This blog will detail 1,000 video hikes in Southern California. By Southern California, I am drawing a line from San Luis Obispo to the Nevada Border. Anything south of that line will be declared "Southern California". In a way, it is a personal challenge to do so many hikes. Mainly, however, it is my way of showcasing how many hiking opportunities there really are right in our own geographic back yard. As a blog, it serves as a companion piece to my Youtube channel "Mike On The Trail". It is also a work in progress, as I don't actually have 1,000 edited videos completed. This will take effort for quite some time before it is declared done. Even then, there will still be more out there. Here's to hiking and all the positive effects it has had on my life...and possibly yours!
From Sycamore Park in Anaheim Hills, there is some open space remaining in the form of hills overlooking the neighborhoods. A trail system cuts across its ridge. When reaching its far edge, I could simply return the same way. However, I was more in the mood for covering new ground and forming a loop. Therefore, since I set out with a goal, I was determined to forge my own route.
Approaching the Sycamore Hill use trail.
I went south through Sycamore Park, along a wooden fence-lined trail. This merges with a trail that travels along the ridge. Just beyond the park, a use trail branches off and quickly climbs to the summit of Sycamore Hill. Despite being surrounded by the city, the summit area does have a bit of a secluded feel to it. It returned to the trail and continued west along the ridge route. At one point, it passes through a neighborhood before shadowing another near the west end. The hike then bends north and eventually extends to Santa Ana Canyon Road.
Sycamore Hill summit.
Once on Santa Ana Canyon Road, the hike turns more into a neighborhood walk. I followed the city sidewalks back to Sycamore Park in rather peaceful neighborhoods. Once back in the park, I completed a nice three mile urban hike.
A neighboring hill with the trail passing beneath it.
Since I am a Southern California native, I know better than to go hiking in the middle of summer in Riverside. However, after studying the ridge in Box Springs Mountain Park during the week, I felt compelled to visit as soon as possible. Next thing I knew, as the weekend arrived, I was on site in the middle of August. I tried to start early to beat the heat, but that didn't last long. By the time I reached the saddle between Sugarloaf and the ridge, the heat was already blazing. I continued on, though, since I was so close to the high points.
Continuing on the ridge.
A use trail continues along the north of the ridge. I left the trail in order to reach the first high point on Sugarloaf Ridge, Peak 1760. The rocky ridge didn't make for good foot travel, so I returned to the trail which was a bit lower and made the same type of approach to Peak 1980.
Ridge Views.
Each peak along the ridge was about 200 feet higher than the previous one, which meant there was gradual climbing involved. The next one over was Peak 2240, followed by Peak 2324.
Approaching Peak 2324.
Beyond Peak 2324, the next summit was Table Mountain, which I had already visited on another hiking trip. This meant that I hit all the peaks on Sugarloaf Ridge. From Peak 2324, I took a use trail (most likely a wild burro trail), leading downslope to the south.
Looking back at the peaks on the ridge.
This dropped me into a canyon before i was able to connect with the Two Trees Trail. Once reaching it, I was able to form a loop back to where I parked, while also walking the city streets back to the start.
The hike begins from a parking area off Highway 18. This is also the beginning of Forest Road 2N40. The road is drivable, but it is rather rough and steep in places. Since I was there to hike anyway, I kept my car off the dirt roads and just walked them. FR 2N40 intersects Cloudland Truck Trail in 1.3 miles. At that point, there is a four way junction, with Marshall Peak straight ahead. I chose to go right and visit the highest point on the hike first, Peak 4120.
Looking down toward Marshall Peak.
I followed a utility road to its top in 0.3 miles and about a 220 foot gain. A utility building and tower sits on the summit. After a quick turnaround, my next target was Marshall Peak. This would mark my fourth visit to its summit, where paragliders often utilize as a launching point. On this day, there were no paragliders there, which made for a more peaceful summit visit than usual. Since my plan was to get all the nearby peaks, I next ventured over to Cloud Peak, which was due west about a mile. The road went most of the way, with a slight diversion to the summit. Views were similar to Marshall Peak, but the difference was that Marshall Peak was in the view.
On the summit of Cloud Peak.
After quickly having three peaks in the bag, I wanted to include two more that were lower down the ridge to the southeast. It is possible to park lower down on Highway 18 to get a closer jumping off point to these lower peaks, but the parking situation is not very plentiful. I instead decided to add it to this hike and get all of them in one shot. This meant that I had to descend the ridge and lose about a thousand feet of elevation along the way. This, of course, meant that I would need to re-gain that elevation coming back. However, with the specter of achieving two new summits, I hesitated very little and set off. The first peak was just a little below Marshall Peak, which was Peak 3992. This peak seemed almost like a twin peak to Marshall Peak, however, since it was slightly shorter it got completely overlooked, and even un-named.
Looking over at Marshall Peak from Peak 3992.
I continued the drop on the ridge to reach a use trail, that led to the lower summit of the day, Peak 3215. Peak 3215 also has a utility building and towers crowning the top. I took in this new summit for me, but all I could think about was the long climb back up Cloudland Truck Trail. I sucked it up, though, and made it back with little difficulty. It was nice to turn off my climbing gear, though, on the way back to the parking lot from the junction with Marshall Peak.
Highway 74, also known as Ortega Highway, Climbs steeply west of Lake Elsinore into the Santa Ana Mountains. Once at this high vantage point, overlook opportunities reveal themselves. There are a few nice roadside overlook points with memorable photo opportunities. However, with a desire to hike to other good vantage points, I chose to seek out some of the less crowded and harder to get to overlooks of the lake. Naturally, the benefit of doing so for me was to get some sunshine and exercise to go with it.
On the summit of Peak 3106.
The first was Peak 3106. From a parking turnout on Main Divide Road (about 2 miles south of Ortega Highway), paragliders launch from the bluff above. A well defined use trail goes from the pullout and leaves the bluff behind. The trail climbs to a high point overlooking Lake Elsinore. A white pole stands next to the summit boulder with outstanding lake views below. Although my duo of hikes on the day were short, this one was clearly my favorite. I would even go as far to say that this is one of the more underrated hikes in the Santa Ana Mountains.
Heading up the utility road to Elsinore Peak.
The second overlook point was none other than Elsinore Peak. There is a locked vehicle gate at the start of what is merely a dirt utility road leading to the summit. The hike is a gradual climb but short. Before the summit are communication towers and utility buildings.
On the summit looking down on the towers.
Just beyond, is the actual summit, marked with a benchmark. From that point, there are great views overlooking Lake Elsinore from an even higher vantage point than Peak 3106.
Overlooking Lake Elsinore.
The hikes in total took only about 2 hours. Both hikes were 1.1 miles out and back. Although the time spent was minimal, memories and an overall good time is long remembered.
