The family came down to San Diego to see Grandma for Easter so it seemed a good
time to get some easy hikes in. After two previous attempts, the Merriam Mtns
HP hadn't been far from the top of my todo list. With a smooth, 20-foot granite
obelisk for a summit block, I can confidently say it's the most technically
difficult range highpoint in the state. I sent a note to Mark to see
if he was available since he had previously offered to bring a ladder for the
next attempt. We settled on late Friday afternoon, and then sent out a plan to
a number of others that had expressed interest in joining us. This grew to
include some others that I knew might be interested, and it seemed that we
might have a dozen for the main event on Friday. My daughter joined me for an
easy hike in the morning to a pair of summits near Lake Hodges before we had
lunch in Escondido. I dropped her off back at Grandma's before doing a few
more easy ones and then meeting the group for the finale. All in all a rather
fun day.
Peak 1,109ft/Peak 1,110ft
These two peaks are located on the south side of Lake Hodges, just west of
Grandma's home in Rancho Bernardo. The land surrounding these two peaks is
undeveloped, though it's unclear whether it is private or public. There are no
signs or fences along the perimeter, nor regular trails or signs of common use. We started from
Alva Rd, east of Peak 1,109ft. Galena Canyon Rd heading west goes up to a
water tower towards the south. We followed the road until it turns south, then
headed off on leading to an old,
faded ranch road heading west. The road peaks and starts
downhill before reaching the top, the last 100yds involving some easy
cross-country to the top. A home is found immediately to the south with the
summit northwest of the house, the highpoint found within a fence housing
a collection of .
We walked part way around the fence to ascertain
this, then looked for a way in. The baricade is formidable, with three strands
of barbed-wire at an outward angle topping the high, chainlink fence. A section
of the fence had been cut away and a flimsy gate installed at a later date,
probably when they were putting in the newer plastic tanks. Upon closer
inspection, we noted the gate was only held
together with some thin wire ties which we found easy to undo and allow us to
slip through. We took at the summit rocks and then scooted back
out the fence, tying things back up. We next returned to the old road and
followed that northwest to the sister summit half a mile to the northeast. The
two summits are nearly equal in height and it is difficult to tell from the
topo map or from observation which is higher. The second is nicer in that it
has no water tank or other eyesore and has a nice view overlooking
to the north. All along our hike Jackie had been picking
various and arranging them as a bouquet in her
. I had to admit it looked rather .
In a bid to shortcut our return, we struck off on a cross-country descent to
the east down to . This 1/3mi effort turned out to be
more difficult than expected, with heavier brush than we'd found up to that
point. Jackie was a good sport about it and followed me through the stuff
without complaining. At the lake we came across a woman with two children
playing at the water's edge. We sheepishly asked where to find the trail and
followed it back to where we'd parked.
We had lunch at the IHop in Escondido before considering further hikes. Mom was
looking to take Jackie for a pedicure and for her part Jackie wasn't all that
excited about sharing me with 10 perfect strangers on the Merriam Mtns HP
attempt. So I took her back to Rancho Bernardo before continuing on my own with
a few more easy hikes.
Reidy BM
Located on the east side of Interstate 15 near where our group was to meet,
this summit is located next to a water tank and entirely on private property.
There is an old, no longer driveable that can be followed to
the water tank from where I started just off Mountain Meadow Rd.
There are no signs indicating private property
or No Trespassing, which encouraged me. An elderly, white-haired lady came
driving by in a golf cart - she had evidently come out to the pavement to
check for mail - pausing to ask what I was up to. When I told her my plan to go
for a
short hike, she told me it was her property. Seems she was one of the owners
of the Stickly Ranch that owns most of the property around here. We talked
briefly and she seemed happy to give me permission when I asked if it would be
ok for me to walk to the highpoint. She left me with, "Watch out for
rattlesnakes!" as she smiled and drove away. I followed for
about a mile through her property, passing by a fenced-in
that looks to be no longer maintained. Nearby is a
with lots of old irrigation pipes that stopped being
useful ages ago. Perhaps they just gave up the
farming of avocados with age or declining prices. There seem to be lots of
abandoned avocado farms on the hillsides around Escondido. Once at
, a use trail leads around the east side of the fence to
the rocky highpoint where a short, class 3 finishes on
the summit rocks. There is a nice view overlooking Escondido to
and found just of the
summit block. Nice little hike. My route went within view of
several homes near the summit which would have made me nervous had I not run
into the owner earlier - best to get permission for this one, if you can.
Peak 1,602ft
This short summit hike can be from the same Park N Ride lot
that our group met at. It rises above the interstate on the west side, easily
visible from the start. I had about 50min to make the hike to the summit and
back, less than 2mi, all told. The land is signed for Private Property and No
Trepassing, but it seems to be regularly ignored. An can be
followed up most of the way. Where it reaches highest on the east side of the
summit, a use trail can be found leading to the top.
appears to be a large, 15-foot granite , vertical on all
sides and devoid of holds or cracks. This would be another candidate for a
ladder.
Merriam Mtns HP
I had enough time to buy a large fountain soda at the AM/PM before getting to
the Park N Ride with about 5min to spare before our 4:30p meeting time. 6-7
folks were there before I arrived and more arrived over the next few minutes.
Mark had gotten off work earlier than expected and driven the ladder up to the
water tank just below the summit, stashing it in the bushes. He'd found a
better driving route up the east side of the mountain, that would make the
hike to the summit block 5min rather than half an hour. We waited until 4:45p
for any stragglers, then drove in three high-clearance vehicles to the water
tank. In several places the road is seriously eroded, but two Grand Cherokees
and Mark's large truck with little trouble. We carried
, some ropes and other gear, a cooler of beer and
a bag of snacks up the remaining undriveable section of road leading to
the top. I use the word "we" loosely because I didn't carry any of this stuff
personally. Despite the short distance, it was surprisingly treacherous, with
loose sand over steep, hard-packed dirt that resulted in several falls among
our group, and the ladder proved quite unwieldly.
We eventually got to the summit area and quickly set the ladder up against the
. We knew in advance that our 16-foot ladder would be
short and Mark had brought several ropes and some other gear to facilitate
making it work regardless. The basic plan was to strap the ladder
starting several feet , tying the
ropes off with enough friction around the pinnacle to hold the ladder and our
weight. Mark did the bulk of , using carabiners for
leverage to draw the ropes tightly around the granite block and
to small trees and behind the block.
And almost unexpectedly, it worked pretty much as hoped the first time. As one
of the lighter folks, I to test it out, adding an
additional stretch of webbing over the bock for added security. The top of the
ladder came about 3' short of the top, making it quite nervy .
The summit is quite narrow
without barely enough room for one to sit, so narrow that it would not have been
comfortable sitting on it with both legs on the same side of the rock. So the
four of us bold (or foolish) enough to sit up there like
a horse. No one dared to try standing on it. Most were happy to simply
to the highest point. Over the course of about an hour we
on the ladder, making slight adjustments periodically,
cracking beers and jokes as appropriate and generally having a grand time.
was the last
to make the climb up the ladder, after which we disassembled the whole thing,
our gear and headed with an hour of daylight yet remaining.
A great time was had by all, me thinks.
Unfortunately, ours was not the first ascent of the Merriam Mtns HP summit
block. Eric Su and Craig Jagow had stolen our thunder by beating us to the
punch with a 20-foot ladder a few weeks earlier. To be fair, they probably
helped us to succeed since we then knew our own 16-foot ladder was going to
fall significantly short. Mark then devised a plan and brought
enough gear to make our shorter ladder suffice. Possibly saved me from having
to make a fourth attempt. :-)
Upon my return to the van after everyone had left, I found a note on my
windshield from Mark Adrian and Richard Carey, two San Diegan highpointing
legends. Both have nearly completed a long list of California range
highpoints. They had driven to the TH on
Camino Mayor on the west side of the mountain and waited nearly two hours for
us to show up there. That had been the secondary meeting place for those that
were late to the first, and was originally the route I'd planned we'd take
up. Unfortunately they completely missed our party up on the mountain.
Continued...