Blue Angels Peak 2x ex-SDC

Dec 23, 2006

With: Ryan Burd

Etymology Story Photos / Slideshow Map Profile
previously climbed Aug 7, 2002

Continued...

Today I decided to toss a bone to Ryan. I was a bit surprised that he wanted to hike with me after the previous day's outing to Oakzanita, thinking he'd have had enough after one day. Of course Oakzanita was no tough outing, but for 10yr-old Ryan, one day was usually enough. Since he was willing to do a second outing with Dad, I figured it was his turn to pick the peak. I had hoped to climb Whale Peak and Indianhead, but left those for another day since either one alone would be too hard for Ryan. So I tossed him Blue Angels Peak, a county highpoint that I had climbed some four years earlier. He was thrilled. He'd been bitten by the county highpointing bug and was eager for more. This one is pretty easy with a bonus excursion to Mexico thrown in.

Unlike the previous day, the weather was blue skies and no threat of rain. Pulling off at the In-Ko-Pah exit, we made our way back to the trailhead, then drove up the dirt road for about half a mile until the road became too rough for the Miata. A private residence that I don't recall previously was no situated where we hoped to park. Chains along the road blocked access to the large dirt lot I had used before, so I pulled into a small slot on the right side of the road just past the driveway.

The hike was pleasant and easy enough. Since I had been there before, I was able to navigate our way to the peak without any trouble. We talked about lots of things on the way, from an introduction to yuccas and their pointy unpleasantness, to why Mexican nationals would want to enter the US illegally. We landed ourselves on the southernmost of two summits, but we couldn't find any of the three benchmarks I recalled. Hmmm. Ok, maybe a slight navigation error. The north summit looked lower, but it seemed the only option, so we headed there. It was only a couple minutes away so it was easy to reach and confirm we'd reached the right summit.

We had snacks, took pictures, and I pointed out border marker #231 a short distance to the southwest. Ryan was excited to make his first visit to Mexico. How many US citizens make their first entry an illegal one, I wondered. Hah! We scampered over to the border, crossing through a weak barbed-wire fence (that had already been conveniently cut in one section to make it a trivial matter), then walked 20 yards to the border marker. We took more pictures, walked a few dozen yards into Mexico, then returned. No border patrol on either side to bust us.

On our return we came across a few others out for a hike, heading down to nearby Valley of the Moon. One pair in a truck stopped as they drove by and asked if we were in the blue Miata back down the road. The property owner had threatened to have it towed if it wasn't gone in thirty minutes. Yikes! Now I think it was probably an idle threat since the turnout I used wasn't marked private property or no trespassing, but I didn't really want to have to use the court to challenge my right to park there - getting towed would be a big inconvenience. So we alternately jogged and walked fast for that last mile back to the car in order to get there before our alotted time was up. Thankfully, the car was still there, and attached to it was a threatening note with the aforementioned 30 minute time limit. No property owner came outside to harrass us. We were happy to get away without hassle, and zipped on back to San Diego. One more county highpoint notched on Ryan's belt.

Continued...


Submit online comments or corrections about the story.

More of Bob's Trip Reports

For more information see these SummitPost pages: Blue Angels Peak

This page last updated: Sat Apr 7 17:05:07 2007
For corrections or comments, please send feedback to: snwbord@hotmail.com