Hiked: 8/17/2018
Distance: 10.7 miles round trip on dirt road and use trail
Summit Elevation: 6533' (Hot Springs), 6407' (Corral)
Prominence: 2613' (Hot Springs)
Elevation Gain: 2755'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.2
Round trip time: 4 hours 45 minutes
Recommended water: 80 oz.
Parking/Fees: $10 Los Coyotes Reservation (per car day use)
Difficulty: Moderate
Hot Springs Mountain is the San Diego County high point with more than 2000' of prominence. I had been to Los Coyotes Reservation pursuing interesting and remote desert peaks so I was familiar with the area. My understanding is you can pay a higher off road fee to gain access to Hot Springs Mountain Road and with a 4x4, drive all the way to the top. I intended to hike from the campground, 2.7 miles past the gate.
When I got to the ranger station at 6:15 AM, there was no one there, so I put my day hike fee in an envelope and taped it to the door with my license plate number. Then, I continued on to the campground and started up Sukat Road. It had rained here the day before and the road was damp, but not muddy. It kept the dust down but made it humid. The vegetation was aromatic with a pleasant smell I couldn't identify. There was no warm up as the road climbed moderately from the start. Most of the gain is done in the first 2 miles, then there are some ups and downs but only about 800' of gain the last 3 miles. Once I got up into the forest, it was very pleasant among the tall cedars, pines, and oaks. Some shade and higher elevation kept the temps under control for August. Sukat ends at a junction with Hot Springs Mountain Road and I turned right to continue toward the summit. I broke out my bug net for the final mile, but the summit area was bug free. It took about 2 hours to make it to the burned out lookout tower on Hot Springs Mountain. Mark Allen left fresh painted cans and a new register under the tower only two days before and I was the second party to sign it. The official Sierra Club register is normally kept at the high point below the summit boulder a few hundred yards away. I didn't think about moving it to the high point until I got home. After checking out the tower and the views, I followed a use trail marked with orange flags to the high point for some scramble action.
Driving to Hot Springs Mountain (right)
Start
Celestial sunbeams
Abandoned tower
Looking north
The summit boulder was about 20', maybe a little less. Below it were two registers. The Sierra Club register did not have a bottom and the pages were ruined. The second was a geocache register in capped PVC. Red and blue webbing hung to the ground from the summit. There were several ways it could be climbed without the webbing. I went around to the northeast side and found a class 3 route. There is a lower adjacent boulder (with a reference mark) that I climbed, following a ledge to the end, then surmounting it. Then, I jumped 3' over to the summit boulder and made a class 3 move with a thin foothold to reach the top. Flat cement covered much of the summit area and a benchmark was in a 2' rectangular hole in the cement. Views were great, about the same as from the tower. I inspected the webbing and determined the red was in better shape than the blue. Each one was anchored with knots around bolts that were designed for something other than climbing. They felt solid enough, but it was safer to scramble down the way I came up rather than try to arm rappel with the webbing down a 10' vertical drop at the end. With the county high point in the bag, I started down the road.
Registers
Webbing from the bottom
Lower block left, I followed the ledge then mounted it
The final class 3 move on the main summit block
Benchmark in the hole
Webbing from the top
Looking across to the tower
Descending
I had forgotten to load the GPS track or bring a map before I started. That was not an issue for Hot Springs Mountain because I could follow the road all the way. But I also wanted to do Corral Benchmark and without a map, I wasn't sure where it was. I knew it was east of the road, and I thought there was either an old road or use trail to follow, but I had to guess which to try. I was going to make one attempt and if my guess was wrong, skip it. With a little luck, I guessed the right old road and followed it up to Corral. There was a small register in a glass jar apparently placed by Richard Carey dating to 2011. It was not visited often and a nice bonus. When I got back to the truck, I had a note from the Los Coyotes Police asking me to stop on the way out to pay hiking fees. I did stop, but again, no one was at the police station or ranger station. I called the number on the card and left a voice mail explaining that I had left the hiking fees in an envelope that was no longer on the ranger station door. I also left my phone number in case they had questions. Since I didn't hear back, I am guessing we are square.
Climbing up to Corral
Corral summit, Hot Springs Mountain in the background
Civilian Conservation Corps benchmark
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