, as Fetzer’s tremendous research bogs down the pace a little at points. The books covers the history of the area through the era of the Cedar Fire of 2003.

The only weaknesses of the book are the sheer number of people detailed (as I mentioned above, which can also be a strength, depending how you look at it), and the lack of maps that truly illustrate the various historical routes through the Cuyamacas that he describes.

When reading in bed, I would sometimes pop open the map on my cell phone or have my Cuyamaca Rancho SP Trail Map open up to follow along. Sometimes I would be at my desk with Google Earth open. But place names have changed, so it was, at times, difficult to keep track of where Fetzer was indicating.

After every chapter, however, I wanted to go back to Cuyamaca and roam around, with a new perspective. I recommend it.

Primal Strips

Anytime I am offered free products that are even remotely related to hiking and the outdoors, I will jump at the chance to review them. This time it’s Primal Strips – Meatless Vegan Jerky. When I was contacted, I quickly perused their website and didn’t notice that they were vegetarian until I received the package.

I am not a vegetarian, but I do like Gardenburgers and Veggie Burgers, but don’t really crave the Bocca variety. I often order vegetarian patties in restaurants when I crave a burger. I just like the taste of them, and I just don’t eat that much beef, except, for some reason, after hiking a long distance. In that case, I tend to yearn for burgers like crazy. Perhaps it is a learned response to the mandatory McDonalds trips after every hike while I was in Boy Scouts.

Regardless, I am always looking for something tasty that I can eat on the trail. My father, who went hiking with me to Monument Peak on a previous hike, was visiting my house when the package arrived, so I told him to try it, just leave me at least one in each flavor, as they had sent me two of each. I blinked and he had inhaled six of the strips, mumbling, “These are pretty good!”

San Jacinto Peak sign

From time to time, I will be “re-publishing” some old posts from other blogs here. Some of them will be travel posts, some will be hiking or camping posts. For whatever reason, I think my readers may be interested in the content. I will post a new blog linking to the blog that is posted to the old date. This is the first of them.

This particular retro post is a “reprint” of an older post that was originally posted on my personal blog, posted here since it is relevant and a very memorable trip for me. This trip succeeded in giving me a fitness wake-up call, finally getting me to join Joe Decker’s workout group, which jump-started my fitness and ultimately led me to conceive of hiking 100 peaks as a possbility. I am also planning to hike the same trail soon as a day hike, and this report serves as a baseline of sorts.

The Post:

Mount San Jacinto – October 2007 – A Wake Up Call