Several months ago, I arranged with Gina to be able to hike down to Palm Mesa High Point from Los Coyotes, figuring the end of February would be perfect to attempt it. Rick and Andrea were also going to join me to climb Cody & Pike Benchmarks. Well, Mother Nature had other ideas with an unseasonably hot spell. We wisely decided to cancel my attempt to summit Palm Mesa High Point, as it is an inverted hike and fully exposed. Instead, I would join Rick and Andrea on their efforts to bag Cody & Pike. We met at Gina’s lovely home, and piled into her car to drive into the deeper parts of the reservation. Wild turkeys and deer were spotted as we passed through the locked gates. We parked past the San Ignacio Cemetery, where some of her husband’s family is buried. We gathered our gear and set off down the road before dropping into the wash that would take us up to the ridge. Gina had left cairns for herself, as she does come wandering out here from time to time, we redubbed the cairns as “Ginas”.
At the saddle, with Anza-Borrego spread out before us, Gina wasn’t feeling it. She sent us off, and she was going to chill and maybe stroll over to Dry Benchmark. The rest of us opted to skip climbing Phil and Norte Benchmarks and stay true to the primary benchmarks. I led the way through the brush, roughly following the track Gina and I took several years ago. Other than the brush being a bit thicker, it was a fairly straightforward ascent. Rick might disagree, as he did opt to wear shorts. At the summit, we took a break, signed the register, and took in the views before returning to the saddle and then onto Pike.
We followed the exit track that Gina and I used to avoid climbing up past Army Benchmark (which has been delisted in Peakbagger). I got a text from Gina that she was feeling better and had wandered over to Pike and would wait for us there. I found a deer trail and used that to cut across toward Pike. The day was warming, which reinforced my decision not to try for Palm Mesa High Point. We bypassed Pike Benchmark Summit and headed directly for Pike Benchmark. It is on the San Diego Sierra Club list, while the other is not. Gina was soaking in the views as we joined her.
We ate our lunches, again marvelling in the views, while a light breeze helped keep us cool. Rick and Andrea made the short climb over to Pike Benchmark Summit. I opted to skip it as I might be headed to Arizona for some hiking over the next four days. Gina and I side-hilled around it. When we reached a small saddle, Gina realized that she lost her phone. She had taken a call from her youngest, so we had an approximate area where it might be. She doubled back, and I waited a bit to begin calling it, so that it might be heard if it was not directly visible. Thankfully, she found it. When she went to return her phone to her shoulder case, she must have missed it. Crisis averted. We reached that initial saddle, and shortly thereafter, Rick and Andrea rejoined us. We took another short break and then headed back down to the car. While I did not get the peak I was after, it was still a great day out hiking with some great friends. The final stats were 5.7 miles in 6:00 with 1,130 feet of gain/
I am an avid peak bagger, sometimes backpacker, and former sea kayaker living in San Diego. I am the co-author of Urban Trails: San Diego, coming in Spring 2026!
In 2019, I became the third person to complete the San Diego 100 Peak Challenge. Not stopping with that accomplishment, I set my sights on the harder San Diego Sierra Club 100 Peak list, which I completed in 2021. In addition, I have conquered several Six-Pack of Peaks challenges (SoCal, San Diego, Central Coast, and both the Arizona-Winter and Arizona-Summer).
I am looking forward to exploring new summits and new adventures across the southwest.