We agreed to meet at 5:30a, and by 5:40a we were
assembled just west of the
SR4 bridge over Pacific Creek. The plan was to circumnavigate the drainage in
a clockwise direction, starting on the east side of the creek and working our
way around to the west side. First up was a climb of Lookout Peak, the nearest
summit from the highway. We started with the snowshoes strapped to our packs as
the snow was firm and mostly frozen. After crossing 
the bridge,
the first several hundred feet up the
wooded north ridge had only patches of snow, easily avoided. The going was steep
and the pace typically brisk. We'd only been out about 15 minutes when Waide
called up to us from below. He was having trouble keeping the pace and urged us
to go ahead without him. Had we been an hour or more into the outing I would
have simply offered to slow the pace a bit to keep things manageable, but at
such an early juncture it would be impossible to complete the route we intended
if kept to a pace Waide could manage. I asked if he had a map and got a
positive reply. He said he just needed to get in better shape in order to keep
up with us next time. And so we abandoned him and continued up the slopes
through the forest.
The sun had come up shortly after 6a, initially bathing the surrounding peak
tops in a 
warm glow.
But a large layer of dark clouds overhead soon obscured
the sun, keeping the sunshine away. This had the positive effect of keeping the
snow harder for a longer period of time, but it put a damper on the views and
made for dark photographs.
Once we reached the more open ridgeline higher up, we were treated to fine
views of the area. 
David and I named off the various summits,
Raymond and Reynolds to 
the northeast, Silver and Highland
the east. Others were more of a
guess, but we refined our guesses as we got a better perspective higher up. We
went over one false summit, then another, before spying the 9,500ft+ summit
about a quarter mile further to 
the south.
We were about half on snow and half
on dry ground by now, though travel over either was easy enough. It was
7:15a when we topped out at the overcast 
summit of Lookout.
In addition to the peaks already mentioned, we had good views of Reba and
Mokelumne to 
the northwest, Round Top and others to
the north. To the south was
a whole mess of peaks we could only guess at. Though I had climbed probably
half a dozen that were in view, the perspective was new to me and I had trouble
identifying them. We found a register tucked in a plastic tub, the three of us
dutifully 
signing in. There was also 
a benchmark
stamped LOOKOUT PK, but no
evidence of a lookout tower, if there ever was one.
Next up was Peep Sight Peak, immediately to 
the south
of us, less than an hour
away. We dropped off the modest southeast slope of Lookout, crossed the
snow-covered 
Willow Flat at just over 9,000ft, then climbed up to
Peep Sight over 
snow and class 2 
talus/rock
to the 9,700-foot 
summit, our highest point of
the day. It was 8:15a when we reached the top and though it was still overcast
above us, it was starting to dissipate some and we could see blue sky around
the edges. There was a register on top in a glass jar along with an even older
piece of paper folded up in a film canister that dated
to 1989. I enjoyed the
views from Peep Sight, particularly the near views to the southeast and south.
There were a number of peaks within a few miles including
Airola and Iceberg,
though I couldn't place which peaks they were exactly until I got home and
studied the maps better. Along with 
Folgers and 
Hiram,
these four peaks would make a fine
outing for a future day trip, possibly out of Highland Lake.
Our route now headed 
southwest
to the other two peaks, Henry and Bull Run. In
order to continue along the connecting ridgeline, it was first necessary to
retrace our route off the northwest side of Peep Sight. By the time we reached
the broad saddle between Peep Sight and Henry it was 9a. The sky overhead had
cleared and the snow had begun to soften to where it now made sense to
switch to snowshoes. The ground 
we traveled
was uniformly covered in snow, at least until
we got to the summit of Henry. We started up a ridge NE of Henry that turned
out to be a dead end, of sorts.
The north and northeast sides of Henry are ringed
with cliffs, but we didn't realize the mistake until we emerged from the woods
to see we could climb no further on this line. Fortunately it took only a small
detour to the south, dropping maybe 100ft, to get us on the correct ridgeline
that we had seen from Peep Sight leading to the summit. Getting to the ridgeline
required a bit of 
steep hill work. 
Andrew
took a steeper line than David or I,
and we watched to see if he would be successful at the extra credit move. At
one point he started slipping and slid 20ft before catching himself, after
which he chose a slightly less vertical line with which to connect to the
ridge. B+ for Andrew on that one.
More steep snow was climbed until just below the summit where we took off the
snowshoes briefly when we 
reached talus.
It was but a 
short walk further to the summit
where we arrived at 9:45a. 
The summit
of Henry is broad and fairly flat, and
we were unable to locate a register at either of the two likely rock piles. We
stayed long enough to have a quick snack then continued on. With snowshoes back
on our feet we headed for the final peak of the day, 
Bull Run.
Bull Run was the most impressive peak of the four. From what we could see, it
appeared to be ringed by 100-foot cliffs on all sides. The topo map didn't show
contours on the unseen sides to be any less steep than those we could see. The
one possible way up looked to be a horrendously steep snow slope on the
NE side.
An overhanging cornice topped most of it just below the summit. It was scary
looking, but we bravely carried on, talking casually about it, but inside we
were probably all a little afraid.
Luckily things looked to improve the closer we got. That snow slope didn't look
any less scary, but the 
south side
did not seem to have the same unbroken ring
of cliffs. As we neared the base of the peak I suggested we should explore the
south side as an easier way up. The others readily agreed. We traversed around
to that side, climbing as high as we could on the snow slope before taking our
snowshoes off
at the edge of the talus fields. A large buttress on the SE side
appeared to hide a talus chute leading up, just around the corner. It was up
this talus gully
I led, not knowing whether it would continue or not.
We found the gully relatively stable and completely free of snow, making for a
standard class 2 climb for about 3/4 of the distance. The gully grew steeper
near the top and I moved to the left onto
class 3 rock for about 100ft, the
others following not far behind. This led to easier ground and then the last
bit of snow to 
the summit.
It turned out to be surprisingly easy from what we
first imagined, and we were all relieved to have it turn out so well.
Similar to Henry,
the summit of Bull Run in broad and 
almost flat.
It was easy to identify 
the highest point however,
and there was a 
Pete Yamagata register dating to
2003. Judging from the numerous entries, the peak appears to be fairly
popular, though 
ours was the first entry for 2009
(as it was in the other peak registers we visited that day).
My initial plan had been to return back to the saddle NE of Bull Run's summit, then follow the trail back down through Pacific Valley. But seeing how it was just noon and I hadn't planned to be back until at least 3p, I thought we might continue the traverse around the edge of the drainage. I had mentioned this to David earlier and he was game, so I brought up the idea to Andrew while we were atop Bull Run. He hesitated only momentarily before agreeing to the new plan.
The next order of business was to get off the other side of Bull Run to continue
on the ridge extending northwest from the peak. I walked a short ways down the
NW Ridge until I could determine that it was all cliff below me. Nothing doing
that way, and I signaled to the others waiting above with a thumbs down sign.
But the 
west face
looked to have breaks in the cliffs, and easier ground was to
be had on the south side of the west face. We ended up dropping through some
boulder fields about the middle of the face until we could reach
i
the steep snow slopes just below.
By now the snow had softened to almost ideal glissading consistency. We didn't
know this at first as we strapped on our crampons a bit nervously. I started
off, traversing the slope towards the NW Ridge while the others watched. It
was quite awkward traversing the steep slope, so I decided it would be easier
to drop some elevation to easier ground first, before regaining the ridge. I
was cautious at first, descending facing backwards, kicking steps in the slope
below me. But as I realized the snow was the consistency it was, I turned and
started down in a standing glissade with much gusto. It was great fun. I shouted
up to the others who 
were following
the traversing tracks I had laid down, and
with a bit more reassurance they followed down, standing, then falling, then
getting back up again.
We brushed off the wet snow from our back sides and started back up to
the ridge and 
headed northwest.
Once we got to the ridgeline north of Pt. 9,413ft it was
mostly downhill as we changed direction to head north. Sticking to either the
ridgeline or the snowy slopes to the left, we had great fun over then next hour
glissading down long, open slopes,
climbing over small saddles, glissading down the
next slope. Our butts were completely soaked, as were our boots, feet, and most
of our legs, but we didn't care since it was warm out now
and we were having great fun.
Eventually we climbed back up to the ridgeline and dropped down the
west side
into Pacific Valley. This slope was 
completely wooded and
surprisingly steep.
We had to carefully pick our way down more than 800ft through the trees.
Glissading here was too dangerous. The snow was much too soft on this side,
having been
in the sun for most of the day, and might lead to an uncontrolled slide. With
the trees so closely spaced, we could hardly afford that to happen. There were
also numerous small cliff-like drops to watch out for, making our path down the
slope a meandering one.
When 
the floor of the valley was reached,
it was immediately obvious where the
road/trail was. There were large 
snow-free patches through which
the old road could be
plainly seen. Once we were all safely on level ground I stopped waiting for
the others to catch up, prefering to go ahead at my own pace. I stuck to the
snow as best I could over the next mile, but by the time I reached
the campground
a mile later there wasn't enough snow left on the road to justify
keeping the snowshoes on. The place was quiet, still closed for the season with
the larger structures locked and boarded.
I walked through the campground, past 
the corral, and
out to SR4.
From there it was only a short walk along the highway to get back to
the cars where we'd left them near the bridge.
It was just 2p, making the
whole outing less than 8hrs. The others were less than ten minutes behind. We
all agreed it had been a fine outing, though sadly the snowshoe season was
drawing to a close. Perhaps next year I would do less desert peaks and more
snowshoeing. That's the trouble with having so many mountains to choose from -
never enough time to get to them all...
Waide's truck was gone when we got back to the trailhead, so he undoubtedly made it back safely. I wrote an email to him the next day to see if he made it to Lookout or otherwise, but never heard back from him. Perhaps he'd already started his additional training regimen...