Straining up Starvation Mountain from Highland Valley Rd & Camino del Aguila

In my spare time I love Google Earthing remote areas of San Diego County, looking for a new scenic (and hopefully very hilly) road to explore with my road bike. A while back I espied a couple of paved road that branch off from Highland Valley Rd up this little-wrote-about peak between Escondido and Ramona. The peak is called Starvation Mountain. I've googled it to death and still don't know whose starvation its name refers to (or when, for that matter).

*Edit to add: Since I posted this entry I've heard from Ms Wendy Barker of the San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park about Starvation Mountain:
"Starvation Mountain, aka Mule Hill, aka Battle Hill, is where American forces led by General Kearny were detained by Spanish forces led by General Andres Pico in 1846. The shortage of food led Americans to eat some of their mules. You can learn more about the battle at the San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park on route 78."

Starvation Mountain as seen from Del Lago Blvd in Escondido. No cross on top of it or anything.

At any rate, one isn't likely to starve to death there now, as the area is surrounded by private ranches and estates. I had a good look at one particular road that heads up it, Camino del Aguilar, and didn't see any gate from the aerial shot. That made for an inviting exploration target! (I really don't like trespassing on private roads that much). So, last Thursday I caught an early bus up to Del Lago Transit Station in South Escondido and went for a ride: (open pictures in new tab to see in full size)

David Kreitzer Pedestrian Bridge across Lake Hodges.

Of course, I could have gotten off the bus at Rancho Bernardo Transit Center and coast down W Bernardo Dr to Lake Hodges before turning east on Highland Valley Rd, but why miss a chance to cross the lake on the famous pedestrian bridge? At 990 ft long and 12 ft wide, the Kreitzer Bridge is the longest stressed ribbon bridge in the world. It is quite a feat of engineering and offers amazing view of the mountains nearby. Oh, the lake itself is a beautiful sight, of course, even when it is so dry that weeds and trees are growing on lake bed for almost as far as the eyes can see!

East through the farmlands on Highland Valley Rd. Starvation Mtn beckoning up ahead.

Turning left (east) onto W Bernardo Dr/Pomerado Rd was a bit tricky. I used the pedestrian crossing light, though it took some sprinting start to go immediately up the I-15 overpass and out of the way of cars trying to get on the freeway on-ramp. It was a relief to turn left/east onto Highland Valley Rd, where traffic becomes more scarce (though probably faster-moving).

Highland Valley Rd (HVR) pitching up the mountains.

The lower part of Highland Valley Rd (known locally as the HVR) starts with a little downhill to pick up the south side of the San Dieguito River. Road shoulder more or less disappears after the turn off for unpaved Sycamore Creek Rd and the right side of the eastbound lane is often littered with cracks and rocks. The road starts to pitch up and becomes very steep for a couple of twisty stretches, ranging from 8-12% grade. I didn't much like riding there at all because of the traffic, but it is still a much better cycling route between Escondido and Ramona than Hwy 78 to the north is (that one is way more trafficky).

HVR heading east up the hill.

After a mile and a bit of climbing I passed the turn off for Bandy Canyon Rd that connects HVR with Hwy 78. The road is now a rolling false flat, shortly into which I turned right onto Camino del Aguila, a narrow paved road heading up a steep little hump between two huge ranches (this is the 2nd paved lane heading south from HVR after Bandy Canyon Rd, and it does have a street sign).

Camino del Aguila passing thru fish pond.

After cresting the steep hump the road branches right at the Y-intersection and goes straight (steeply) down the other side to a ravine. Watch out for little hard-to-see speed bumps as you pass the little pond on the left.

Climbing up Camino del Aguila on a bicycle is a very painful way of enjoying spectacular mountain scenery!

Climbing up the other side of the ravine was gentle at around 8% grade at first, then the road does a switchback left and from then on it was 10-18% ramps one after another without letting up for the better part of a mile until near the top.

Why suffer up a beautiful steepie like this without stopping to enjoy the view? You might as well!

But, in this part of town; no pain means no view, my friends. And for a spectacular view, spectacular pain is the going price!

Gate to Eagles Crest Rd from Camino del Aguila.

Dirt track up from top of Cam del Aguila to Starvation Mtn Rd.

After much struggling (it didn't help that I was one-handing a lot of the slope photographing and filming my way up 14% ramps) I made it to the end of Camino del Aguila where it turns into dirt for a bit to connect with Eagles Crest Rd, the private paved lane that comes up the mountain from its east side. Eagles Crest Rd is gated at the top here and also at the entrance from a little further east on HVR. I suppose you can just hike-a-bike around the gate. I had other agenda, however, and opted left up this steep dirt track to pick up the top bit of Starvation Mountain Rd to head further up the mountain.

View from a resting spot on Starvation Mountain Rd. Looks like they had cleared two little plateaux for future houses.

The last (and steepest) ramp up Starvation Mountain Rd... Especially capricious after a mile and a bit of 14% average grade climbing!

More suffering ensued. More hideously steep ramps behind switchbacks separated by some short bits of gentle (5-7%) slopes. Then I got to another Y-intersection and opted right for the ramp that leads uphill... It is a monster ramp! Mid-20's % grade for maybe 60 ft as it wraps its way around the final left curve and ends at a huge gate of the highest house on Starvation Mountain.

Gate at top of Starvation Mtn Rd leading to 18096 Starvation Mtn Rd, blocking off the trail to the top of the peak.

View from top of the road.

As high up Starvation Mtn as a road bike could go.

It isn't the just-to-keep-cars-out sort of gate, but a real 8ft tall estate gate that doesn't show on Google Earth yet. So that was the end of the road for me. Not quite to the top of the peak, but the view is still spectacular in almost every direction! Mt Woodson was close by with the radio towers on its top. Double Peak & Mt Whitney peeking out of the cloud layers to the west like two tiny islands. A view to cure much of the muscle and joint pain the steep climbing had extracted from yours truly.



It was now a bit past 9am, though, and the sun was starting to get annoyed with me, so I started my descent. Braver souls can try and ride down that 27% grade slick top ramp, but I only made it halfway down before putting my foot down and walking the rest of the way to the Y-intersection since I don't have disc brake and didn't feel like sliding right off the mountain (doing so would allow me just enough air time to ponder on my one last stupid move before I finally land on something).

Starvation Mountain Rd descending from the top.

I didn't fancy wearing my brakes out descending on Camino del Aguila, so I opted right at the intersection (no road signs up here, you've better memorize how the roads look from Google map before heading up this mountain!) and then left at the next, down Starvation Mountain Rd.

A roadside Christian shrine on Starvation Mountain Rd.

It is a surprisingly green lane, sloping steeply down through orchards, carving itself around the hill. On a straight away I spotted this cross-topped shrine by the side of the road and decided to investigate. Unfortunately it isn't a historical memorial that tells any story about how Starvation Mountain got it name, but just a Christian shrine with a quote from Genesis put up by the local landowners.

Starvation Mountain Rd car gate. Bikes can walk around the side.

A little further down  I ran into a gate! For a couple of horrifying seconds I thought that I had picked the wrong fork on the road, came down a dead end and would now have to climb back up the mountain.... but then I spotted the intercom box on the other side and realized that I was on the 'private' bit of the road and should be able to get back out to HVR if I walk around the barrier. Whew!

HVR between Starvation Mtn Rd & Eagles Crest Rd.

Eagles Crest Rd at HVR.

Rejoining HVR I headed right/east toward Ramona for a little more climbing. After a while I passed Eagles Crest Rd turn off. It's the private paved road that goes up to nearly connect with Camino del Aguilar high on Starvation Mountain. The big gate at the bottom was wide open (though even when closed you can walk around its right side). That's one nasty steep ramp right at the bottom of it, though; not something I'd like to ride down or up it!

Amy Strong 'Mt Woodson' castle.

Hwy 67 descending through the hills overlooking Poway.

The day was turning very hot, so I opted to ride home the quickest way possible and took Archie Moore Rd to catch Hwy 67 into Lakeside, stopping at Mt Woodson Golf Course for cold drinks and snack along the way (there is no other water stop on the route). Hwy 67 downhill south to Lakeside is a horror story that deserves a post of its own, but it was late morning on a workday so traffic volume was not quite as suicidal to cycle with as would be otherwise. The whole ride was only 48 miles long, but that 14% grade mile and a bit on Camino del Aguila and Starvation Mountain Rd took quite a bit out of my legs!

Starvation Mountain via Camino Del Aguilar - Revisited

I was fairly starved of proper on-bike suffering (and the glorious euphoria you get when you finally summit a hard-earned peak) during my exile to Riverside County in 2016. Now that I've returned to Didacus Sanctus (albeit quite a few clicks removed from the old Smorgabode), revisiting favorite scenic out-of-the-way climbs is the mission of 2017! On top of my 'Re-Hit List', of course, is the sheer brutality that is the hawks-infested super steep paved lane up the SW side of Starvation Mountain just east of Escondido/Rancho Bernardo, Camino del Aguila.

The relatively gnarly 'warm up' climb on Highland Valley Road.

These roadside cuties sure weren't starving for any breakfast!

I started out a bit late on a weekday morning from Rancho Bernardo and got on Highland Valley Rd a bit after the morning rush hour. Sycamore Creek Rd was looking dry and tantalizing, so I went snooping around there a bit. There might be a post on that one of these days if I ever shape up and become more disciplined about writing up exploration rides again. At any rate, I made it up HVR to the Camino del Aguila turn off without making too much stink... I think.

Pausing at the top of the 2nd bumps thru the winery gives you a good survey of the suffering to come.

By the time you get to this bit, the 3rd switchback, you're already cursing the day you were born.

Man, could I tell that I was over a year older and rustier since I last tried to 'spin' my way up this hideously relentlessly gnarly lane. The opening ramp from the bottom of the dip was amazingly demoralizing (no less because I knew now how horrible long I'd have to keep going before the gradient would drop to the humane side of 10% again. There was no longer any 'ignorance is bliss (or, rather, hope) associated with first time-ing up this road. No, the darn thing doesn't even let you breath at all until the 3rd switchback turn). I should say, though, unless you're trying to set a Strava record, you really should take it easy in the relatively mellow mid-section of this climb and take in the view (which, alas, will be behind you). Camino del Aguila is really one of the prettiest roads in San Diego County!

 The view of the top of Starvation Mountain looked quite different from the last time I snailed my way up this road a couple of years ago, though. There were now a few more houses near the top of the slope. I dread the day when they'd start putting in gates and turn this into something of the forbidden Cielo Complex between Via Ambiante and Mt Israel Rd in Olivenhain area.

The Snowman Boulder is still guarding the last icky steep (about 22% grade) ramp on Camino del Aguila.

I didn't go to the fence just below the summit this time, but opted to go sight-seeing around to the water tank atop Starvation Mountain Rd instead. A couple of new car gates had popped up in the last 2 years since I last came through here... along with quite a few new houses.

Starvation Mtn peak is well guarded. You must go up 22+% grader to get to the balcony, no matter from which direction you attack this hill from.

Mind you, every body I saw on the mountain was very friendly, though, waving and saying hello as they drove by. It sort of reminded me of my days in rural Missouri. People are much more friendly in person than they are in the news or online...

It was bone dry under Kreitzer Ped/Bike bridge over Lake Hodges. This was just before the winter storms hit last winter, of course!

Being too out of shape to attempt Mt Woodson after coming back down to HVR, I enjoyed the curvy descent (one of the best short technical descents around) down to Lake Hodges where I spent an hour or so stalking birds and a lovely little American kestrel before catching the bus home.

I know I had pretty much swore off ever pedaling up Starvation Mtn again on my way up.... but hills like this have a way of inflicting you with short-term memory loss of some sort and I want to go back up it again already. Before I do, though, there are a few other hills to check off my 'Re-Hit List' first...

Another visit to Bandy Canyon and Camino del Aguila

Also quite a while back... because a smorg is only ever a few letters different from a sloth, Team Fun was planning on a ride east to Bandy Canyon and the lower bit of Highland Valley Road (HVR) and team captains were conspiring to go pre-ride the route. Since HVR is one of the many cool cycling roads that I had been neglecting of late, I figured I'd ride out to hang with Jill and the Heathers for a bit. It was a cool and foggy Wednesday morning when I got to South Escondido and started east on San Pasqual Rd.

San Pasqual Rd, shedding what little shoulder it has at Orfila Winery.

The 'milky' bit of Old Milky Way.

Looking SE down on Ysabel Creek Rd from San Pasqual Batterfield.

I really would not recommend cycling on San Pasqual Rd east of Orfila Winery, no matter how experienced a cyclist you are. Drivers are pretty crazy on that road... if you ride by the right edge of the pavement, they'll squeeze pass you at 40+ mph in the fog, and if you control the middle of the lane they'll still try to pass you at speed approaching blind corners (and honk bloody murder while they're at it, too). It's pretty insane how much many drivers will risk for just a few seconds of travel time. 

Memorial plaque on a boulder at San Pasqual Battlefield.

The pavement comes and goes on Ysabel Creek Rd.

Bandy Canyon Rd toward HVR, just before it really climbs.

It was quite a relief to finally get to turn off onto the much more mellow Old Milky Way/Old Pasqual Rd where the local cows thrive, and then onto mostly paved Ysabel Creek Rd to pick up the last flat bit of Bandy Canyon Rd before it turns uphill toward Highland Valley.

A male kestrel in the field.

Llamas in the ranch near the top of Bandy Canyon Rd.

Bandy Canyon Rd is a mostly gentle climb with much sparser traffic compared to the lower climb on Highland Valley Rd. The only sounds I heard spinning up the short steep-ish pitch were the humming of farm machinery in the valley below and a whole lot of bird chirping in the bushes. A few roadrunners scooted across the pavement as I approached, the last one stopping for a good look - probably trying to decide if I was really a harmless cyclist or a sneaky wily coyote.

Camino del Aguila winding its way up the west face of Starvation Mountain.

I topped out with so much time to spare before Team Fun captains were scheduled to arrive, of course, and standing around waiting after having sweated a bit on the climb would just make me cold... What to do but to sneak up to visit my most favorite climb in the San Diego North County?

Camino del Aguila AKA the Eagle, is a queen of a country road. The primary climb from the dip just beyond the little pond to the west col is only about 0.8 mile at a gnarly average gradient of 14.5% grade (maximum grade around 24%), but the view is worth every bit of suffering it inflicts! Besides, if the climbing proves too painful, you can always stop by at Altipiano Winery at the bottom for some recovery wine-tasting!

The west col with dirt connections to The Heritage complex off Old Coach Rd in Poway.

I hung around the col for a while, checking out the dirt roads connecting to the Stage Coach complex and Starvation Mountain Rd closer to the top before it was time to roll back down to the top of Bandy Canyon Rd to rendezvous with the gals. Descending the Eagle is quite a technical thing... I wouldn't recommend it to anyone new to mountain riding, especially in warmer weather. You have to know the road really well and know where to let the wheels run a bit to dissipate braking heat while always tightly control the speed to make all the sharp switchback turns whose gradients vary from 15-30%, depending on the line you take. Half way down I stopped to chat with a local lady who was out for her morning walk up the mountain. She thought it a marvelous exercise for me riding up and down the Eagle... I thought it even better exercise for her doing it on foot!

Lying in ambush on top of Bandy Canyon Rd.

Team Fun crew arriveth!.

HVR descending fun...

The Heathers and Jill arrived not long after, along with turbo George of REV in San Elijo Hills. I'm afraid they didn't see the llamas on their way up, but were properly greeted by a few roadrunners nonetheless. I rolled down the hill on Highland Valley Rd with the group before splitting to do some roadside housekeeping (pox on people who keep throwing drink cans and bottles and other trash out of their car!) and indulging in a really productive bird-watching session on the Kreitzer footbridge across the water-free eastern portion of Lake Hodges.

Kreitzer Bridge over Lake Hodges.

Kingbirds battle!

A boy kestrel and his lunch.

It was a load of fun, of course. We ended up modifying the Team Fun route a bit to avoid San Pasqual Rd, and the actual ride turned out quite a blast. Hopefully I'll head out that way again before it gets too warm. There won't be any kestrel around now (those cute buggers were just migrating through during the winter months), but I've heard rumors of bald eagles out in the hills... How fitting it would be to encounter one while climbing the Aguila!