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I was in the West Covina/Azusa area with my wife to watch our son running in
a track meet at Azusa Pacific, his first event in California while running
for Marquette (Milwaukee, WI). He ran his 1500m event in the early morning,
finishing in 4:05, a respectable time, then took off with his buddies to visit
the beach at Santa Monica, the first time any of his pals had seen the Pacific
Ocean. Mom went back to the hotel while Dad, naturally, went out to do some
hiking. I hit up a half dozen summits found on LoJ in the San Jose Hills and
Puente Hills, south of where we were staying off Interstate 10. None were
difficult, the hardest involving less than 1,000ft of gain and only a few miles.
Most were on publicly accessible lands, the last one on private property. All
were surrounded by heavy development and noisy freeways, leaving little to
recommend them, save perhaps for some nice views of the San Gabriel Mtns to
the north.
Peak 770ft
This one lies on private property, it would appear, but exactly who owns it is
up for debate. According to the USGS, it is part of the Puente Hills.
The benchmark shown on the topo map at 809ft no longer exists as
the whole summit area has been heavily graded. As others have pointed out, the
new highpoint is well to the west, behind a pair of in that
direction. There are eight homes on the east end of the summit, accessible via
BV Handorf Dr from the north off Temple Ave, but there is a guard station
there. Another road from the west - San Jose Ave - also leads to the top, but
it is gated at the edge of a neighborhood. Lots of high fences around
the water tanks and on the ridgelines to the west, too. My ascent route was
from the end of Banbridge Ave to the southwest, involving a steep, somewhat
loose climb up from an empty lot at of a cul-de-sac. Once on the
ridge, I followed a use trail up to a fenceline (with a hole conveniently cut
in it), which then soon led to the pair of water tanks on the inside of the
high, barbed-wire topped fence. I found myself just outside the highpoint at
a small utility shack on the other side of the fence. Finding no nearby
breaches in the fence, over I went, a feat not for the faint of heart. After
taking a few ,
I looked for a way to walk back along the ridgeline I'd
followed, but the outside of the fence had fields of cacti effectively blocking
a route in that direction. Rather than go back over the fence, I dropped down
the hillside to the west, landing me on Pleasanthome Dr, but not after
briefly passing through someone's frontyard property. Not really sure which
route I would recommend - both have their downsides.
San Tuze BM
This benchmarked summit at the west end of the San Jose Hills
has also seen significant grading, the highpoint no
longer near the benchmark location. When I visited, they were working on the
final dozen new homes built where the summit used to be. I parked on Walnut
Vista Way and walked into the new neighborhood for before
finding a way around the outside fences to the west (via a path leading to some
), that I could follow to the new highpoint found to
about 500ft . This point
is , but beggars
can't be choosy. To the southwest is what appears to be a closed landfill while
to the west is the Galster Wilderness Park. Perhaps the old landfill and this
summit can be combined with the Wilderness Park for a larger Open Space
for the community. Or perhaps they'll just build more homes.
Buzzard Peak
This is
of the San Jose Hills, preserved for the time being from
development. There is a nice trail going across the summit from west to east,
but access is far from obvious. The western TH is along busy S. Grand Ave, with
No Parking along both sides of the roadway. One can park on Hillside Dr to the
west and cross the busy street, or to the north on Cameron Ave (where parking
is extremely limited) and walk
of Grand Ave to . The (really an old
motorway) goes to the summit in about a mile and a half,
or almost to it, threading its way through various neighborhoods encroaching
on the hillsides. The last bit to the summit
requires one to climb up a steep use trail either
from the east (better defined trail) or the southwest (less well-defined). The
summit has a , an
and a white plastic chair
with which to take in the views of Mt. Baldy and the glory that is the
of the greater LA Basin. I explored a few optional
descent routes, but these seemed to lead to either unrewarding bushwhacking
or Beware of Dog signs and similar. I ended up retreating back
.
Peak 1,381ft
This and Elephant Hill are found at the northeast end of the Puente Hills. The
area around Peak 1,381ft is Open Space with multiple access points. The
shortest approach is off Los Coyotes Dr to the southwest where
heads
to the left of a large water tank. overlook the Phillips Ranch
suburban development to the south and west, the older Westmont community to the
northeast.
Elephant Hill
About a mile northwest of Peak 1,381ft, Elephant Hill lies immediately east of
the 57 freeway, making it a noisy summit. The features a
large, whitish rock face that appears to have been quarried in the distant past.
Today, a is squeezed between the rock face and busy
W Mission Blvd. Access is via a gaping opening in the fence at
of Sorrento Dr, next to
the development. Some homeless encampments can be found in the area through
the fence. Use trails lead up towards the summit, but they seem to peter out
before reaching it. Still, the brush is mild and cross-country travel not
difficult. In addition to , one can see Cal Poly
Pomona to and lots of industrial developments immediately
below the summit to the west and north.
Way Hill
This is an exceedingly minor hill in San Dimas, with Gladstone St running over
its north shoulder. A home sits atop the highpoint which has been graded flat.
The highest publicly accessible point is at the end of N. Cataract Ave to
where one is about 10ft below the highpoint. A private
driveway off Gladstone St, signed for No Trespassing, can be used to reach the
highpoint.
If one were to drive up there, lingering perhaps because they needed to change
out a camera battery while about to take ,
their presence might draw the
irate owner out of the house to glare at them as they drive back down the
driveway. Just something to consider.
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