Distance: 5 miles round trip on dirt road and cross country
Summit Elevation: 2144'
Elevation Gain: 1115'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.89
Round trip time: 3 hours
Recommended water: 48 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Carrizo Creek
Difficulty: Easy
Grunt is the 5th of 5 "Struggles" the USGS named near the Carrizo Gorge. Who says they don't have a sense of humor? Four of the five are on the San Diego Peaks List and I had already visited them, but Grunt was unfinished business from a hike with Eric Su in 2016. The shortest direct approach was from the north in Carrizo Gorge. The Struggles in descending order of elevation:
There is a warning sign at the start of Carrizo Creek road about deep sand and 4x4 vehicles only. As promised, I found deep sand quickly and a few places where it was 6" deep. Sand was the only hazard the first few miles, then the road got considerably worse. It dipped in and out of the rocky creek, and was severely eroded in spots. High clearance was needed for some of the creek crossings. About a mile from the end of the road, I could no longer see the continuation, so I just parked and started hiking. It was already over 90F at 9:30 AM so I intentionally slowed my pace and took a break whenever I found enough shade. It was still too hot to spend more than a half day in the desert. I headed down the banks of the creek, eventually finding more of the road. Just past the end of the official road, I took a side canyon west following Greg Gerlach's GPS track. The unnamed side canyon was sandy and mostly clear of obstacles. There was a class 2 section near the start. I followed it until I was almost directly north of Grunt, then started up the slope staying above a prominent gully.
4x4 Only
In the side canyon
Starting up the slope
It was steep and slow in the heat, but I trudged ahead. The Grunt summit was mostly hidden until I reached the end of the ridge. The summit area was large and flat with multiple rock piles competing for the top spot. I checked out a couple before finding the summit and a pair of yellow cans with the register. The benchmark was directly under the cans. I found an old rotten post that had fallen down and stood it back up with piles of rocks. Grunt is a remote peak and since it was not on the official list, I thought it would have a very small number of entries. The register went back to 1982 and was only half full, but it contained at least twice the entries I expected. There was no pencil or pen in the register so I left one. The view up to Gasp was impressive, and I was glad I wasn't headed up there. The view back down the gorge was also impressive. While I was on the summit, a DHS helicopter flew up the gorge on patrol. On the way back, I stopped to check out a small natural cave in the side canyon. It was a cozy 10' cave with a soft dirt bed. I had to use a flashlight to see the end of it due to the contrast with the bright light outside. I'm not sure any animal still uses it, but it would be a fine shelter. I got back without seeing another person the whole day.
Grunt summit with Gasp in the background
Register
A note from Paul Freiman about the pain points
Looking north
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