Soledad Mountain P300
La Jolla Mesa
Del Mar Mesa
Santa Monica Ridge

Continued...

This was just a collection of easy urban peakbagging I did after dropping my daughter off at the Solana Beach train station around noon. None of these are particularly noteworthy, just something to occupy myself for a few hours until my wife finished up with her reffing gig later in the afternoon before driving home to San Jose.

Soledad Mtn

This is the prominent mountain above the afluent beach community of La Jolla. The better summit location would have been the Easter Cross in nearby Soledad Park with open views overlooking the city. Sadly, the highpoint is to the west where a nest of antennae crowd the summit, surrounded by trees and homes with marginal views. I parked to the north where one can gain access to the perimeter fence by climbing up a short but steep slope covered in pine needles. The fence could be breached if needed at one of the gates, but the inside appears no higher than that part of the open land outside the fence on the NE side where a reference mark can be found (it appears the benchmark inside the fence has been removed from the rock is was once affixed to).

La Jolla Mesa

This is just stat padding near Soledad Mtn. The highpoint is at 1705 El Camino de Teatro, one of the many McMansions in the area. No views and no parking, just take your picture and move on.

Del Mar Mesa

Another bust (as the name suggests), with no views and no discernable highpoint. There is a neighborhood park in the area one can visit and call the highpoint. Or perhaps one of the nearby homes.

Santa Monica Ridge

This had an actual hike, a pleasant one at that, located in an undeveloped corner within the San Diego City limits. An old ranching area, Carmel Valley is now a patchwork of private property interests that have allowed a network of mountain bike trails to develop. At the northeast end, Carmel Valley splits into McGonigle and Deer Valleys, with the lowly Santa Monica Ridge rising between them. There are numerous ways to access the area, I chose the end of Del Vino Ct because it was near Del Mar Mesa and reasonably close to Santa Monica Ridge, about a mile by air. I utilized an old concrete road that drops into Carmel Valley from the cul-de-sac where I parked, then used the trail network to find my way to the highpoint indicated on LoJ, a modest overlook taking in the undeveloped scenes around it. On my way back, I paid a visit to the small lake formed by an earthen dam in Deer Canyon. It doesn't seem to have any recreational development with no easy access to its shoreline (and the only place I saw poison oak in San Diego this weekend). In all, I hiked a little over 3mi before returning to my starting point. Lovely weather down here this weekend, and a pleasant visit with the family. Now to steel myself for the long, 7hr+ drive home this evening...

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