Black Canyon

I found out on my first excursion into Black Canyon that even in August with the creek ebbing, A wonderful day can be spent here. The water has sculpted the granite into nice rounded pools. We spent the day exploring the creek, swimming and sunbathing. We seen a lot of fish in the main pool, caught a water snake and seen a giant grasshopper as well as the usual birds, lizards and squirrels scurrying about. This was truly a great day in the mountains. I plan to hike here again very soon.

San Marcos Mountain - AKA - Vista Peak

I've been looking at these mountains all of my life. As a teenager I hiked several times to a rock outcrop not too far over from San Marcos Mountain peak, but, much lower in elevation. For the past couple of years I have been wanting to hike to the highest peak of this mountain range, San Marcos Mountain. I have looked for access a couple of times over the last two years but was unsuccessful. I finally got a tip from my friend Mike exactly where to go to access the trail to the peak. Robbie and I made it to the peak. Once we reached the antennas, we then hiked the ridge out and up to the peak. Although a somewhat hazy day, the views were still great. We could see out to the east to all of our back country mountains, of which, several peaks that we have hiked now. To the west, our home town spread out before us far below. Very nice.

Volcan Mountain Summit 7/30/2011

About 60 miles east of San Diego, the Volcan Mountains rise to a height of a little under 5400 feet above sea level. Their rounded summits are an expanse of grassland mixed with groves of oak and cedar. Rob and I got an early start as the forecast was for very hot monsoonal weather with afternoon thunderstorms brewing. It was a good day for wildlife viewing. We seen two deer, grey mountain squirrels, a horny toad, and a bobcat crossing the road. Beautiful hike.