Not one to deterred, I set out to do 5 of the top 10 hardest climbs on this vacation and that is what I am going to do. Since I came home a day early, I decided to clip off #7 the Nate Harrison Grade on Palomar Mountain. It was in my backyard and I had been putting it off for years. Time to check the box!

Now, I have climbed about everything else on Palomar Mountain that you can climb with a road bike. Nate Harrison is a dirt road and what they call out here a truck trail. Could you climb it with a road bike? Probably if you really wanted to. However, it is more likely good for a gravel bike and most do it on a mountain bike. I don’t own a gravel bike, but I do own a mountain bike. A ten year old mountain bike that I literally had not ridden in two years.

The day before was spent seeing if the old beast was sea worthy/mountain worthy. It is a good bike. It is a 2010 Trek EX 7. It just hadn’t seen any miles for two years. Tires held air overnight and the shocks all checked out at the correct pressure as well. We were good to go.

I parked and started at the Pauma School on Cole Grade Rd. I was the second one there early this morning, but was quickly joined by six other cars hauling fat tire bikes as well. Again, it was stinking hot already. No smoke though. Somehow, San Diego was spared from the epic California fires this time. I arranged my gear, tossed on my Camelback (also had been years since that bladder was filled and used), and hit the trail.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take a lot of photos on this trek. I think I just wanted to get it done. It was hot, dusty and let’s just say a little mountain bike practice might have been a good thing. A bike is not necessarily like another bike and there were a few muscle areas that used differently on a mountain bike as opposed to a road bike.

Nevertheless, success was achieved as I summitted at the historic fire tower! I had reached my goal of climbing 5 of the hardest climbs in California in one vacation! I still have a few more to do to hit all 10, but I took a lot of them out over the last few days. A very successful Hack-bbatical even in the face of a pandemic and the worst fires ever in the modern history of California!