About

I had been getting bored sea kayaking of late. As much as I love the smell of the ocean, and the lap of water against my boat, paddling the same waters, again and again, was becoming monotonous. So, I decided to spend a bit more time on the trails. In the early part of 2017, I stumbled on the Anza-Borrego 5 for 50 Challenge. The Anza-Borrego Foundation was celebrating its 50th anniversary by inviting folks to complete 5 hikes throughout the park. So I laced up my boots and headed out. I was able to convince a few friends to tag along for some of them.

I then began looking through my worn copy of Afoot and Afield in San Diego for new places to explore. It was then I learned about Derek’s 100 Peak Challenge. So now armed with a completely insane opportunity, I set out to see what I could accomplish. Now, the ‘official’ challenge is supposed to be in a calendar year, but I am opting to see what I can complete within 365 days (give or take). Plus, some 30+ hikes are all located in Anza-Borrego, so when I started this adventure, the heat made this highly prohibitive. My initial goal was to hit 50 by year’s end (Spoiler: I did ). I am going to use this blog, to serve as my hiking register for this challenge. So, lace up the boots, grab your poles and let’s summit a peak!

UPDATE – 2019

Well, 2018 was quite the year, I was continuing toward my goal of trying to complete the 100 peaks within a year since I started. It seemed like it would be possible. Unfortunately, I was beset by a bout of plantar fasciitis that sidelined me for a few months. Then real set back, I herniated two discs in my neck. That really changed the game, but over the ensuing months, I recovered enough to return to the trails and began working toward finishing by the second year I started this challenge. Unfortunately, the PF returned and sidelined me again. But this time we took a more aggressive approach with physical therapy and got it under control. Hitting the two-year goal was still doable with a little luck.

I mapped out the remaining peaks and set out to finish this challenge. However, the failed summit of Indianhead threw my plans askew. One of the risks I knew I was facing was would I be able to summit the remaining big peaks I had left? One of the challenges is most were out in Anza-Borrego, so the rising temperatures were going to be a factor.

So, now what?

Even while I was picking off peaks, I was asking myself what I wanted to challenge myself with after the 100 Peak Challenge? Two ideas came to mind; the 6 Pack of Peaks, and the San Diego 100 Peaks. There is a modest amount of overlap between the 100 Peak Challenge and the San Diego 100 lists, so would be about additional 30 new peaks to climb. Unfortunately, they are all out in Anza-Borrego, so that list realistically be started until the fall of 2019. As for the 6 Pack, given the fantastic snow levels we got this year, most of these peaks are going to have to wait until they are clear of snow and ice.

Then, the setback of Indianhead and the reality of the desert hit me. I wasn’t going to complete the challenge by the two-year mark. I looked over the peaks I had done here and realized that I had actually done quite a few of the ‘hard’ ones; Granite, the Sombreros, Jacumba, Villager… and it hit me “Why not do a reboot?” See if I could summit all 100 in a calendar year! I was going to be able to finish the first attempt until the end of 2019 anyway. Armed with this idea, I went back over the list, looking at the peaks with new insight. I knew how to get to the trailheads, the routes, and difficulty for each. With that, I plotted my attempt. I clustered the hikes into three basic groups: in-town, desert and general. All the in-town hikes are planned to be done before or after work so they won’t count against the weekends. The desert hikes will happen once the temperatures cool off again. As for the general set, I looked them over and kicked up the challenge some, mostly by combining more peaks together in a single outing. The primary goal is still to finish my first 100, so when the desert season opens up again, the remaining 3 will be my primary focus. I still plan to finish the 100 with El Cajon Mountain.

What about the 6 Pack of Peaks? They are still in the cards. I formally signed up for the 3 Peak Challenge hosted by A16. Once I get those done, I will turn my attention to the other 3 peaks in the 6 Pack. As for the San Diego 100, once the desert season begins, I have flagged any nearby peaks on that list that I might tack on while I am summiting. For example, I might add in Moan Benchmark with I summit Indian Hill again.

So back to the peaks I go…

As of May 11, I had done 24 of the Reboot… I will be appending each peak with my return trip report.