Iron Hiker: Eagle Peak

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Eagle Peak

Hiked: 9/10/2014
Distance: 4.4 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 3226'
Prominence: 526'
Elevation Gain: 1050'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.84
Round trip time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Recommended water: 48 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Boulder Creek Road (Three Sisters Falls Trailhead)
Difficulty: Easy

Limited time meant I had a small choice of targets. I settled on Eagle Peak in San Diego County, another peak overlapping the Lower Peaks and San Diego Sierra Club lists. Today, my drive time would sadly double my hiking time. The easiest way to find the trailhead is to search for "Three Sisters Falls Trailhead" since the Eagle Peak trail starts in the same place.

It is a long, winding trek from the north down Boulder Creek Road to the trailhead. The last few miles are smooth dirt road passing through the Inaja Reservation. Once at the trailhead, I started down the left dirt road. In a mile or so, you come to a brown wooden post that marks the junction where the Three Sisters trail turns left and heads down into the canyon. The Eagle Peak trail continues straight ahead as a narrow single track. Along the way, you get a good look at Three Sisters Falls and today it was bone dry, a victim of the drought. The trail drops down a bit and crosses a creek, then heads up over the first of a couple of false summits. The trail mostly stays away from the sheer drop off to Boulder Creek on the left, but it is worth a short diversion to take in the views. At the summit, it had warmed up to 90+F and I went through my normal rituals. I continued past the summit a little ways to look at the spiny east ridge, then returned.