Myself, taking a photo on a windy peak

Last week, a day after I hiked Boucher Hill, I passed the two year mark. It’s been two years since I saw the San Diego Sierra Club’s List and decided I wanted to hike them all and write a guidebook about it. It’s been two years since I hiked Iron Mountain for the first time, excited at my newly-found fitness, running the entire way down.

I had hoped to be farther along that I am. But in other ways, I am exactly where I want to be. I’ve been asked by many what I plan to do after I complete all 100 peaks. Most of the time my answer is, “There are a lot more than 100 peaks in San Diego.” But in other ways, I have loftier goals.

This site nets me no money. I hope to change that somehow, not by endless advertising, but offering my readers something of value. Something useful. I am not sure in what shape, besides my book, that it will be, but it’s bound to be something.

Barn in Daley Ranch

Be on the lookout for some changes to the site to be coming up over the next several weeks. What is live now is a new Peak List, which is a sortable table that indicates whether or not a peak is in the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter Hundred Peaks Section (HPS), the San Diego Sierra Club’s One Hundred Peaks List (SDC) or whether or not I’ve created a Google Earth trail map for that particular hike.

I intend to have maps for all the hikes, so that column will go away once I am up to date.

The next minor thing is that I’ve numbered the icons on my Peaks Map to correspond with the Peak Numbers.

What’s to come:

• Creating information pages for all the agencies associated with the areas that contain each peak.
• Creating links or portfolio views to Flickr Sets for each trip report, so that higher res pics can be seen.
• Cleaning up older, more sparse, trip reports and making sure there are links to the trailhead and maps. I will also add any new pictures I’ve taken since I’ve been there.
• Working on my backlog of gear reviews, non-profit organization summaries, list of parks and recreation areas throughout the county
• Creating a list and map of my non-San Diego Peaks, and hikes, such as my trips to Mount Whitney, Ka’ala Peak on Oahu, San Jacinto Peak, and other peaks I’ve summited over the years.
• Creating a Tips Page, for hiking and camping tips. I’ve learned a lot and have made a lot of mistakes that others can avoid.
• Fleshing out my About page, containing more information about what I am doing, where I got my peak list, and what I consider a peak.

I am hoping to be summiting more peaks over the next few weeks, so these trip reports will be on the way, as well.

The weather has finally heated up and I hope you are all getting some time on the trails. As always, I love to get comments, even on really old posts.

As some of you know, it’s hard for me to find time to hit all the peaks quickly, as my schedule is pretty dynamic. I often am not sure I am going to be hiking until the night before. Hopefully that will change soon.

I hope to see you on the trail!

-Derek

West Mesa in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park - It could be in jeopardy

As many of you know, Proposition 21 did not pass. If you need information on it, please read some details about it elsewhere.

I have to admit that I didn’t vote either way. Due to a crazy schedule, I failed to do the appropriate amount of research and really couldn’t make an informed decision. While I wanted to help the California State Parks and make sure that money funneled into them, I wasn’t sure if taxing each motorist was the appropriate method to do so.

As a result, and because I’m finding it difficult to get outside lately,  I am going to be starting a series of blog posts about San Diego nonprofit organizations (and local chapters of national NPOs). My goal is to get people involved and let them know how they can make a difference locally.

If you do laps on Cowles Mountain, maybe you can volunteer for a trail clean up one weekend. Or simply become a member of one of the foundations that are located all around the county. I met some volunteers in Cuyamaca with horses and chainsaws, making it safe for all trail users. They were there on their own time and dime. There are many ways to be involved with the open spaces all around us in San Diego.

You can see my memberships on the sidebar to the right, the list of which will be growing over the next few months, as I do research and write about the various organizations.

All is not lost. Stewardship can be local. Get outside and get involved.

The PD, atop Ant Benchmark

Many of you have asked on numerous occasions, “Who is the PD?” I’ve decided to dedicate this blog post just to him. Some of it might be true. Or not.

The PD and I, feeling fine

While I didn’t train nearly as much as I wanted to, my performance at this year’s mission bay Triathlon confirmed that I have established a base layer of fitness that can apply to various events. More importantly, my extensive hiking has conditioned my brain to just keep going through discomfort and fatigue.

I didn’t win any medals, but I proved to myself that I can enter a triathlon with little to no training and do more than survive. I beat over 300 people, which is a lot more than I can say of my performance in 2002.

The PD, however, blew the doors off my expectations. I knew he was going to beat me, but he did it by over 12 minutes.

My mantra typically is, “It may take me a while, but I’ll get there.”

Yea, I’m more of a hiker than a runner.

An online friend of mine stumbled upon a couple of curious stickers while hiking on recent hikes. One was on Garnet Mountain, which I hiked about 11 months ago, and another was on Ken Point, a peak along the Desert Divide. Since I didn’t see the sticker on Garnet Mountain when I was there, I can only surmise that it was placed there fairly recently (less than a year).

Does anyone have any insight on these stickers? Please feel free to comment below.

Sticker on the Ken Point summit register

Sticker on the Garnet Mountain summit register

Sticker on Martinez Mountain

Update 10/11/2010: Added another one from the same friend who keeps finding these.

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.

This is a beautiful area and, apart from Cedar Creek Falls, much of the area rarely gets visited. I recommend checking it out.

From: http://www.sandiegoriver.org/calendar.php (for more information)

06/05 10am National Trails Day – MEMBER HIKE to Cedar Creek Falls from Saddleback

Contact Sarah at 619-297-7380 or by email for details. This is a free guided hike for River Park Foundation members (may join at the event) to one of San Diego’s natural treasures, 80 foot Cedar Creek Falls. Followed by an open house at the River Park Foundation’s 500+ acre Eagle Peak Preserve.

Email Sarah to RSVP and for details

06/05 1pm – 3pm Eagle Peak Preserve Nature Hike

The Preserve is open! This is one final opportunity to enjoy the Spring Wildflowers at the Preserve.

A guided hike will leave at 2PM from the middle parking area. Enjoy a hike to Son 2 Peak and down to the ponds. We will stop along the way and learn about some of the flora of the Preserve. After the ponds we will head back to the trailhead. This hike is open to members and non-members. FREE. Total hike length approx. 2.5 miles. Elevation gain = 250 feet. Facilities are very primitive. You are welcome to explore the Preserve on your own.

Location: Eagle Peak Road near mile marker 8

Wendy Fry has updated her article to state that: “…detectives said Tuesday that there are no signs the death is a homicide.”

I am not sure what to believe at this point, but I am hoping it was merely a case of a small fire that got out of control, rather than something far, far worse.

In Mount Laguna, near a remote hiking trail, a body has been found that appears to have been burnt at the site. Police don’t know yet if the body is a male or female and the remains were airlifted to the Medical Examiners office.

It’s always possible that a campfire got out of control, especially with the high winds and lower temperatures this weekend, but there’s always the possibility of foul play.

No word on how long the body has been out there or any other significant details.

Map of the general location of the body

I’d hate to be out hiking and be the one to come across something like this.

Be careful out there, people.