The Archives

Anza Borrego, SDC, Trip Reports
-The Thimble-
04.18.10 | Permalink | 2 Comments

SDC: #23

Elevation: 5,779 ft.

Date Hiked: 4-17-2010

Trip Report:
The thimble is a mountain located in the San Ysidro Mountains in San Diego County. I had wanted to hike this mountain and was planning on hiking it last January but snow made that impossible. I was back today to try it again and there was no snow this time.

The Thimble
SDC, Trip Reports
-Cowles Mountain and Pyles Peak-
03.30.10 | Permalink | 2 Comments

SDC: #21 & 22

Elevation: 1,591 and 1,379 ft.

Date Hiked: 3-27-2010

Trip Report:
These two hills are located in Urban San Diego and are very popular hikes. Cowles mountain is the highpoint in the City of San Diego. Pyles Peak is a mile and a half further making the round trip for these to mountains 6 miles.

The Antennae on Cowles Mountain
HPS, SDC, Trip Reports
-Middle Peak-
03.06.10 | Permalink | Comment?

HPS: #13
SDC: #20

Elevation: 5,883 ft.

Date Hiked: 3-6-10

Trip Report:
Middle Peak was one of the southern San Diego HPS peaks which I had yet to hike. This peak is just north of Cuyamaca Peak and is known for the poor views and large trees. Middle Peak has the largest trees in San Diego county. This area was devastated by the 2003 fires and is still recovering.

Middle Peak in the Clouds
HPS, SDC, Trip Reports
-Oakzanita Peak-
02.27.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

HPS: #12
SDC: #19

Elevation: 5,054 ft.

Date Hiked: 2-27-10

Trip Report:
This weekend’s original plans were canceled due to the rain that southern California got on Saturday. I decided to hike Oakzanita Peak. This was an easy 5.5 mile hike on a well established trail, a perfect hike for a rainy day. It was also relatively close unlike the past few hikes I had been on. The snow level was above 6000 feet so unfortunately there would not be any snow.

Oakzanita Peak from near the Trailhead
Anza Borrego, HPS, SDC, Trip Reports
-Whale Peak-
01.31.10 | Permalink | 2 Comments

HPS: #11
SDC: #16

Elevation: 5,350 ft.

Date Hiked: 1-30-10

Trip Report:

This was a trip done with the omegameaniacs from The Omega Group. I had wanted to hike Whale ever since I first saw it from Monument Peak. This mountain is located in the center of the Anza Borrego State Park and is a literal island in the sky. It rises over 4000 feet above the surrounding desert and has pine trees at the summit. This peak also happens to be both an SDC and HPS peak

Granite Peak #2 from Pinyon Mountain Rd and S2
SDC, Trip Reports
-White BM and Bonny BM-
01.23.10 | Permalink | 2 Comments

SDC: #14 & 15

Elevation: 5,326 ft. & 4,574 ft.

Date Hiked: 1-23-10

Trip Report:

I had been looking to go for a hike for the past few weeks. This past week southern California had an epic series of storms which left snow above 4,000 ft in San Diego. Although there was up to two feet of snow I was still going to try and bag an HPS and a few SDC peaks. I choose to hike San Ysidro mountain becasue you can also bag 3 SDC peaks (The Thimble, White BM and Bonny BM). These peaks aree located west of Borrego Springs along State Route 22. The directions from the HPS site were dead on.

White Benchmark
Anza Borrego, HPS, SDC, Trip Reports
-Combs Peak-
01.09.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

HPS: #10
SDC: #13

Elevation: 6,193 ft.

Date Hiked: 12-31-09

Trip Report:
Combs Peak is located in the far northeast corner of San Diego county. It is the most remote of the ten 6,000 foot mountains in San Diego. This is a peak that I had wanted to do for a long time. It supposedly has some of the best views in the county of both the San Jacinto Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains. It was also both an HPS and SDC peak, both lists I would like to complete. I wanted to find out if this was true.

San Gorgonio and San Jacinto
HPS, SDC, Trip Reports
-Stonewall Peak-
12.05.09 | Permalink | 1 Comment

HPS: #9
SDC: #12

Elevation: 5,730 ft.

Date Hiked: 12-5-09

Trip Report:
This was the second hike of the day after Garnet Mountain. It was a great hike which I had done before. The route starts across the street from the Paso Picacho campground near Cuyamaca Peak. It costs $8 to park in the day use section of the campground. It is a well marked trail which has wood railings on each side. The route switchbacks up the mountain to the rocky summit. The summit block has a bolted railing to the very top which is unfortunate because there could have been some nice class 3 scrambling to the summit. The summit area does have a few technical rock climbs.

Stonewall Peak from the Trail to Cuyamaca Peak
Anza Borrego, HPS, SDC, Trip Reports
-Garnet Mountain-
12.05.09 | Permalink | Comment?

HPS: #8
SDC: #11

Elevation: 5,680 ft.

Date Hiked: 12-5-09

Trip Report:
This peak is a simple 20 minute hike in the Laguna Mountains of San Diego county. This mountain would never be visited if it was not on the SDC and HPS list. Although the hike was short the views from the top were great.

The Summit Register
SDC, Trip Reports
-Kwaay Paay Peak-
08.14.09 | Permalink | Comment?

SDC: #10

Elevation: 1,194 ft.

Date Hiked: 8-14-09

Trip Report:
This was a spur of the moment trip. This hike is short, easy but has some good views of San Diego County. I left home after work and drove to the trailhead in Mission Trails Regional Park. It was easy to find because I was somewhat familiar with the area as I have rock climbed here many times before.

Kaay Paay Peak