...
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.
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
,
figuring two wrongs
make a right. I zipped up
that goes to a clearing where a house was supposed to be built. From there,
a rough trail goes ,
with a short bit of class 2 scrambling to reach where a
survey pole (I think), wooden cross and are found.
I hear the views are pretty good, but all was fog this morning.
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 , parked in
an upper lot and hiked past
. I about a third of a mile before reaching
the property boundary. Camp Pendleton has a robust
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 for a
free car wash. The Jeep needed one, so I took up the Grand Opening offer with
before continuing to the next summit.
There's a little more to this one than the other neighborhood drive-ups.
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
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 . Not much
hope there. Then I started in the other direction and quickly came upon
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 above (seriously?), I went under
and paid a quick visit to , 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
. This 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 climbs higher
to within the gated community. I then followed
past Quartz St until I was east of the summit. I then went up to
north of the development and found my way to
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.