Day 4 of my tour of the Santa Rosa Mountains found me south of SR74, spending the night in the back of the van parked at the Morgan Trailhead along South Main Divide Road (also known as the Killen Trail). There were a surprising number of vehicles passing by through the night, along what I thought was a lightly-used road. I didn't realize there was a small community located further south along the road that helped draw traffic in that direction.
The day's goal included a couple LPC peaks that would keep me busy for half the day. I needed to give the legs a bit of rest for the LA marathon I was running with my sister the following day. I probably shouldn't have gone hiking at all today, but truth be told I'd rather be out hiking than running a marathon with 25,000 of my not-so-closest friends. First up was San Mateo Peak, an unofficially named summit that happened to be the highpoint of the Elsinore Mtns, a difficult-to-define subrange in the southeast corner of the Santa Rosa Mtns. The route is largely described in the LPC guidebook, without which it would be nearly impossible without local knowledge.
I was up at 5:30a and ready to head out by headlamp at 6a. I followed the
Morgan Trail downhill past the 
TH register
and then another 30-40 yards to a
side trail, an unsigned equestrian trail that turns left and follows the small
creek upstream. I followed this for a bit less than a mile, making the five
crossings as described. The old road mentioned just before the 5th crossing
was not evident at all (and not evident in daylight either, upon my return)
which caused a bit of confusion. After about a quarter mile I found the trail
junction described, though no cairn existed at this time. There was a
wooden stake
with a plastic dinosaur tacked to it (mentioned in the guidebook), and
from here to the summit it was just a matter of following the nice trail up out
of the creek and to the top a few miles away.
The guidebook describes a "large rock with a duck on it" that isn't all that
helpful. While the large rock is prominent enough and the trail heads right
towards it, the duck atop it is located on the backside and not at all visible
on the approach, and can only be seen once you are 
past it and on
your way to the San Mateo summit. A second dinosaur 
marker
is reached about a mile after
the first, on the way up towards the large rock. There is a junction further
on, still before the large rock, not described in the guide. A small
shortcut appears to have been established since the guidebook was written and it
is no longer necessary to hike up to the large rock. I took the left fork
heading south which heads more directly to San Mateo.
The sun 
came up shortly after 7a, a few minutes before I was able to
reach the 
rocky summit at the south end of a short ridgeline making
up the summit. There are 
fine views of the surrounding terrain, and
one really gets a sense of how dense the chaparral on these hills is -
cross-country travel is pretty much impossible. Gabriele Rau of the LPC had
left 
a register dating to 2001, with a smattering of entries over
the years. To the southeast I could see the
antenna-topped summit of Elsinore Peak and it was then that I got the idea of
visiting that summit upon my return. The peak isn't on the LPC list, but it's
one of the few named summits in this wide area.
I returned via the same route to the creek, noting by daylight there was a small
collection of rocks that might be construed as a cairn where the first dino
marker 
was found. Near the 
3rd creek crossing
I noted some side trails heading
south and east and I decided to follow one of these rather than the original
route I had taken from the Morgan Trail. I discovered a shortcut of sorts to
an equestrian staging area about half a mile southeast of the Morgan Trail,
alongside the road. This would cut at least half a mile off the described route
if one were to start from this point. I walked the last half mile
along the road back to the car where I arrived just before 8a.
Back in the car, I headed south on the road another ten minutes until I was
just west of Elsinore Peak. The road had climbed most of the elevation so that
the summit looked like little more than a small hill off
to the east. I
attempted to drive the van along the side road to the summit, but the road
deteriorated quickly and I had to back down off the heavily rutted road. I
parked in a 
grassy flat
along the road and hiked the remaining ten minutes to
the summit.
The highpoint was just east of the 
antenna installation and had been
left unmolested, surprisingly. There was a 
locater benchmark here,
but the triangulation benchmark looks to have been removed our plowed over at
some time in the past. There was a decent view of Lake Elsinore and the
Temescal Valley to 
the northeast, but haze was obscuring much of the
view and the San Bernardino Mtns were just visible in the background.
Back in the van once again, I spent the next 30 minutes driving back out to
SR74 and then west to the 
Bear Canyon Trailhead.
The large 
parking lot was
perhaps half full with about 20 cars before 9a, suggesting it is a popular
hiking and biking location. As it was Saturday, I was unlikely to find the
solitude I'd found the previous three days in the area. And indeed, that was
the case. I came across other parties almost from the start, passing in one
direction or another perhaps a dozen groups.
The Bear Canyon Trail climbs at a moderate grade out of the main canyon as it
winds its way south and enters the 
San Mateo Canyon Wilderness.
A surprisingly 
lush area
is found on the north-facing slopes of the hills, some trickling
streams, with ferns and other seemingly out-of-place flora amidst this typically
dry chaparral. The 
trail junctions
are nicely marked by slender white posts at
each junction, making navigation to Sitton Peak fairly trivial. It took about
an hour to reach the five-way junction known as
Four Corners that sits atop
the main ridgeline between two major drainages. I followed the route
indicated
for Sitton, hiking up and over
a pass less than a mile later, after which I
was able to see 
the peak
for the first time (it is not visible from most the
route). Hiking down to a saddle, the side use trail described in the LPC
guidebook was easy to find with another white stake marking
the location. A
rather steep use trail took another twelve minutes to ascend to the summit.
I found 
a couple lounging about 
the highpoint,
so I took only a few quick
photos before retreating back off, forgetting to even look for a register. They
looked like they were hoping to have a bit more solitude, so I left them fairly
quickly to head back down. They were unlikely to get much time alone, however,
as two more parties were shortly on their way up as well. On my way back up
to 
the pass
before Four Corners, I took a side excursion up the slope
to the north following a thin use trail. The LPC guidebook had described this
as "
Boy Scout Peak"
which seemed good enough reason to pay it a visit. It was
nearly as high as Sitton Peak to the west, but otherwise had nothing more to
offer. No Boy Scouts were discovered at the summit.
Back 
at Four Corners,
I opted to take the slightly longer (by half a mile)
Bear Ridge Trail for the return. As the name suggests it follows mostly along
a ridge offering better views, but nothing sepcial to recommend it.
It was 12:30p before I returned back to the van. Not having a valid Adventure
Pass with me, I had left the citation I'd received the day prior under my wiper
blade and was happy to find it still there without an additional one to
complement it. The old ruse had worked. Or perhaps the ranger just hadn't been
through the parking lot to check yet. The rest of the vehicles all seemed to
be sporting the proper passes, likely they've been through the routine enough
to know better than to take their chances. Perhaps someday I'll learn this
lesson myself.