Morro Hill P300
Wire Mountain Fail
Mission Mountain
Fire Mountain
Mt. Kelly
Evans Point
Loma Alta Mountain
Breeze Hill
San Francisco Peak
Santa Sinforosa Ridge
Coxey Hill
Cerro de las Posas

May 26, 2022
Etymology
Mission Mountain
Cerro de las Posas
Story Photos / Slideshow GPX

Continued...

It was supposed to be another warm day inland, and I had a lot of family business to attend to anyway, so I decided to do a bunch of drive-ups closer to the coast near Carlsbad and try to finish early. Only one of these has more than 300ft of prominence, with most being historical named summits that have long been developed. Most of the morning was a silly exercise in driving to one neighborhood or another either in fog or heavy overcast. The sun finally came out for the last one and it didn't take long to get warm. I've only included info below on those that weren't simple drive-ups. The others are pretty forgettable.

Morro Hill

This was the only summit with prominence, and an interesting one. It is located east of Camp Pendleton and north of SR76 in the Morro Hills neighborhood. The hike is short, taking all of four minutes to reach the summit. Parking might be the crux. I parked in front of a fire hydrant and a No Parking sign right at the TH, figuring two wrongs might make a right. I zipped up the old road that goes to a clearing where a house was supposed to be built. From there, a rough trail goes steeply up, with a short bit of class 2 scrambling to reach the summit where a survey pole (I think), wooden cross and benchmark are found. I hear the views are pretty good, but all was fog this morning.

Wire Mountain

This one is located in a Camp Pendleton neighborhood at its southern extent. I had mis-read Terry Flood's short TRs on PB, thinking he had reached it from the Prince of Peace Abbey just outside the military reservation. I drove up to the abbey, parked in an upper lot and hiked past a coded gate. I walked about a third of a mile before reaching the property boundary. Camp Pendleton has a robust chain link fence topped with barbed-wire around its perimeter. I could have gone over the fence, but it seemed like a lot of work and likely to draw attention as it was in view of the nearby homes. Later, I reread Terry's TRs and found he had simply walked to the same fence and called it good. The point was still almost half a mile away, so I can't call it good. I'll need help from someone on the inside.

Evans Point

During my wandering through the neighborhood I spotted a sign for a free car wash. The Jeep needed one, so I took up the Grand Opening offer with a quick rinse before continuing to the next summit.

There's a little more to this one than the other neighborhood drive-ups. The highpoint is found between two homes at the end of a cul-de-sac, about 15ft above street level. To reach it, you have to walk through one of the front yards and then up the short hill, a creepy exercise. Alternatively, one can approach from the southwest off Tolkien Way. It's a steeper, higher climb from this side, brushy and a little sketchy. It's also a creepy way since you can't avoid observation from the backyard of the first house from the corner with Twain Ave. One TR on PB mentions getting chased away by unfriendly occupants. I think they had a right to be unfriendly, to be honest.

During my travels this morning, I was struck by the number of school kids riding e-bikes to school. More than a dozen, compared to the two I saw on regular bikes. Seems to be the trendy thing in the expensive beach communities.

San Francisco Peak

I had paid a visit to this one back in 2014 with my daugther, then 15yrs old. A City of Oceanside water tank sits at the summit surrounded by a formidable fence. Having already done some sketchy fence climbing that day, we balked and left without getting to the highpoint of San Francisco Peak. Today, I first walked part way around the south and west sides of the fence. Not much hope there. Then I started in the other direction and quickly came upon a concrete culvert running under the fence. Some razor wire was added to discourage going under, but they did a really poor job of it. Noting the possible $1,000,000 fine on the sign above (seriously?), I went under and paid a quick visit to the summit, walking the perimeter of the water tank before returning back the same way.

Cerro de las Posas

This is a small, flattish bump on the west side of Double Peak, adjacent to some high-end residences with gated access roads. I chose to start from the southwest at San Elijo Park. Just outside the park can be found one end of the Oceanview Trail. This rocky trail provides park access for the neighborhood that bypasses busy San Elijo Rd. A use trail forks off after a few switchbacks near the trail's highpoint. The use trail climbs higher to Pearl Dr within the gated community. I then followed the upscale street past Quartz St until I was east of the summit. I then went up to the open space area north of the development and found my way to the highpoint without needing any real bushwhacking. Not much to the summit once there.

I was done with the peakbagging by 11a, but I still had a busy day ahead of me - visits and calls to three banks, a visit to the Social Security office, and other estate business. So many forms, copies of this document and that, all getting sent to a a variety of persons and entities to be scrutinized at their leisure and rejected at their pleasure. Sigh.


Submit online comments or corrections about the story.

More of Bob's Trip Reports

This page last updated: Thu May 26 18:39:09 2022
For corrections or comments, please send feedback to: snwbord@hotmail.com