Continued...
It was Christmas eve in the San Diego area, another fine day of pleasant
weather in the Southland. I had dutifully stood in line in the early morning
hour to pick up the traditional ham at Honeybaked in Escondido before heading
off with my daughter to tag some easy peaks around San Marcos and Carlsbad.
Denk Mountain
This summit is the highpoint of the Rancho La Costa Habitat Conservation
Area, a small island amidst the expansive suburban sprawl. The distance from
our
(the junction of Corte Romero & Camino Junipero) to the summit was barely half
a mile, but it would take us more than three times that distance to reach the
summit thanks to the we followed,
possibly the worst set of trail switchbacks I've ever come across. They were
long and meandering, without a steady grade of any sort and seemed designed by
someone with no trail-building skills whatsoever. The terrain is mostly open
chaparral, not heavily vegetated. The trail has many shortcuts that have
developed over the years to no great surprise. Open to both cyclists and hikers,
the trail may be more suited for mountain bike travel, but I suspect they aren't
too thrilled with it either. We spent about 45min climbing to the open summit.
Having left our water in the car ("don't worry, it's an easy hike") we were
regretting that decision by the time we topped out. There are
to rest on next to an information plaque, along with
a that had been constructed as someone's Eagle Scout
project. It was one of several we came across in the
park. The summit offers nice, open views is all
directions and appears to be fairly popular. There are other trails that can be
found leading off in other directions. We used one of these to make shorter
work of our return.
Mt. Marron
This lowly summit is found in an industial part of Carlsbad. It's southern
flanks had been cleared for new development that went bust back in 2008. Realtor
signs remain hopeful but so far only the centermost site has been built upon. We
parked at the highest point
and made the 5min hike to the summit. The route I picked was far from optimal,
involving some light bushwhacking along a . The summit
itself was a mess of higher brush with little of interest. Jackie was a good
sport, however, and the ridiculousness of it all. We found
an for the return.
Mt. Hinton
This companion summit to Mt. Marron is found to the northwest across Agua
Hedionda Creek. We drove around to a suburban development on the north side,
a few minutes from the top. We had to surmount a
in order
to get into what appears to be preserve of some kind around Los Monos Canyon,
protecting the creek and the habitats it contains. There were
found at a junction, old and fading, indicating the area
was open, or planned to be opened, to public use at one time. It does not
appear to get many visitors and do not seem to be
maintained. We followed the signs indicating "Mt. Hinton" to the uninteresting
a short distance to the
southwest. A liter-sized empty bottle of vodka attested to the summit's
occassional draw for adolescents.
Coxey Hill & San Francisco Peak
These two summits are found north of Mt. Hinton. The former has been completely
developed over and the highpoint is impossible to pinpoint once the bulldozers
did their work. It appears to be in someone's yard along Shadowridge Dr. A
water tower sits atop San Francisco Peak off Nighthawk Way. The fence
surrounding it is even more formidable than the one we previously scaled and
Jackie had no interest in this one. I decided not to add to her concern and we
left it undisturbed.
Cerro de la Calavera
Having had enough, Jackie decided not to join me on this last summit, which I
found to be the best of the bunch. We parked at the end of Cannon Rd where there
are ample signs indicating
No Parking. There are shorter and more legal
ways to reach this summit, but I had picked this as the easiest driving from the
previous point. The summit and surrounding areas are part of a patchwork of
open space areas around Calavera Lake in Carlsbad. It is popular for hiking and
biking and there were many people out during the short time I was there.
From where there is a trail heading north along the fence
with the New
Venture Christian Fellowship, eventually with several
forks heading towards the small standalone summit across
. Use trails lead to the summit from at least three
sides of the hill. I went up the east side starting near a
, found several taking in
from the summit, and descended the south side before
returning across the to the original trail I'd started
on. In all I spent 45min for the
round trip.