16 May 2020

Corte Madera Mountain Trail (7 miles, +1,500/-1,500 feet).

Another COVID hike! This time we decided to do a remote location sandwiched between the Pine Creek Wilderness and the Hauser Wilderness. It was quite warm, but overall a beautiful day to hike.

The beginning of this hike is on a forest road through an oak forest that clings to Morena Creek. It’s a little buggy, and also a little disconcerting to pop out after a couple of miles at a trailhead parking area that is closer to the summit. But once we got out of the bugs into the wind we got some really nice views of classic Cleveland Forest chaparral.

I read that people call Corte Madera “San Diego’s Half Dome.” Well that’s a bit of a stretch, but it does have some very nice looking cliffs that are off limits to climbing to protect several species of raptors that live and breed there.

The views at the top were quite nice and worth the climb.

We got a little lost on the way back. The chaparral is very thick so if you lose the trail you are kind of screwed. A nice man shouted directions to us to find the trail again.

It’s rolling but mostly downhill on the way back except for one steep part.

Once we got back to the car I suggested we take the 94 back to San Diego. It was a lovely drive and I got to show Half Cookie my favorite monument.

Looks like some folks are trying for a thru-hike this year, even in spite of the pandemic. I wish them the best of luck.