E008S01 Episode 8 is Out!!!

Here in Episode 8, Richard shows you his base kit (the ten essentials), which he takes every time he goes out.

Base Kit List coming in next post!!!

EPISODE 7 was just released!!!  Its a Gear Review on the Buck 110 Pocketknife by Jake!  Go watch now!

New Episode: E006 Black Mountain

Come with us in this new second episode in our Summits Series we climb 1558' Black Mountain in Northern San Diego.

Please remember to LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, COMMENT, AND SHARE!!! Thank you!

New Episode Release: Gerber Pro Scout Multi Tool Product Review

Just released episode 3, a product review on my Gerber Pro Scout Multitool.

SCOUTCRAFT.TV Episode 2 is out!

We just released the first episode in our Summits Series, "Mission Trails: Kwaaypaay" on our YouTube Channel, SCOUTCRAFT.TV!!!

Remember this trip?  If not, go back and read the article we wrote about
our adventure at Kwaaypaay when we filmed this episode back in February.

This is the second episode we've released overall, and plan to release a new episode every two weeks or so.  Keep watching!

We just uploaded the opening sequence for Scoutcraft Academy's show on our YouTube channel!

No episodes edited yet, but we were finally able to put together an opening sequence.
Its not much more than a slideshow with a couple video clips, but its going to be our opening sequence for our first season.  Its been so many months since we started working on this project, its good to finally have something up on our channel.

Now to start teaching ourselves how to edit video...hmmm

I can't believe its been over two months since I last posted!!!
Here's what's going on:

Jakob bridged over into Boy Scouts at the end of February and I became one of the Assistant Scoutmasters in his troop.  We have been doing tons of stuff in the great outdoors in the past couple of months (We've been camping 4 times and are going again this weekend).

The only problem is; unlike with Scoutcraft Academy, a big organization like the Boy Scouts of America has a LOT of red tape when it involves any possible infringement upon their Youth Protection Guidelines.

This means that, not only are we supposed to do a load of paperwork to simply obtain the rights to post pictures of a Boy Scout activity, we're not even supposed to say where we are going or where we went online without approval.

This is far too much red tape for my taste, so Scoutcraft Academy has been put on hold for a bit.
However, I am now a merit badge Councilor/Instructor for nineteen different merit badges (mostly outdoorsmanship-related) and soon, though, very soon, I will be taking Jake & Josh out to earn some merit badges.  The red tape is non-existent when its just a father and his boys, regardless of what organization they're with.

For the Hiking merit badge, we will be hiking the TCT (Trans California Trail).  This shares much of the same path as the SDTCT (San Diego Trans County Trail), but shoots off on its own east of the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) just past Lake Cuyamaca.  For the Hiking Merit Badge, we will be hiking the 75 mile stretch of the TCT between the Pacific Ocean at Torrey Pines State Beach and the PCT over 6 hikes.

Then we will be earning the Wilderness Survival and Backpacking Merit Badges by doing multi-day trips along the TCT down into the Imperial Desert from the PCT Junction.  150 miles in 4 multi-day treks from the Laguna mountains of San Diego to the Colorado River.

This program will be conducted between June 2012 and April 2013.  I'm looking forward to blogging every trek.

See you on the trail.

~Richard

Black Mountain Open Space Park

Thursday, March 1, 2012

This week I found out that I was sitting for a few days due to bureaucratic red tape at my jobsite, so I decided to turn a negative into a positive and the boys and I grabbed our packs and jumped in the truck and drove to Black MountainOpen Space Park here in Rancho Penasquitos for a spur of the moment hike up Black Mountain. Our cameras came along with us.

Black Mountain is a 1558' high mountain which sits smack in the center of San Diego's Coastal Plain, a series of Mesas (flat plateaus) and Canyons which average 0 to 600 feet in elevation. Black Mountain, on the other hand, is the highest mountain within fifteen miles of the Pacific coast anywhere in southern California. It rises like a conical volcano from this gently sloping coastal plain, averaging over a thousand feet of prominence within nearly ten miles (that is, you would have to go ten miles away before you reached a mountain as high as Black Mountain). It is the second highest point in the city of San Diego after 1593' high Cowles Mountain (Only 35' higher). Like Cowles, Black Mountain has a microwave relay station on its summit; but unlike Cowles, Black Mountain is fairly untraveled (relatively speaking), which means that you will run into people on the Black Mountain Trail, but you won't feel like you're standing in a line for Space Mountain at Disneyland like it sometimes seems you have to do at Cowles Mountain.

The weather was gorgeous! A fast moving Alaskan storm just blew through San Diego over the last few days and dropped a lot of rain in a short period of time (a lot for San Diego is 1” in 3 days, a full 10% of how much water we can expect this year), so the dirt was a bit wet and there were still big mud puddles in the trail. White, fluffy, silver lined clouds flew by, blown by a fast moving chill wind blowing from the coast. The sun was out, bright, and strong, warming us as we got out of the truck and started gearing up for the hike. We started at Sundevil Way Trailhead next to the Mt Carmel High School football stadium and quickly gained the hundred or so feet elevation needed to reach Hilltop Park where we reached the beginning of the Nighthawk Trail. You can start the hike from Hilltop Park if you'd like. There's plenty of parking, restrooms, and water, and it would cut two hundred feet total elevation and about a quarter mile off the hike.

There are several trails to choose from that lead up Black Mountain. There are trailheads on all four sides of the mountain. Some are longer with a more gentle slope while Nighthawk, the trail we took, is the steepest and shortest. The most used trail is the service road which can be found in the residential neighborhood to the west of the mountain.

We continued past the Kiosk, grabbing a complementary full color map of Black Mountain Open Space Park as we passed (Jake & Josh collect these things). The trail switched back and forth between mild duty hills and flat lands until it reached the Black Loop, a trail which heads off eastward to the east shoulder of the mountain, an area that is a mountain unto itself at 1365' elevation. If it were not considered just another part of Black Mountain, the east shoulder would actually be the fourth highest mountain in the city of San Diego, beating out Mt Fortuna by about 150' and trailing behind Black Mountain's West Shoulder (1382') by a mere 17'.

The East Shoulder is another hike, however, so we turned toward the first of only two moderate climbs we would experience and headed onward up Nighthawk Trail toward the junction with the fire road.

We reached the Fire Road Junction, where both Nighthawk and Miner's Loop Trails intersect with the fire road within a few hundred feet of each other at an elevation of 1271'. It felt strange to us when comparing Black Mountain toKwaaypaay, which we climbed last week. Kwaaypaay was so steep compared to Black Mountain, and it seemed like the steep hills went on forever. It was strange to think that, by the time we reached the junction with Miner's Loop Trail we were at 1195', the same elevation as Kwaaypaay, but it seemed as though we had barely climbed anything yet. A steep and rocky hill followed gaining us another 80' or so and bringing us to the Service Road where we turned right and began the final push.

Once on the Service Road, it was only a half mile more before we reached the summit. During this half mile we gained the final three hundred feet elevation. The summit is very nice, but there is a large transmitter facility on the top and it has all sorts of loud machinery and the like which has a tenancy to ruin the peace. The views are awesome, though. You have a 360 degree view of the entire coastal plain and a panorama of the highest of the local mountains as well. 4S Ranch and Rancho Santa Fe are beautiful, and Mira Mesa, Miramar, and Kearney Mesa beyond seem to stretch on forever. The Mission Trails 5 are clearly visible, as is Mt Woodson and the Dos Pecos 4 (including Iron Mountain). It was a little hazy and it was hard to make out Palomar to the north, and the Cuyamacas and Viejas Mountain were not visible to the east.

The most peaceful place on the whole mountain was “The Cut”. The Cut is nothing more than a nickname for the Service Road as it cuts up and across the mountain toward the summit. From the cut we had about 120 degrees of the views we had available to us up on top (at an elevation of 1500' or so), but it was peaceful and quiet, far from the constant humming and stammering of the machinery at the microwave towers. We only saw one other person on the way up and a different person on the way down, and we were up there for four hours total. I love hiking on weekdays. There probably would have been dozens had we gone on the weekend.

One drawback to going during the week, however, is that the station atop the summit of Black Mountain is a fully functional station and, as such, has people who work there from time to time. We were passed on the service road by two trucks as we went up. They were quite a surprise.

After taking a break and some great shots from the summit (see the pictures on our Facebook Page), the boys and I decided to head back down. We discussed returning for the 4^th of July since you would probably be able to see every single fireworks show in the city of San Diego from atop Black Mountain. It was an excellent day and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, as did the boys (though Jake complained a bit as we got closer to the truck, but I think complaining is a sport to him). It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to go back, but first, on to the next peak...

Thanks for reading Scoutcraft Academy Trail bLog!

See you on the trail...

~Richard

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Basic Stats:

Black Mountain

Elevation Rank: #2 in the city of San Diego after Cowles Mountain (1593')

prominence:

500' Avg Elevation of 4S ranch to the north

450' Avg Elevation of Mira Mesa/MCAS Miramar to the south .

700' Avg Elevation of Carmel Mtn Ranch to the east

250' Avg Elevation of Rancho Santa Fe to the west

1058' prominence from 3 miles to the north

1108' prominence from 4 miles to the south

858' prominence from 3 miles to the east

1308' prominence from 4 miles to the west

1540' prominence from the San Dieguito River 6 miles to the west.

Closest elevation higher than Black Mountain:

8.5miles east in Poway

Nothing higher west to ocean in southern California

Elevations:

697' Elevation of Parking at Sundevil Way Trailhead

807' Elevation of Hilltop Park

1558' Elevation at Summit

861' Difference in Elevation from Sundevil Trailhead

Distance & Slope:

2.22miles one way

4.44miles There & Back

Max Slope 50%

AVG Slope 12%

1052 elevation gain one way

-205' elevation loss one way

2514' Total Delta E

Time:

Began hike: 13:42

Summit: 15:41

Began Descent: 16:39

Finished Hike: 17:42

Ascent- 1:59

Descent-1:03

Break on Summit- 0:58

Total Hike time- 4:00

Download the Black Mountain Google Earth KMZ File for this hike HERE 

Sunday, February 26, 2012                                                                           

I never thought for a moment that we could really be that far out of shape, especially me. I work in a physically demanding job and am otherwise active throughout the week. I am not overweight at all. Despite all this, Jakob and I nearly died of exhaustion today while climbing Kwaaypaay, the smallest of the five peaks in Mission Trails Regional Park. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but by the way Jakob and I were sucking wind, you'd have sworn we just ran a full marathon.

We started out by parking the truck on Friar Junipero Serra Mission Gorge Trail.

The parking lot at Padre dam and the one across from Kumeyaay Lake Campground on Bushy Hill Drive were both packed full, as was both sides of the street all the way up from the dam to well past the Campground turn off, so we parked almost all the way up by Mission Gorge Rd. If I ever go hiking in Mission Trails again, it will most definitely not be on a weekend. Mission Trails regional park marks the end of the city of San Diego to the east and contains five of the highest points in the entire city, visible from most anywhere in San Diego. It is a well established, maintained, patrolled, and most importantly, funded trail system and park which includes plenty of history, a campground, a lake, and, as I said, five of the highest peaks in the city of San Diego.

Climbing Kwaaypaay was the first in our Summits Series. When I asked the boys what their goals were with regards to climbing, they said that they wanted to climb Everest by the age of twenty. Such a lofty goal requires years of preparation and training, building up to something so huge. So I asked them how they planned on attaining that goal, what steps they were going to take. After looking at local nearby mountains as a starting place, we discovered The San Diego 12, the twelve highest peaks in the city of San Diego. Now out of these twelve, three are not climbable, plus if you're going to climb Cowles Mountain, you might as well continue on to Pyles Peak since they share the same trail, and the same can be said of Mt Fortuna's North and South Peaks, so I guess that leaves us with The San Diego 7. Take a look at the list below...

San Diego City 12                                                                                                                                   

1. Cowles Mountain 1593' / Pyles Peak 1379'                                                                                     

2. Black Mountain 1556'                                                                                                                         

3. Mt Fortuna, North Peak 1291' / South Face 1094'                                                                         

4. Kwaaypaay 1195'                                                                                                                                

5. Mount San Dieguito 1118'                                                                                                                   

X. Lake Murray Mountain 851' (Not climbable because a neighborhood is built on top of it and                       

                                                       the Summit is in the dining room of 5158 Overlake Ave in Del   

                                                       Cerro =)                                                                                              

6. Miramar Hill 840'                                                                                                                                 

X. Mt Soledad 808' (Not climbable because a neighborhood is built on top of it.)                           

7. Torrey Highlands 432'                                                                                                                         

X. Cabrillo 423' (Not climbable because there is a National Monument built on top of it and a         

                             military base surrounding it.)                                                                                   

It was decided that we would start by climbing the toughest mountains in our city, then make a list of the toughest mountains in our County (we discovered there are eighteen that we would like to climb). We would then move on to chose seven mountains in our Region (Southern California), which includes such giants as Mt San Gorgonio and Mt San Jacinto, and finally we would select seven challenging summits in North America (The boys have thus far been eying Whitney, Elbert, Rainier, and Hood, with an eye toward something in the Black Hills or Appalachians and a couple 16-18k beasts in Alaska. Only then, they say, will we move on to the seven summits, the highest mountain on each continent, ending, of course, with Everest. I pointed out, of course, that we must find some way to become independently wealthy and not have to work anymore before any of this will happen. I don't know if I should be a little bit frightened that the boys think they have the solution to this problem, but won't tell me about it. Anyway, its a good goal, though I doubt if they'll ever make it all the way due to lack of funding, but the least I can do is help them get as far as they can with what we have. This means climbing Kwaaypaay today.

Joshua decided that he didn't want to hike this week and so Jake and I hit the trail, just the two of us. Turning off the Friar Junipero Serra Trail, we were immediately confronted with our first challenge. Kwaaypaay's first hill is pretty steep, and it's just out there in front. No warmup, no gentle incline for a while to lull you into thinking its going to be easier than it is. BAM there it is, just out there, mocking you, almost as if the mountain is flaunting it, warning you not to try to climb it. I asked Jake if he was ready to quit and go to Beef N Bun for a milkshake. He said no.

We made our way up the first hill. About 200' in a quarter mile. Not bad, but not good either. The best part was that we were now nearly as high as the top of the Sea World Tower over the Trailhead below. We stopped for a good long while to take in the scenery and film some scenes, then we packed back up and started on the second hill. The second hill was a good rest in itself (at first). It descended forty feet and then flattened out for a while before beginning its climb. Then it climbed 440 feet in elevation over two-thirds of a mile before flattening out again in a clearing with breathtaking views of some of the cliffs in the gorge and an awesome panorama of the Mission Trails Grasslands to the north. Mt Fortuna actually looked bigger as we gained elevation.

When we reached the flat clearing at the base of the Summit Push, the last hill, we once more took our packs off and rested. The temperature never rose above 70F, but early on the sun was keeping us pretty hot. Just before we hit the last hill, however, the sun disappeared behind some overcast that was growing as the afternoon dragged onward toward evening. On top of this the wind picked up as we got higher, chilling the sweat on our bodies. It was actually pretty pleasant.

We were not the only ones resting up before climbing the Summit Push two other groups of people came along while we were there and, though we stayed and rested an ungodly long time, probably twenty minutes or so, they were still there as well when we finally picked up our packs and decided to challenge the worst Kwaaypaay had to throw at us.

The Summit Push was very, very steep. It was so steep that some nice person decided to haul a whole bunch of logs up the mountain to build a staircase. 

The Summit Push ascended 200' elevation in the first 700', then we were at the top. Well, by top I mean, past the staircase. 

We kept ascending for another nearly quarter mile after reaching the top of the Summit Push, but during that quarter mile we only gained 40' elevation or so, and though it was obviously uphill, it seemed almost like downhill compared to that third hill we had just come up. 

The entire top of the mountain was covered in thick brush and anything off the main trail is a protected off limits area with signs and fences posted everywhere. I saw an old trail leading off to the southeast and looked down it longingly, catching a glimpse of boulders at the end of the trail no more than forty feet off. It was at this point that I first realized how close we were to the cliff face at Mission Gorge Rd Pass. I wanted to go have a look but I am a good rule following peace loving citizen who would never want anyone to think he would break any rule in any way or make any trouble for anyone in authority, so I kept walking onward along the designated trail.

There were about a dozen people on the lookout point when we arrived. The lookout is a clearing at a high point on the western side of the summit about 17 feet below the absolute high point of the mountain (which is in a protected area and inaccessible due to thick brush). We sat down on some boulders and ate some Mainstay 3600 rations for lunch, drank some water, and chatted a little, hoping that, given time, the place would clear out.

While we waited, I listened to some of the conversations and even joined in at one point. I am not a proud man when it comes to knowledge, experience, and ability in any area. I know only too well that no matter how good you are at something, how much you've done it, or how much you know about it, there are literally hundreds of thousands of people in the world who are better than you, more experienced than you, and know more than you about any subject on earth. I never presume to know more than anyone about something, but try to learn whatever I can from everyone. I've been hiking, backpacking, and adventuring on a virtually continual basis since I was a kid. All the way through Boy Scouts and on into adulthood. I've been a lot of places, yet the guys up on the summit of Kwaaypaay were talking about a trail I had heard of, but never been on. I got some good recon. They mentioned the fact that lately the USMC was more actively patrolling the border where Camp Elliot meets Sycamore Canyon to stop hikers and mountain bikers from crossing over into Oak Canyon to the west. I thanked him for the information and wished him a safe trail.

I remember watching Ray Mears specials years ago, Les Stroud's Survivorman from the first episode in 2004. I watched all of Bear Grylls' Man vs Wild shows, and have been subscribed to dozens of YouTube survival and outdoor channels for years. I enjoy going out into nature and I love to pass that on to my sons. I am a ever learning and perpetual student of outdoorsmanship. Scoutcraft Academy? I don't know if you've noticed yet or not, but I am not the teacher in this Scoutcraft Academy, I am a student just like my boys are. I have raised them to seek knowledge and how to think independently, to seek out and learn things for themselves so that they have no need that anyone teach them because they are actively seeking out the information themselves and then going out and practicing it on their own. I think that's what this blog and YouTube Channel is really about, researching and learning things on our own and then going out and practicing them on our own. The cameras are only along to show other people that they need to stop sitting around playing video games all day and do something in the outdoors, that they don't have to be a great outdoorsman like a Mears, Stroud, Grylls, or Canterbury to get out there, have fun, and be in the great outdoors. They don't have to be in a life and death situation. After all, look at these Scoutcraft Academy guys, they're not all that good at this stuff, and they're having fun.

Anyway, that said, I'll return to the top of Kwaaypaay and continue =)

We hoped that there would not be a steady stream of climbers reaching the top. Our patience was rewarded when, after only fifteen minutes or so, we had the entire top of the mountain to ourselves. We shot our scenes, finished our lunch, got some awesome footage, and chatted a bit about various things. All in all we had a great time.

We got down a lot faster than we got up. The trail was full of loose dirt that made it very slippery, however. We took the fork back down, following the trail back toward Padre Dam, rather than the one we came up by Grasslands crossing. After mingling with the mob at the dam for a while (and letting Jakob climb on the dam and get the shots he wanted to get) we headed back up to Friar Junipero Serra Trail and walked back up to the Truck.

It was a great day and a great hike. The weather was nice, although it would have been nicer if it hadn't been so hazy. It was difficult to see Black Mountain and Mt Woodson, and I couldn't see Cuyamaca or Palomar at all. I was bummed that Josh didn't come. And next time I go, I think I'll go on a weekday. I hear that the park is almost totally empty on weekdays. Well, its been awesome sharing our Summit with you all. Summit stats are below. Keep watching for the YouTube videos when the boys finally get them finished. Please like us on Facebook if you haven't already, Subscribe to the YouTube Channel, Follow us on Twitter, and soon you can visit our website at scoutcraft.tv (if you go there now it will just take you back to our blog). Thanks for reading Scoutcraft Academy, we'll see you on the trail.

~Richard

Kwaaypaay Mountain Trail

The trail started at 305'

The highest elevation the trail reached was 1180' (Peak inaccessible at 1190')

2.84 Mile There & Back day hike

2026' Total change in elevation (Delta-E)

926' one way elevation gain

-87' one way elevation loss

15% AVG Slope

46% MAX Slope

Download our new updated Kwaaypaay Trail KMZ file

President's Day Weekened: San Diego Trans County Trail Hike (Part 1-4)

PART 1...

For our first hike as Scoutcraft Academy, on President's Day weekend we decided to start tackling one of the two great trails that run through San Diego County. The best known of these trails is, of course, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) http://www.pcta.org , a 2650 mile trail which begins at the USA-Mexico border in Campo and continues north through California, Oregon, and Washington, finally ending at the USA-Canada border. As number two of the eight National Scenic Trails, the PCT is hiked by tens of thousands of short hikers and over one hundred thru hikers annually. Since we don't have the time or the money to take several months off work to hike (my idea of heaven), we will have to settle for hiking all these trails one weekend at a time for the next thousand years.

The second great trail in San Diego is a bit of a mystery. I didn't know it existed until two years ago, and I have heard it called the Sea to Sea Trail, the Great Western Trail, and the San Diego Trans County Trail. Since the kiosk at Torrey Pines State Beach North Shore calls it the San Diego Trans County Trail, I'll have to refer to it as such, though I'm not sure what the heck it is, just that its there.

The San Diego Trans-County Trail begins at Torrey Pines State Beach North Shore (yes, there is a kiosk, see picture...).

  This appealed to us because, unlike the PCT, the beginning of the TCT is seven miles from our house and it passes within a mile of home. The TCT follows the native canyons of San Diego eastward up into the mountains (past Lake Cuyamaca) and then back down into the Borrego and Imperial Deserts. It continues eastward to the Colorado River, through Arizona, Grand Canyon State Park and into Utah where it passes by Canyonlands and Arches and up into Colorado where it finally ends at a junction with the 3100 mile Continental Divide Trail at Tincup Pass, Colorado. Now do you understand my confusion as to why it is called the San Diego Trans-County Trail? The Great Western Trail sounds much more accurate to me. Oh well, I guess that's why they don't put me in charge of such things, how boring would the world be without stupid naming conventions to make fun of? Oh my, I guess that was improper English....good thing I'm not English.

Back on point. It was the day before Presidents Day, Sunday February 19, 2012. The day was nice. The weather was pretty cool, in the mid 70's F (Low 20's if you live anywhere else in the world). There was a bit of a crowd down by the beach when we finally arrived around 11am, but the only time there isn't a crowd near the beach in southern California is when its pouring rain outside, so we decided to pack up and get away from the beach as fast as possible. We refused to park at Torrey Pines State Beach North Shore on principal since California has closed most of its state parks and jacked up prices at the rest to compensate for their stupidity. TPSB used to be free for as long as I can remember. Now it costs $10 to park there. All this to compensate for the fact that our state government really sucks at budgeting and finances. Anyway...

The trail looked more like a street with a dirt sidewalk for the first mile or so. It was little more than a small dirt trail beside Carmel Valley Rd until we reached the intersection with Portofino Rd, then the trail disappeared. No sidewalk either. We walked in the bike lane for about a third of a mile. I could see that there was an old trail in the brush to the side of the road, but it was so overgrown that it just wasn't worth the energy to tramp it all down. I wished I had brought my machete, that would have made quick work of the overgrowth and opened up the trail in case other people wanted to hike the “Trans-County Overgrown Trail”. I suppose the sight of some guy in an outback hat swinging a machete beside the road near the beach may have been a bit much for the delicate sensibilities of most Del Mar residents, so I'm (kind of) glad I left the big blade at home.

We turned right at Sorrento Valley Rd, a small two-lane road which once went through all the way to Mira Mesa Blvd when I was a kid, but was, for some unknown reason, shut down and never reopened when I was a teenager. The rumors said it was because of a gruesome murder of teenage lovers along the roadside...whatever. Now the road is a bike trail. There is a Park-N-Ride there, its actually a MUCH nicer place to begin the hike (with the fee or wait parking down by the beach and most of the rest of the trail really nothing more than a street). We walked along Sorrento Valley Rd for a few hundred feet past the Park-N-Ride before we found the trail that cut under the I-5 freeway bridge to meet up with Carmel Valley Bike Trail on the east side. Now this isn't what you'd imagine a freeway bridge looking like, large, tall, concrete, monumental. No, this was made of concrete and it was about three hundred feet wide, but other than that, it sucked. We had to walk in a crouch the whole way since the lid is probably only about five feet high. At least I didn't collect any spiders or other nasties in my hair as I went along, but Jake and Josh complained moist of the way. =) LOL,

Once we reached the far side of the bridge, we continued on up the trail for a short while before we reached the end of the Carmel Valley Bike Trail, which is paved all the way from Interstate 5 to Interstate 15 along the south side of California State Route 56. After a short ways on the black top and nearly being run over by a half dozen bicyclists barreling by at 35mph, a dirt side track appeared and we eagerly took it. << WARNING, RANT AHEAD: We love riding our bikes, and mountain biking is awesome. I have a LOT of friends and co-workers who are avid mountain bikers. That said...WHAT THE HELL!?!?! I know its fun to ride fast off road and go around blind corners at 45 MPH, but really? You come flying around a blind corner at 45 and almost run over a kid hiking on the far right side of the trail because he is hiking in fear that he will be run down by an insane lunatic on a monstrous monstrosity, and then you get mad because he's in your way? No wonder the city of San Diego doesn't want law-abiding citizens like me carrying guns....really... <<END OF RANT>>

There were some interesting things to see along the two miles we spent on the Caramel Valley Trail. Most notably is a horse ranch with a three story house which has to be one of the oldest in the county.

Finally we reached the Carmel Valley Trail kiosk and turned right to head southward toward the Shaw Valley Trail. After a few hundred feet we passed through the Shaw Valley Tunnel, which passes below Carmel Country Road, and continued onward, skirting the Meadows Del Mar golf course on our left. It was nice to be away from all the people. Until Shaw valley the trails had been very crowded, and no more than a minute or two could pass without seeing someone else. Besides that, the constant freeway noise from CA route 56 was a never ending background sound. Shaw Valley was different, quiet, solitary. We only saw one other group of people the whole time we were going up Shaw valley (a family riding bikes).

By the time we reached Shaw Valley Bridge at Carmel Mountain Road, however, Joshua was beginning to complain that his feet were burning. He had some boots made by Bates that we had bought his several moths ago, but I guess that he had never worn them around the house to break them in. He was breaking them in on what was supposed to be a ten mile hike, and now his feet were getting ready to blister at mile 5.5. We took off his boots on break and verified that he had a few hot spots. Another mile and blisters would rise. He needed to stop now or he wouldn't be able to hike for two or three more weeks. We climbed up to the street at Shaw Valley Bridge and called for a pick. We all went home and were bummed for a while that we didn't finish our hike. Later on we found out that we were not going to be able to go off-roading in the desert the next day, so we decided to use the extra time to finish our hike, picking up where we left off.

PART 2...

The next morning we headed back to Shaw Valley Bridge around 11am, parked the 4Runner, and picked back up as if we had never left off. Josh had aired and washed his feet, walking around without shoes for a total of probably ten hours (plus his sleeping time) before we had to suit back up and head back out. By the time we left, his feet were fine. He put the mustang boots back on, however.

We headed east along a trail that went beside Carmel Mountain Road, still under construction. The day was overcast and hazy, but it was easy enough to see Black Mountain rising ahead of us to the northeast. We could also see Mt Woodson, Iron Mountain, and the Five Mountains of Mission Trails, but we couldn't make out the big eastern mountains such as the Cuyamacas, or even El Cajon Mountain. Palomar was not visible to the north either (as it would on a clear day). After a few hundred yards we turned right and took the trail out to the small hill we call “The Nob” because it kind of just out into Penasquitos canyon, giving a great view of the canyon in both directions. Climbing the nob from the north was not as steep as descending it on the south, but it was overcast and beautiful and we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We stopped briefly at the Nob to film the intro for the associated YouTube Video.

The Nob

Once we reached the canyon floor, the high winds died off to virtually nothing. We followed the trail for a quarter mile or so before crossing the footbridge and approaching the waterfall from the west. As the waterfall came into view, we were not surprised to see that well over fifty people were hanging out around it (After all, it was President's Day). We made our way down to the waterfall and staked out a spot to stop and have a break. The boys explored the waterfall for thirty-five minutes, climbing granite boulders and jumping back and forth across Los Penaquitos Creek,
The Footbridge

Finally I convinced the boys that it was time to leave and we made out way out by the South trail, quickly locating the sidetracks which are so important to hikers who do not wish to have to be on guard against fast-moving bikers throughout their entire hike. The scenery was beautiful, the glades and glens, meadows, and creek side wetland. These are the things I think about to stop me from losing all hope when I am in the middle of a particularly difficult industrial shift at work.

Eventually we came out near Black Mountain Road and were picked up by girly (aka.My wife and Jakob & Joshua's mother). Its strange; the TCT crosses Black Mountain Road right at the end of Revelstoke Canyon, just 0.8 miles walking distance from our house. Perhaps this should be our start point (or end point) for TCT hikes in the future?

All in all it was a good hike. We didn't move as fast as we used to because we are a little out of practice. Jake and Josh made it clear that they have goals to work up to, however, and if we ever want to climb Gorgonio, Whitney, Elbert, or Denali, if we ever want to finish the PCT, TCT, AT, or CDT, Josh absolutely has to get a better pair of hiking boots...

RESCOURCES...

TCT SECTION 1-4 KMZ

Continental Divide Trail KMZ

Pacific Crest Trail KMZ

Appalachian Trail KMZ 

Continental Divide Trail KMZ 

North Country Trail KMZ

(1) Appalachian Trail  

(2) Pacific Crest Trail 

(3) Continental Divide Trail 

(4) North Country Trail 

Click HERE to Download our San Diego Trans County Trail Google Earth KMZ File for sections 1-5 (The First 14 miles).

Introductions and Intentions

Well, here it is, our first hike log.

My sons Jakob, Joshua and I have been hiking the back trails of Southern California since my boys were old enough to walk. Now that they are a little older and active in Scouting (as well as suddenly interested in cinematography), I have helped them to start their own YouTube Channel to document our hikes and other outdoor activities, as well as to show what we know of Scoutcraft and the like to anyone who is interested and wants to learn. Sounded like a fun hobby to me, so I put everything together for them.

Along with the YouTube Channel, the boys wanted to start an Adventure Log (That's what this is), so they could further remember our times together in greater detail and so that if there is anybody out there who wants to go some of the places we go, they now have more detailed recon. This log will (generally) include pictures and (if possible) Google Earth GMZ files of the route we took, hopefully with more information on the trail than you'll ever want to know.

Here's the way its going to work.

We go on hikes and camping trips almost every weekend of the year. Because of this, we are going to have no shortage of material for the channel. We are planning Hikes, Treks, Expeditions, Summits, and good old fashioned Campouts. The difference between these in our minds is pretty simple.

A Hike is done in a single day and is less than ten miles long.

If the Hike is longer than ten miles, we call it a Trek.

Multiday Treks we call Expeditions.

If the Hike, Trek, or Expedition takes us up a mountain (with the primary goal being to get to the top, rather than the mountain simply being an obstacle in a journey), then we call it a Summit.

It seems kind of strange to categorize these so strictly, but I think it will make the Channel more organized. After all, if we do one episode on every trip we do during the year, that's between 50 and 75 episodes per year. That's a lot to keep organized and sift through. I'm sure it will all make sense sometime in the future =)

Anyway...

As for this Hike bLog, I was given this assignment, along with occasional Facebook and Twitter posts and updates. Jake and Josh intend on doing write ups of their version of certain outings sometime in the future as well, but right now they are focusing all their attention on learning video editing (They already know more than I do about that, so...) Everytime we complete an outing, they will immediately go into video mode and try to cut an episode for YouTube within a week or two. I am supposed to announce that we are going on the outing on Facebook beforehand, post pictures on Facebook and Panoramio afterward, Tweet and Facebook the release date of the YouTube video, and write a detailed research paper on every detail I can remember from the outing here on our Hike bLog. I still think I got the easy job. The Hike bLogs will be organized by date, so I guess I didn't even have to tell you the whole Hike, Trek, Exped, Summit thing, its sure going to help on YouTube, though.

So, tomorrow, President's Day, February 19, 2012, we are going to complete our first outing and I will post a write up within a week or so.

My name is Richard Leneau. I am a San Diego, California, USA, Earth native who has loved activities in the outdoors as long as I can remember. I am an electrician by trade. My sons Jakob and Joshua are both fourth generation Scouts. My father was an Eagle Scout, but I only made it to the rank of Life. Many of the things I learned in Scouts were foundational for me and I have tried to pass them on to my sons as they get ready to go into their teenage years.

Together, the three of us (plus their mother, who is not fond of outdoor adventure but is extremely good at it) spend a lot of time choosing our own adventures in the great outdoors. We tend to stick to our region, the American Southwest, and more often our own county; San Diego, California. But there is so much to do here within fifty miles of home that we have our hands full just doing everything there is to do around here. In this we are fortunate. The three of us make up the core of this project, “Scoutcraft Academy” but others occasionally join us and I'm sure that while there are only three permanent members of Scoutcraft Academy, Richard, Jakob, and Joshua; honorary members you'll be sure to hear about if you continue reading include my wife Jessica, my brothers Brian, Scott, Matt, and Phil, and our trusty GolRotten Husky Retriever, Isabela.

This is Scoutcraft Academy, thanks for reading.

I will try my hardest to be entertaining.

~Richard