Continued...
I had slept on the dirt Marron Valley Rd off Campo Rd near Dulzura. While I
was eating dinner and watching a movie I was visited by the Border Patrol,
checking to see what I was up to. This made for the trifecta on this trip - I
had been visited by local police, tribal police, and now federal agents (I
suppose I could also have collected a visit by the state troopers) on this
roadtrip. Something about a van parked off in the weeds that draws attention,
I supposed. All of them seemed to find an old man doing nothing unusual
somewhat disappointing. After letting me know that agents would be driving up
and down the road all night, they took off. They didn't disappoint - apparently
I was on a regular launch pad for patrolling the border.
Little Tecate Peak
This P900 is located not far from the US/Mexico border, south of Campo Rd.
A dirt road signed Little Tecate Rd forks south from the pavement. This dirt
road in turn forks several times. The first branch I tried ended in a locked
gate, but by taking a different fork to the east before turning south, I found
to the
that services the transmission lines running
across the base of Little Tecate Peak on the north side. From where I parked it
was less than a mile and 900ft of gain. The brush is not heavy in this part of
the county making for relatively easy cross-country. I climbed directly up to
the lower north summit before noting the highpoint to the south across
. A passes through this saddle
perpendicular to my line of travel, probably used by immigrants crossing
through this area. There were plenty of that I
passed by on my way in and out to the area - getting by them is no simple feat.
It took only 30min to reach where I found a Richard Carey
register left . There were four
other parties to visit since then, three of which I knew as part of the usual
suspects. On the way back I followed the use trail through the saddle and down
a that made for an easier route on the north side. It was
only 7:30a when I'd with the day's first summit.
Lyons Peak
This curious little summit boasting 1,400ft of prominence is situated in the
southwest part of the county. The summit and a square-shaped portion around
it are part of the Cleveland NF, but it is surrounded by private property. There
is a paved road reaching to the collection of communication towers at the
summit, but it is gated, signed for No Trespassing and goes by a number of
occupied homes. There used to be one particularly nasty old gentleman that
lived high on the hill who would throw rocks down at trespassers. I'd been told
that he died or moved away recently, but when I drove through
the small community
around the locked gate I did not have a very good feeling about it. I didn't
want to hike it in the very early morning (no moon)
and decided to give up on that approach. I came
back after Tecate to explore the Bratton Valley approach from the southeast.
This small community of ranch homes has
. Sierra Cielo services
the area south of Lyons Peak and it was signed as a private road and looked
unwelcoming. Bratton Valley Rd services the east side of Lyons Peak and had no
similar restrictions. I drove this alternating dirt and concrete road up to a
I found just east of the peak where a line of telephone poles
runs in the direction of the peak a short distance with a barely discernable
service road showing though the overgrown brush. Both the south and east sides
are rather brushy, rocky and steep which made for a big unknown in this
exploratory hike - I hadn't heard of anyone reaching the summit other than by
the paved road.
The route turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable considering there were some
thick sections of brush to contend with. My route took me through a vacant area
with two homes on either side several hundred yards distance. Not far enough to
escape the notice of barking dogs, but far enough to be no real threat. There
were
marking the national forest boundary where I could at least
feel more relaxed now that I was no longer trespassing. Once I had fought my
way to the where large rock outcrops dominated over
, it became more of a exercise than
a bushwhack. And an enjoyable one at that. I spent just under an hour covering
the 3/4mi distance to . is located
at the east end of the summit (where I conveniently reached first) just east of
the that rises . The summit rocks
had had concrete poured to make a class 3 scramble
an easier class 2 one, probably by a bored lookout ranger back in the day. To
avoid the many small cliff areas,
I kept the return route much the same, to the van by 10a.
Elena Mountain/Barber Mountain
These summits had not been on my agenda before the trip began. I had noted
them the day before as I was driving through on my way to Lyons and Little
Tecate where a dirt
forks off at the highpoint of Honey Springs
Rd. There is a locked gate with a No Trespassing sign at the start of the road
leading to a nice home a short distance away, but I found
, open
and unsigned that led back to Barber Mtn Rd past the home and heading into
the
that surrounds Elena and Barber Mtns. The road goes to
neither summit, rather winding its way around the northeast side of the ridge
crowned by these two peaks.
is the nearer summit and much brushier than
Barber Mtn. I looked for a use trail of some sort as I hiked the road past it,
but found nothing but thick, heavy brush. Upon reaching the
of Barber
Mtn where the road takes a sudden turn from north to east, I struck off
cross-country up the ridgeline finding only modest brush - much easier than it
had looked from afar. Someone had been up this way before leaving random ducks
along the way. As I neared the summit the ducks
and became
high stacks of rocks. Someone had spent hours around the summit errecting these.
My first inclination was to knock them down, but there were so many that I
simply didn't want to take the time. There was nothing else to be found at the
summit save for across San Diego County and the
that
characterize this part of the state. I descended west down a grassier route
that had some modest bushwhacking only as I got back to the road. I never did
find any signs of road or trail or a reasonable route up Elena and left that
for a future exercise.
I had one other peak in mind before I was due to pick up my wife and daughter
at the San Diego Airport around 4p. This was unnamed Peak 2,258ft (2ft shy of
a P1K) found south of Interstate 8 between El Cajon and Alpine. It seems I did
a poor job of researching this one. My first try was from the northeast via
Bullard Ln that goes very near the summit. This was gated close to I-8 and
signed in no uncertain terms. I then drove around to the south side to try from
a road off Harbison Canyon Rd. A neighbor came out as I was preparing to set
off to ask my intentions. He was kind enough and we had a short talk, but he
described several landowners along my intended route that would not be happy to
see me. I thanked him and gave up the attempt. Later I leared the summit and
the whole northwest half of the mountain is public lands and can be accessed
via use trails from Flinn Springs County Park. Oh well, next time...