Location: San Diego County, about 19 miles southeast of Julian, 167 miles from Los Angeles, 55 miles from San Diego

Maps

Nearby Peaks: Garnet Mountain, Garnet Peak, Monument Peak #1

Distance: 3.5 miles round trip on road and cross-country

Gain: 1000' total, 700' out plus 300' on return

Time: 2-3 hours round trip

Rating: Class 1, moderate

Original: Bruce Collier, January 1967

DRIVING ROUTE 1

(SR 78 and Escondido approach)

• Take I-5 south to SR 78 in San Diego County.
• Go east on SR 78 through Escondido to the junction with SR 79 just past the town of Julian. Turn right (south) on SR 79.
• Go 6 miles to the junction with Sunrise Highway (S1) on the left. Turn left. Note your odometer and go as follows:
• At 7.4 miles, a paved road on the left with a sign "Kwaaymii Point". This is the turnoff for Garnet Mountain. Keep straight.
• At 9.9 miles a parking area at a gated dirt road on the left. This is the trailhead for Garnet Peak. Keep straight.
• At 11.4 miles, Laguna Campground entrance. Keep straight.
• At 12.7 miles, parking area on the left. This is the trailhead for Monument Peak #1. Keep straight.
• At 15.1 miles, a dirt road on the left just past the Red-Tailed Roost Volunteer Activity Center. Keep straight.
• At 17.1 miles, Kitchen Creek Road (paved) on the left, milepost 20.7. Turn left.
• Continue another 1.5 miles to a gated dirt road on the right. Park in the wide area to the left.

HIKING ROUTE 1

• From the parking area (5560'), pass the gate and hike along a badly eroded dirt road keeping left at a fork to where you find a private property sign just short of a junction with Kitchen Creek Road.
• Leave the road on the left side and hike cross-country a short distance until you meet Kitchen Creek Road where it exits the private property. You are skirting around the left side of the private property.
• Turn left on Kitchen Creek Road and follow it a short distance to a gate which is padlocked and posted Private Property - No Trespassing. The road is on USFS property for the next 0.2 miles until the final few hundred feet before turning off into the ascent gully. The private property can be avoided, if you desire, by cutting off the final portion of the road to connect with the use trail in the wash. All of the ascent trail from then on is on public land.
• Continue on or alongside the road to a clipped use trail that is often difficult to find for another 0.1 mile to a wash on the right which comes down on the east side of the peak. This wash is just north of the prominent broad ridge coming down from the summit.
• Turn into this wash and follow a use trail up the wash. (Continuing on the road at this point would enter private property.) Soon this clipped use trail leaves the wash and winds its way up the slope to the summit. Use the clipped use trail to avoid the brush. All of the ascent trail is on public land (USFS property).