Please E-mail comments, corrections and additions to the webmaster at pje@efgh.com.
On a road bicycle ride along Sunrise Highway, I noticed the new Sunrise Trailhead, on the west side of Sunrise Highway at mile 34.2. It has ample parking, rest rooms, and trail signs.
Three trails emerge from the Sunrise Trailhead. To the north is the La Cima Trail. To the south is the Lucky Five Trail. To the east, right across the highway, is a connector to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).
In three separate trips, I surveyed most of the surrounding trails. The Lucky Five and La Cima Trails run parallel to Sunrise Highway and west of it, and may in fact run along old, abandoned alignments of the highway.
The Pacific Crest Trail runs parallel to Sunrise Highway and east of it.
I also explored two trails which connect these trail to Soapstone Grade in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. One is signed as the California Riding and Hiking Trail and the Trans County Trail, but it really has no name of its own -- both of those names refer to parts of longer routes. The other is an extension of the Upper Green Valley Trail.
A few years ago, the California Parks Department acquired the Lucky Five Ranch and annexed it to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Most of these trails, and the Sunrise Trailhead, were built or designated after the acquisition.
Transcripts of surveys.
Image annotations.
Paths plotted on topo.
Philip J. Erdelsky