Today I wrapped up the “San Diego Six” with a trip up Palomar High Point. I arrived at the Oak Grove Trailhead around 7:30 and was surprised to see several cars in the lot (after hiking Hot Springs on the weekend, I intentionally wanted to do this one when it was quiet…like a Tuesday morning ????) I really enjoy this trail, the first two miles on the Oak Grove Trail warms you up quickly picking up 1,428 feet of elevation along the single track trail. At mile 2 you pop out on the Oak Grove Truck Trail, a nice wide, graded fire road, you're still going up, but it's kinda like walking around the neighborhood. At the 3.5 mile point, after navigating around a locked gate, you pick up the High Point Truck Trail that will take you to the summit.

Once I hit about 5,000 feet of elevation, I slipped on my microspikes as I didn't feel like messing around with the patchy snow and ice on the road, it definitely helped and I wasn't preoccupied with the possibility of falling on my butt! ????I didn't see anyone on the trail the entire way to the summit, I paused a few places along the way to look for some survey markers, but overall I made good time reaching the top.

As I made the final turn, I heard voices up above me, and lo-and-behold I ran into a group of fellow Challengers, some I'd met on previous hikes, others who were IG friends. It was nice to visit, share stories, and actually MEET social media friends IN PERSON ????. We chatted a while longer before they headed down then I set to locating survey marks that I'd previously been unable to find – unfortunately, I came up empty. Reference Mark 2 is in great shape but was the only one I was able to find, based on its location (and the info on the datasheets) I was able to get a good bead on where the Station Disk SHOULD have been, and from there where the remaining marks SHOULD have been but I was unsuccessful in locating them and figure they're just plain ‘gone'.

I ended up spending 2.5 hours at the summit, it really wasn't my game plan, but in addition to visiting with other challengers, I spent a while talking with the Ranger manning the Lookout Tower, he was interested in my survey mark hunting. Then, as I was fixing lunch, a young couple with their toddler daughter drove up in a Jeep, and we chatted for quite some time over lunch. Eventually, knowing that I still had a 6.5-mile descent, I geared up said my goodbyes, and headed down the hill.

It was an enjoyable day, the weather was perfect, and while all my hiking was solo – I had the opportunity to visit with a lot of great folks! WIN-WIN ???? Now that the San Diego Six are done, I'll be turning my attention to the SoCal Nine, I'm really looking forward to getting back out on all of those peaks!