middle peak loop - neal's report
On Friday, 9 of us hiked in the Cuyamaca State Park to Middle Peak. This hike was about 6 miles long with about 1100 feet elevation gain. The weather at the beginning of the hike was fairly miserable due to the warm temperatures, upper 70s, very high humidity and no wind. The last half of the hike the weather was much nicer even though the temps went up to the mid 80s because the humidity dropped and the wind picked up to a nice breeze.
This hike description could be split into two distinct hikes. The first half was all uphill, the weather was not so good (it felt like you were hiking in a tropical jungle), and the view was almost nonexistent due to the massive growth of ceanothus all along the trail. This growth was so prolific that it frequently completely covered the trail so that we were walking in a dark green tunnel. When it didn't cover the trail, it was still so tall that you couldn't see over it. The second half was all downhill, the weather was much better, and we hiked out of the ceanothus into grassy meadows and scattered oak trees which obviously provided a much better view.
Right at the start of the hike we saw a doe crossing the nearby road. When the doe got a little higher up on a hill, we were able to see that she was being closely followed by a small fawn. Very cute.
We were not able to get to the actual peak as there is no trail to the peak and we could not go cross-country to the peak due to the extremely dense brush (mostly ceanothus). This area used to be covered in a very nice pine and oak forest until the Cedar Fire in 2003 burned everything to the ground. Now the ceanothus has taken over and it seems like it will be a very long time before the pine and oak trees come back again.
Neal's photos
photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMsuvv_yEiv4f1y7PC8NQ8SONvPN...
middle peak loop - neal's report
On Friday, 9 of us hiked in the Cuyamaca State Park to Middle Peak. This hike was about 6 miles long with about 1100 feet elevation gain. The weather at the beginning of the hike was fairly miserable due to the warm temperatures, upper 70s, very high humidity and no wind. The last half of the hike the weather was much nicer even though the temps went up to the mid 80s because the humidity dropped and the wind picked up to a nice breeze.
This hike description could be split into two distinct hikes. The first half was all uphill, the weather was not so good (it felt like you were hiking in a tropical jungle), and the view was almost nonexistent due to the massive growth of ceanothus all along the trail. This growth was so prolific that it frequently completely covered the trail so that we were walking in a dark green tunnel. When it didn't cover the trail, it was still so tall that you couldn't see over it. The second half was all downhill, the weather was much better, and we hiked out of the ceanothus into grassy meadows and scattered oak trees which obviously provided a much better view.
Right at the start of the hike we saw a doe crossing the nearby road. When the doe got a little higher up on a hill, we were able to see that she was being closely followed by a small fawn. Very cute.
We were not able to get to the actual peak as there is no trail to the peak and we could not go cross-country to the peak due to the extremely dense brush (mostly ceanothus). This area used to be covered in a very nice pine and oak forest until the Cedar Fire in 2003 burned everything to the ground. Now the ceanothus has taken over and it seems like it will be a very long time before the pine and oak trees come back again.
Neal's photos
photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMsuvv_yEiv4f1y7PC8NQ8SONvPN...