Stonewall (SDC #55, 5730′) • map • directions

Cuyamaca (SDC #56, 6512′) • w/Stonewall

Middle Peak (SDC #54, 5883′) • directions

The sky threatened heavy rain while we drove towards what I call the Stonewall trio, a cluster of three peaks just south of Julian. The trio includes Stonewall, Middle Peak, and San Diego’s second highest peak, Cuyamaca. Though Cuyamaca is topographically dominant, Stonewall was my preferred peak of the three and its presence is much more obvious from the twisted Highway 79, hence my use of Stonewall to classify the bunch. If we must hike in the rain, these peaks were a good choice due to the fact that we’d have a trail for all but the last eighth mile on Middle Peak, and I had hiked all three before so I knew there wouldn’t be any surprises.

Stonewall

The plan was to hike the more challenging of the three first, Cuyamaca, but upon our arrival Stonewall was poking through the only visible pocket of blue sky, so we started off there. Originally Anna and I had entertained the idea of looping all three peaks together but with the forecast we wanted the option of an easier bail out, should “it” hit the fan. From the parking area (fee required) of the Paso Picacho campground, we crossed the 79 and started up the switchbacks on the north side of Stonewall Peak,  soon rewarded with a stunning view.

Stonewall is of course named for the mass of granite that makes up the summit, which boasts a number of rock climbing routes. My first two trips to Stonewall were primarily for the rock climbing and I did my first lead on Stonewall’s north face. The rock is of high quality and its tough to beat the views! 

It took but 50 minutes to reach the rocky summit, shrouded in clouds by the time of our arrival at 10:45am. The rock and the steel hand rails were dripping wet from the surrounding mist and a lonesome feeling hung in the air as the summit seemed to rise straight from the clouds. We didn’t stay long, and  surprisingly passed two other parties on their way up the mountain as we cruised down the muddy trail, hiding from the now light rain in our thin shell jackets. Despite the lack of views Anna thoroughly enjoyed the peak and mentioned her intentions of bringing her non-hiking friends to Stonewall in the future.

Cuyamaca

With a quick stop at the car, we had the luxury of changing our shirts before heading the opposite direction towards Cuyamaca. We walked through the campground and found the paved service road, to which we would follow all the way to the summit. I was reminded of a blind man I’d met on a previoius hike here, making his way up the mountain solo. I had chatted with him for a few minutes, learning that he hiked Cuyamaca every weekend, weather permitting. He received rides to and from the peak from his nearby home in Julian and seemed to have little trouble navigating the path to the summit using his cane to stay on the pavement. Truly an inspiration and one I’ve thought about and mentioned to others several times. 

Hiking up Cuyamaca by this route was relatively uninteresting and I was happy to get it done quickly. By the time Anna and I neared the summit on the 2.7 mile long service road, visibility was low and the elements were dominating over the final few hundred feet, no longer contained by the surrounding mountains. Though we couldn’t see down the massive west face of Cuyamaca, its dominance could be felt by the powerful wind rising up and over the summit, further coating everything around with a layer of clean moisture.

It was an easy walk back down the service road, the rich smell of wet forest filling the air. We again changed into a fresh set of warm clothes at the car and even had the luxury of changing our saturated shoes, opting for boots to help with the wet bushwhacking we’d be doing on Middle Peak. We were just able to start warming ourselves with the car’s heater before the five minute drive to Middle Peak was over.

Middle Peak

I had previously looped Middle Peak with Cuyamaca but on this trip we preferred to keep the hike as short as possible, parking on a dirt road (Milk Ranch Rd) just off of the 79 on the southeast side of the mountain. Almost immediately after leaving the car we were greeted by large herd of deer, numbering somewhere in the 20s. They didn’t enjoy our presence as much as we enjoyed theirs so our interaction was unfortunately brief. We hung a right onto the Middle Peak Fire Road and soon discovered the tracks of an animal I preferred not to meet. There were two fresh sets of tracks, one much smaller than the other. Large cats. Anna didn’t share my enthusiasm but I was fascinated, wondering if the cats had been stalking the deer we had just seen. We continued along the muddy fire road and to Anna’s dismay, the mountain lion tracks for a solid mile before we left the road and disappeared into the brush just past the junction with the Middle Peak Loop Trail (aka Black Oak Trail).

Middle Peak requires a short bushwhack to its actual highpoint. Normally I don’t mind a good ‘shwhack but Anna and I discovered that pushing through wet brush is a good way to get soaked to the bone. Within the first two hundred feet of leaving the trail our clothes were soaked so thoroughly that water seeped down our legs and filled our boots, adding un-needed weight to our stride and sloshing with every step. 

It took a good 20 minutes to negotiate the brush to the high point of middle peak, which we stumbled across at 2:57pm with a bit of luck. The summit was marked by a small stack of rocks on top of a rounded boulder and nothing more. Even in good weather Middle Peak is lacking in views, the forest and vegetation just too dense to see through, and I quesetion Middle Peak’s significance on the San Diego peaks list. Perhaps its the fact that Middle Peak is visible (along with Cuyamaca) from much of San Diego, including my neighborhood 30 miles away. It is a nice feeling to see the mountain from so far away and know that I’ve been there.

Cold and triumphant, we pushed our way back through the brush and onto the dirt road, with thoughts of a hot meal on our mind. Anna and I started feeling the effects of being in wet clothes and shoes and were glad to descend the muddy road and back to the car in just forty minutes, arriving at 3:57pm, 6 hours and 2 minutes after starting up Stonewall. We defrosted our hands in the heater and made our way to the nearest café, starting off with a hot bowl of soup…