W6/SD-026

We decided to go down to San Diego for the weekend. After an early flight, we arrived and headed for the hills. Our goal was this unnamed peak near the Mt Laguna recreation area. We had a pleasant drive through the mountains to the trailhead at the Pioneer Mail picnic area. The PCT runs through this area, and we did see some thru hikers, only a few days into their hikes.

Summit from the parking lot.

The trail is across the road from the picnic area. There is a crosswalk at the top of the hill. We crossed, then took the trail that leaves to the right. This briefly parallels the road before turning away and heading up the hill. As you climb onto the base of the ridge, there is an unmarked trail junction. Turn right here and start heading up the ridge.

Summit. If it had been warmer, the pole would have been a good antenna support.

This trail is obviously unmaintained, and it sort of just ends after a while. The brush is sparse enough that it is easy to find a path up. There are even some small cairns marking tricky sections. We had no trouble getting to the summit. It was quite breezy on top, so we found a sheltered area to get set up in. There was good cell service on top. On the bands, 15m was open to Europe, and AA6XA worked Ireland and Portugal. KN6REU worked F4WBN for the first time on 10m, so that was exciting for her.

Trying to make 2m contacts.

 It was getting cool, and also to be lunch time, so we didn't linger too long on top. We took the same route back down to the car. There are so many path options higher up, but near the trail we found the small cairns and junction. Naina was so excited to be going down, she nearly missed the turn to go back to the car. Luckily Jeff wasn't too far behind.

Brush on the way up.

The drive back to San Diego was nice, where we went to Balboa Park for some lunch and walking around. Overall, a great hike and summit.

Trailhead: Keys View.

Website: SOTA Site.

Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.

Route: Cross the highway, and take the trail to the right of the driveway. When you get to the spine of the ridge, turn right and take the use trail up to the summit.

Red Tape: None. Parking pass may be required 

Video: Coming Soon!