Continued...
Day 2 of a three-day visit to the Lassen National Forest had me tracking down
P1Ks in and around the forest and adjacent park. Though I was going from before
sunrise til after sunset, there was lots of driving in-between which made for
not so hard a day as it might seem. The first outing was the longest
and took up most of the morning. After that, the jeep took over most of the
duties.
Red Cinder / Red Cinder Cone
I was up early, around 5:30a from my campsite in Warner Valley, then drove back
out towards Chester before turning north to drive into Lassen NP and
.
The popular campground here was closed for the season, leaving the place
eerily empty on a Friday morning. Mine would be the only car I'd see in the park
all day. My goal this morning was Red Cinder, a P1K and Wilderness HP located
just
outside the park though all of the trail I traveled was on the
inside. originates at the north end
of Juniper Lake, heading uphill to the north before dropping into the Grassy
Creek drainage. A is reached after a mile and a quarter.
The left fork continues north to Horseshoe and Snag Lakes, whereas I turned
right and headed east. The trail continues through forest with few views, but it
is quite easy to follow, only gradually gaining elevation. This sometimes
swampy, mosquito-ridden area was and dry this time of year,
nary a bug to be seen. I passed by calm as the trail makes a
few bends before turning northeast towards the saddle beteen Red Cinder and Red
Cinder Cone. It was 8:45a by the time I neared the saddle where the trail comes
closest to the eastern border of the park. I turned right to
up steep slopes, gaining about 700ft in 1/3mi. I had
expected to find talus and rock slopes commensurate with the name "Red Cinder",
but found the slope covered mostly in pine needles. It has been eons since
eruptions in this part of the park, giving the forest time to recover and regain
the landscape. The park boundary goes across this slope in the lower reaches,
marked occasionally . To the east is the Caribou Wilderness
whose highpoint is found atop Red Cinder. The footing was decent, making for a
quick ascent, and by 9:10a I had reached the rocky, . There
are good views in all directions - Mt. Lassen to , Prospect
Peak (another P1K I had climbed a few months earlier) to ,
Lake Almanor to . Richard Carey had left a register
with a surprising number of entries in such a short time.
Immediately west of Red Cinder lies the lower, two-headed feature of
, an easy bonus with no real significance of its own.
After dropping back down to the saddle, I headed up easy slopes to
, found a small cairn tucked some bushes, then paid a
visit to since they seemed to be almost the same
height. In fact, my GPSr registered the same
elevation on both, so I'm guessing they're pretty darn close. After returning
back to the trail and the saddle a second time, I retraced my way back along
and to the jeep by 11:35a,
a 4.5hr outing.
Mt. Harkness
Directly across Juniper Lake to the south rises Mt. Harkness, a blandish-looking
P1K with a lookout tower. A good trail reaches to the summit from Juniper Lake
in less than two miles. The trailhead is at the Juniper Lake Campground on the
east side of the lake, a five minute drive from where I was parked. I found the
CG , camping options closed for the season. I parked outside the
gate, wandering through the campground until I found of the
trail. The first mile travels through forest before beginning to
onto grassy slopes in the upper half of the mountain. A
is passed with 1/3mi remaining, and after climbing up
through , the comes into view.
The lookout is more interesting than most - made of stone and wood, it has
a rustic and . Though closed, one
can walk around the observation walkway to take in in all
directions. This one is a pretty
tame outing, taking about an hour and a quarter, all told.
Pegleg Mountain
Located 17mi east of Harkness, Pegleg is similarly lookout-topped, though it has
a road leading to it. I had to first drive back down to SR36, then east to
the town of Westwood before turning north on paved Mooney Rd (County Rd A21). A
good dirt road forks right after a few miles, called McCoy Rd. This road goes
around the west and north side of Pegleg, but a signed spur road on the west
side winds its way to the summit in about six miles. A was
encountered about 3/4mi from the summit so I had to park and walk the remaining
distance. I found unmanned, a more drab building compared
to the one on Harkness. From the lookout I could see my next summit, Roop Mtn,
8mi to . It was a patchwork of logging activity that shows
up quite markedly.
Roop Mountain
Most of Roop Mtn appears to be owned by , one
of the largest logging concerns in the state. The public is allowed access to
the roads on the mountain, though camping and a few other activities are
prohibited.
Others have commented that the roads are confusing in the area, not unusual in
heavily logged areas where roads come and go with surprising ease. I had the GPX
track of the driving route from Dean Gaudet's visit earlier in July which I
followed without mishap. The roads are suitable only for high-clearance due to
the high berms encountered. As Dean comments, the summit is crappy and mostly
a disappointment, despite its P1K status. One can drive to
which is flat, modestly brushy and poorly endowed with
views. I walked around the area some, finding what looks like
for an old tower, but found
no register or cairn to mark the highpoint. I then decided to visit the slightly
lower north summit about 2/3mi away. That one has and a
with at least . Overall though,
Roop is a forgettable summit.
Coyote Peak
The last two summits are located in the northernmost part of the Sierra
Nevada (debateable, but let's say the Susan and Feather Rivers define the north
boundary). An excellent dirt road forks south from SR36 just west of Fredonyer
Pass, providing access to this part of the range. I had intended to hike to
Coyote Peak from the saddle to the north with Hamilton Mtn, but that was going
to be almost 2mi each way when I got there at 5p. I decided to continue on the
good road as it passes to the west and south, well below the summit. I picked
off the road to the west that was about 0.8mi from the summit and started
. I grabbed my headlamp and tossed it in my pocket, forgoing
the backback for this one. I was afraid I might run into some brushy obstacles
and thought I could be returning in the dark. I was happy to find
mostly though steep, and I was able to reach
the in less than half an hour. Vitz had left a register
here . There had been only a few
other entries since then. As it was nearing 6p, the sun was low on the horizon
and the lighting was really quite wonderful as I enjoyed the return hike down
grassy slopes and forest, a quick jaunt taking only 15min.
Hamilton Mountain
Though the sun was setting, I figured I should have time for this quick bonus
peak located only 2mi NW of Coyote Peak. I drove back to the saddle between the
two summits and then on some old roads that got me to within 1/8mi of the summit
on its south side. It took only a few minutes to make my way up the class 2-3
where I enjoyed some fine after
the sun had already set. There were remnants of and
from 1947.
After returning to the jeep, I took a quick shower with the lukewarm water
before it, or the outside temperature, got any colder. As I was driving back
down the forest road towards SR36, I was surprised to find half a dozen
on the road. I herded them down the road for probably a quarter mile before
they thought to move to one side and let me pass. I ended up camping off the
road before I got to the highway, a quiet spot that would let me sleep
undisturbed for the night. It was after 7p before I had pulled over, but I had
a few hours still to make dinner and enjoy a beer before hitting the sack. A
good day...
Continued...