Distance: 2 miles round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 1038' (Van Dam), 1114' (North Van Dam)
Elevation Gain: 636'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.5
Round trip time: 1 hour
Recommended water: 16 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Middle Ridge Terrace cul-de-sac
Difficulty: Easy
With only half a day to hike, I drove to north San Diego County for a couple of quick and easy peaks. The first stop was on Middle Ridge Terrace in a sleepy subdivision and parked in the cul-de-sac. I was the only non-resident car on the street. The trail to the open space preserve ran between two houses, but not so close that it might annoy the homeowners. The trail was a single track that ran through some dense San Diego county brush. It was steep in a couple of places, but it didn't take long to reach the ridge line. First, I followed a good trail all the way to North Van Dam Peak. I found the cement base of some kind of structure that was no longer there. I couldn't find a benchmark or register, but someone had created a small shrine to Jean Claude Van Damme, the muscles from Brussels. I had to admire the effort. Larger, more popular mountains were nearby: Black Mountain, Woodson Mountain, Iron Mountain, etc. I only stayed a few minutes before heading back along the ridge toward Van Dam Peak. I wasn't sure if Van Dam would require a bushwhack but it looked isolated about a quarter mile away from the ridge with an intervening saddle. When I got near the saddle, I pushed through some light brush and found a decent use trail. It was overgrown in places and I lost it near the saddle, pushing through moderate brush to find it again. The use trail wound around the south side of the peak past a large boulder, then north to the summit. Van Dam proper had a register in a set of cans with only a handful of visits since 2021. On the way back, I took a couple of minutes to climb the 12' boulder with one class 3 move. I did a better job following the use back to the ridge, then cruised back to the truck.
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