Steve Cole Photography

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During the last several weeks, obligations have prevented me from getting out to take photos. I’ve been itching to get out and take photos but this week found me down in Southern California for Christmas with my family. I realized that I had some time to squeeze in a hike while down in San Diego so I decided to revisit a hike I had done almost 17 years ago: Cuyamaca Peak in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. The primary attraction for revisiting this hike was that the area was subject to the massive Cedar Fire that occurred in 2007. This hike would definitely NOT be anything like I remembered.

Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is sandwiched between the Cleveland National Forest to the west and the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to the east. The park contains a portion of the Cuyamaca Mountains which is the next mountain range west of the Laguna Mountains. It’s also approximately 50 miles east of San Diego and bisected by State Highway 79. The elevation of the valley floor is about 4,000 feet whereas Cuyamaca Peak tops out at 6,512 feet.

The park has many trails so there are several different ways to get to the top of Cuyamaca Peak. I chose to follow the paved access road to the summit since I used it during my only other hike to the summit. The starting point is the Pasa Picacho Campground. From there, it’s only 3.5 miles and roughly 1,500 feet of elevation to gain to reach the summit. Since my primary reason for visiting Southern California was family related, I didn’t want to take a bunch of hiking gear with me on my trip down. I called the park last week to inquire about general conditions and they told me that conditions were snow free which was good news.

During the 48 hours prior to my arrival in San Diego, fierce winds and some precipitation descended on the mountains of San Diego but the weather for my day of hiking was to be sunny and calm. I got an early start to the day and by 7am, I was exiting Interstate 8 and heading north on Highway 79. Within a few short miles, I began to notice frost and then some trace amounts of snow on the ground. A little further, the road itself began to be frosty and somewhat icy. This wasn’t really welcome since I had a 2WD rental car!

I stopped first in the heart of the Green Valley to take some photos and then to pay for my park entrance fee. Eventually I made my way to the Paso Picacho Campground and found it nicely coated with a thin layer of snow. Under blue skies, I gathered my gear and headed out towards the access road. Apparently the fire fighters were able to save the campground from the 2007 fires but the surrounding areas virtually burned to the ground. The evidence of the fires is everywhere- the forest exists but as standing death. The forest understory seems to have responded to ecological change and very dense thickets of 6 foot tall shrubs now flourish. Even some of the deciduous trees are regenerating from their bases.

The fresh coat of snow made it easy to spot the wildlife activity. Deer tracks were most prominent but some feline tracks (coyote, mountain lion) followed the road for almost 2/3rds of the distance to the summit. I felt a bit out of my element on this outing. Part of it would be the mountain lion warnings that exist at the trailheads (“Don’t hike solo at dawn…” Check. Check..) but part of it was the challenge of making sense out of something so chaotic. For the most part, this fire did not discriminate and burned everything within reach. Above 5,400 feet, there is a subtle change and one can begin to notice some trees which inexplicably avoided a death sentence at the hands of fire.

The other noticeable change (for this particular day) was the increase ice and snow across the land. As the sun rose higher in the sky, it began to warm the sky and helped loosen the grip that ice had gained on most of the vegetation. With no breeze to speak of, the only sound to be heard was the steady shimmering of ice breaking up and falling to the ground.

By the time I arrived at Cherry Flats at 6,200 feet, the snow on the ground was a little deeper (but we’re still only taking about 1 inch) and the trees were nicely flocked. I initially thought it was snow but then realized it was Rime Ice. Impressive Rime Ice! I would have never thought I would see several inch thick rime ice in Southern California.

After enjoying the view at Cherry Flats and taking photos, I continued on for the last half mile and couple hundred feet to the summit of Cuyamaca Peak. This last stretch enters some of the remaining intact portions of the forest not affected by the fire. The intact canopy also helps preserve a decidedly wintery scene with solid snow on the ground. The composition of the forest also changed from the pine/oak mix of the lower elevations to one where Incense Cedars and Spruce become more noticeable. Further still brought the first views of some mature Manzanita in all their red glory.

In short order, the communication arrays located on the summit came into view and there was no higher to go. In a scene more like White Mountain in New Hampshire, the equipment on the summit had thick rime ice which gave some idea as two the prevailing wind direction during the previous episode of high winds. It was now after 12pm and the sun was in full gear. The rime ice was regularly calving off all of the equipment, sometimes crashing harshly onto the roofs of the maintenance sheds below. The views all around you are wide and vast. To the east, you can see the Salton Sea in the Imperial Valley and to the north, the snowclad Palomar Mountains were visible.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end and so I packed up and headed back down. I spent most of my time on the way up taking photos so the trip back down was much quicker. In just over an hour, I was back in the parking lot at the campground. A really fine day for a hike and the re-establishment of forest should make for an interesting study for many years to come.