Continued...

I was on my way home to San Jose from San Diego, having spent the night camped in Riverside County, halfway up the first summit of the day. This would be a short day, peak-wise, since I had to drive about 6hrs when I was done to get home. Still, I managed 5 summits in about three hours, not bad at all.

Peak 2,141ft

This mountain is found on the east side of Menifee, surrounded by suburban developments. It appears popular with foot, bike and vehicle traffic. Not sure who owns it, but it appears to be private but undefended. From my campsite on the east side, I started on foot at 6:10a for the 12min hike to the summit via continuting roads. Religious graffiti adorns the summit rocks as does a weathered wooden cross. Sun City lies below to the west, Menifee to the southwest. Winchester is below to the east. It was nice and cool at the summit where I had arrived shortly before sunrise.

Menifee BM

This summit lies about 4mi west of Peak 2,141ft, on the west side of Menifee, also on private property. I used a Mike Sullivan GPX track approaching the summit from the northeast off paved Goetz Rd. It took only 15min to cover the half mile distance to the summit via an abandoned 4x4 road, rough and filled with loose rocks. The summit was graded, the benchmark missing as a result. No development appears to have occurred after the grading. A wrecked home can be seen below the summit to the southeast. This summit does not have as much encroaching development yet, but there is a new neighborhood planned on the NE side. To the SW lies Quail Valley, a collection of older rural homes not yet caught up in the suburban boom.

Peak 1,860ft

This is a small hill on the southwest side of Quail Valley. Access is from the south off Cooper View Dr where there is a turnout to an undeveloped pad with junk strewn about. The older, rural neighborhood lies outside the newer, posh Canyon Lake developments to the west and south. The latter is gated, intentionally disconnected from its neighbors, which can hardly make for community harmony. The short but steep climb to the summit of Peak 1,860ft takes less than 10min. There are three wooden crosses at the summit, painted white but weathered. The hill is private property, but unsigned and unfenced.

Peak 2,102ft

This summit lies north of Lake Elsinore and northeast of Interstate 15. This was the longest hike of the morning, taking about an hour for the roundtrip effort. I started from the southeast off Nichols Rd where an access road leads to a pair of water tanks low on the hill. I hiked to the tanks, then followed a use trail higher to where the local high school football team maintains the painted rocks forming the prominent letters "TC" for Temescal Canyon. A rival high school periodically disrupts the prominent landmark, after which the football team comes back to fix things up. A use trail continues up the mountain but becomes faint and hard to follow before reaching the highpoint well to the north. The rocky summit overlooks the Interstate, Lake Elsinore, and the higher Santa Ana Mtns to the southwest and west. This was the nicest hike of the day and would be very pleasant in springtime when the hills are a lush green.

Peak 1,836ft

This last summit is on the west side of Interstate 15, northwest of Lake Elsinore, overlooking the community of the same name. It is in the slow process of being completely aborbed by development. Two water tanks sit at the apex, with homes built within a few hundred feet. It makes for a three minute ascent of no special interest. I decided to call it a day after this disappointing one - I had a long drive back home and this seemed like a good time to get on it...

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