This trail is little more than a washed out access road that leads to a dilapidated fire watch tower at the summit. It starts with an incline literally right out of the parking lot. At long last, you reach a bend in the trail at mile 1.5….and go up some more.
Mile 2 it flattens out somewhat, still going up, until mile 3, at which point the trail is a mix of inclines and declines. The incline increases again at mile 4 for the next and last mile.
At mile 5 you reach a small clearing. You can see the afore mentioned dilapidated fire watch tower looming above to the left, and you get the impression you’ve reached the summit. And you would be wrong, as indicated by the small post with the word “Summit” engraved lengthwise and an arrow pointing east. At the far side of the clearing, tied to the perimeter shrubs, are sun bleached pink ribbons (Salmon? Dusty rose? Forlorn crimson?) indicating the best/worst part of the hike.
Making your way through the small opening between bushes, you see a barely discernible trail that winds through the trees, lined with the same type ribbons. Following this trail you soon see to the north, on the other side of a lopsided manzanita tree and at the foot of a huge boulder, the trail box. Walking up to it, you notice a ladder leaning against the boulder and a red strap threaded through guides hammered into the boulder.
If you are at all scared of heights, unsure of your footing, have anything less than hiking/climbing boots with excellent grip and soles that are not worn slick, or suffer knee issues, this is as far as you go. Congratulations on a hike well done! Sign the little book in the trail box, leave your personal item, and start heading back.
If, on the other hand, you fancy yourself a rock climber, are feeling brave, and have your affairs in order, climb the ladder to the ledge along the edge of the boulder. While you could grab the red guide strap at the point, it makes no sense as it is now level with your feet. Instead, traverse the 5 inch ledge, hugging the rock face as if your life depends on it, because it kinda does. After a few well placed and courageous side steps, you can grab a blue guide strap, and the upper part of the afore mentioned rep strap to pull yourself to the top of the rock. If your are brave/daring/fortunate enough to get to the top, this is where the wooden sign and the surveyor’s medallion is. And the views are AMAZING!!! Almost enough to make you forget you have to climb back down the rock, except this time in reverse.
I was planning on having my hike snack up on the summit, but my concern of getting back down would have given me indigestion and wasted an otherwise lovely trail breakfast. Once I was back on dirt and confident getting back would be little more that tucking myself into a ball and rolling into the parking lot 5 miles down the mountain, I found a flat rock on the forested path back to the clearing in which to have my breakfast while enjoying a truly breathtakingly beautiful view and watching the fire spotter plane that kept swooping down in the valley and buzzing the dilapidated tower to the immediate west (and hoping it was just a bored pilot having fun and not actually investigating a potential hot spot).
After breakfast, I decided to climb up to the fire watch tower. I was more than persuaded by the “Keep Off” sign and by the very apparent degradation of the structural integrity to just be satisfied with merely clambering around it. I had survived ascending and descending the summit rock for my picture with the trail sign, I felt anything beyond that was was just being cheeky with Lady Luck.
While the increasingly beautiful panoramic views unfold the higher you get, trail itself is not particularly noteworthy. However, the trees that line it starting at mile 4 are as I found myself LOOKING UP at the surrounding plant life, and stopping to marvel at all the acorns littering the trail. Not usually typical of a San Diego trail.
Responses
Wow. Detailed description. Thanks for the info. Looks like I will need to psych myself up for this one.