100 Peaks

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.

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!”

A few weeks ago, I got a message from David over at Adayak asking if I’d mind linking to the Adayak website. I don’t normally just add links to my page without some thought, so I browsed their website and liked what I saw. Adayak makes t-shirts for people who enjoy outdoors activities.

Three things stood out to me:

1. The t-shirts are made from 100% organic materials.
2. They don’t have prominent logos on their products. That’s a pet peeve of mine.
3. They donate 1$ from every order to environmental conservation charities.

Then I read Modern Hiker’s review of the shirt and I knew I had to have one. I contacted David at Adayak and begged to be sent one to review on my blog. Within a couple of days, I had the shirt in my hand. I asked for a large, since I read that sizing tends to be small.

I grew up about an hour and a half to the north of San Diego, in Orange County. I can’t remember when, but I purchased the book Afoot and Afield in Orange County. This book led me all over the county to waterfalls and mountain peaks, to canyons and streams. Many of the hikes were shared with the person who is now my wife.

Moving to San Diego in 2000, I immediately went out and purchased the San Diego version of the bookand then purchased the current edition when it came out.

I realize that this book will be a direct competitor with my book when it is published. However, while many of the peaks that are a part of the 100 Peaks journey are in this book (about 40), most of them are not.

If you have any interest at all in hiking in San Diego, you should get this book. It contains hikes in nearly all of the regions and parks in San Diego. From Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, to the mountains of Cuyamaca, this book really is comprehensive.

The book provides directions to the trailhead, mileage, elevation changes, trail difficulty, and excellent maps.

One of the strengths of this book is also one of its weaknesses. The author describes in great detail the area and history surrounding each trail, which makes for great armchair reading. However, if you are trying to get an overall idea of the trail with landmarks and turns, it is difficult to scan the dense prose for directions and mileage cues. You will have to take notes and bring them with you.

Regardless, this book is a must-have if you have any inkling of hiking in San Diego. It truly is the “bible of San Diego hiking,” as the Los Angeles Times opined.

And, as always, be prepared with a topographical map of the area wherever you are hiking and know how to read it!

Caveat: I only review gear that I really like and have used, so there will be a positive slant. However, I will be honest about any flaws of the products.

For the last several years, I have been lugging a Canon Digital Rebel with a pretty sizable 28-200mm zoom lens up and down the mountains. The zoom works great and the wildlife photos have been fun, but I have been somewhat unhappy with the nearly three pounds of weight, as well as the limitations of the lens: I can’t take great wide-angle photos from the summits. There are lens conversion factors, which I won’t get into, that makes my lens more like a 43-311mm lens.

Enter the Canon PowerShot G11 Digital Camera. I received this for Christmas from my wife who wanted to lighten my load on the trail. And that it is. At 12.5 ounces, it shaved nearly 3 pounds off of my camera gear (more if I choose to bring more lenses on the Rebel) and I get to take true 28mm wide-angle photos, which have been a treat so far. It only goes to 140mm on the long end, so I will have to use my woodsman’s skills to get close enough to photograph any wildlife.

Caveat: I only review gear that I really like and have used, so there will be a positive slant. However, I will be honest about any flaws of the products.

When I am hiking up to the top of mountains, I tend to travel pretty light. I have worn a day pack with a bladder pouch on some of the longer hikes, but most summit hikes in San Diego tend to be 5-6 miles or shorter. However, I don’t like my back completely sweaty, especially on the hotter days. [tweet]

One of my most-used equipment on my hikes has been the Mountainsmith Ultra Lumbar Pack. It doesn’t have a lot of storage for more than two water bottles and some maps and snacks, but it has everything I need for most of my hikes. There is an elastic belt pocket for a GPS or cell phone, which I use for my iPhone (as a GPS), and a smaller velcro belt pocket for my car keys. There is even a padded interior pocket in the large pocket for items that you want protected. I have been able to easily access the water bottles while hiking due to the angle which the bottle pockets are placed, as well as the main pocket in the rear due to the large loop on the zipper. It even has a little strap on the top of the pack for carrying with one hand to and from the car while fully loaded. I’ve used this feature far more than I ever thought I would.

Caveat: I only review gear that I really like and have used. So there will be a positive slant. However, I will be honest about any flaws of the products.

I’ve been looking for a good solution to map my hikes.

I’ve been using a simple GPS, but haven’t been really happy with the interface. Another problem I have with it is that it always adds a waypoint when I turn it on at home, creating a long line from the trailhead of my last hike right to my desk at home.

Trimble Outdoors started following me on Twitter and I stopped by their website to see what they offered. The interface of this app looked great so I decided to try it out. At $4.99 (at the time of this post), it seemed like a value, since I already had an iPhone that I take along every hike.

I had to register through the phone really quickly and then I was up and running.

To try it out, I took it on my hike to McGinty Mountain. For this hike, I only used it on the way back, since I was worried about battery life for my iPhone. However, my battery indicator barely moved at all on the 2.4 miles down the mountain.

At the summit, I simply pressed the Hike button on my phone and then hit the Play button and it was ready to go. It found the satellites in less then a minute and displayed all of the information I would need to record my track. I put the iPhone in the pocket of my shorts for most of the way down, only pulling it out to check my distance. It recorded everything just fine. When I was down to the trailhead, I pressed stop and it let me save it, giving me the option to change the name of the track.

From time to time, I will be reviewing some of the gear that I use. Since I only use stuff that I like, most of the these reviews will be positive. I will be honest in addressing any potential flaws.

The first review is for the prAna Men’s Stretch Zion Short. I first found a pair of these shorts several years ago on the clearance rack outside side of REI for about $25. The material is 97% Nylon amd 3% Spandex.

Since then, I have not seen these shorts anywhere near that price. These were an older version that had stiff but stretchy fabric with netted pockets and were quite comfortable, stain-resistant and wrinkle-free. I stuffed them in my backpack or suitcase and they always looked good. I’ve been wearing them regularly since and I see no visible signs of wear. They are made from strong material to withstand years of abuse. Since I liked them so much, I recently decided to order more since I will be spending more time out on the trails.

The current year’s version lists for about $60, but are for some reason hard to find these days, escpecially in Large. I ordered my latest shorts from Neptune Mountaineering for $35 each and now they are out of stock on all sizes and colors.

I just received the new shorts the other day and the fit was excellent.  The only difference I can see between the older version is that the back pocket is not zippered on the new version, which isn’t a big deal for me. It has a built-in belt that I pretty much set and forget and find it easy to wear under lumbar or overnight pack belts. Other shorts that I own tend to restrict my movement up the steeper parts of the trail, but these shorts do no such thing due to the stretchy fabric.

I like that I can travel with these and they always look great and fresh. Dirt seems to slide right off of them. I love these shorts and can’t recommend them more.