Continued...
I was in Southern California to join a hike with Barbara Lilley that Robert had
organized. I had looked forward to yearly meet-ups with Barbara for a new peak,
but covid had put a damper on that the previous year. Now that we were
vaccinated, we felt it safe to once again join her. Barbara had picked out a
summit near Palmdale in the Antelope Valley, a summit that, surprisingly, I
hadn't climbed, either. Robert's old friend Adam joined us, as did Scott, who I
hadn't seen since covid started a year and a half ago. I had driven out the
day before to get some extra hiking in, and was up early today to do some
more before our 10:30a meeting time. After our hike and group lunch at the
nearby Dennys, I went off and did some additional peaks, mostly a driving
exercise.
Peak 3,819ft
I had camped on of this peak, under a transmission
tower on . I was up and climbing the short distance to
just before sunrise. The brush is of little hindrance (as it was on all the
day's summits) and I made it to the top in less than 15min. I left
before returning the same way.
Peak 4,460ft - Peak 4,300ft
I had scoped out these two summits the previous afternoon, finding reasonable
access from the east of Angeles Forest Hwy. The utility road is shared by some
rural residents and signed as
Private Road and
Permission Required. Ignoring this, I drove past the few homes and then
up to a junction with , parking there. The two peaks can
then be climbed together in about three and a quarter miles roundtrip. I
followed the utility road for only a quarter mile to the base of Peak 4,460ft
before striking off for the rest of the route. It took a
bit over half an hour to reach with
overlooking the community of Acton and the Antelope Valle Fwy (SR14). After
leaving , I descended the same route,
veering south near the bottom to approach the second summit more directly. I
climbed up Peak 4,300ft's , taking about 45min between the two
summits. I left a second here before descending
and back down to the
and the Jeep. The outing turned out to be much easier than I had anticipated
(I thought neighborhood access was going to be more problematic).
Peak 3,260ft
This summit is found on the southwest side of Palmdale, in the drier hills
bordering the Antelope Valley. The area appears to have been used by OHV users
and hikers informally for many years. Newer residential development on the north
side has encroached within half a mile of the summit. The easiest access appears
to be at the end of Sphinx Dr. where metal posts block vehicle access, but it
appears open to foot and bike traffic. No signs of any kind are found,
indicating it is all still informal use. Our group of five were
in the cul-de-sac for a 10:30a start.
We followed various to make our way to
in about 45min's time. We took a break at the summit to
admire and leave we didn't expect would
last very long. We took a slightly different way to avoid some of
the steeper sections we'd encountered on the way up.
Afterwards, we drove to the nearby Denny's where we had a nice lunch.
Sierra BM
The afternoon was mostly a driving exercise, fine with me since it's pretty fun
in the Jeep. Sierra BM is found on the southeast side of Bouquet Reservoir,
about half an hour west of Palmdale. I had first tried to drive to the top of
Portal Ridge (between Antelope and Leona Valleys), but found it not open to
vehicles where I tried to access it. I abandoned that one to more future
research and headed to Bouquet Reservoir. I was happy to find Forest Road 6N08
open, driving it nearly six miles to the summit of Sierra BM. I saw no one
until I got to the summit where a few vehicles were parked and some folks were
camping. I walked a few feet to , took a few
of the , and then headed
back down the way I came.
Jupiter Mtn - Jupiter Mtn West
These two summit are found across Bouquet Reservoir from Sierra BM to the
northwest. I had been up Jupiter Mtn back in 2006 with my son and a handful of
other family members during the Christmas holiday. We had hiked to the summit
from paved Spunky Canyon Rd, but today I had a more capable vehicle and could
drive to the top. It was , angling up to 24 degrees at
the steepest part. I had the Jeep in 4-Low and the rear locker engaged. The
ground had good traction, much better than the loose slope I got stopped on in
Ventana a week earlier. The road continues across , down to
and then up to Jupiter Mtn West, about a mile further in that direction. After
looking at the route going down, I decided not to drive between the summits
since I wasn't sure I could drive back up on the return. If there were loose
sections of steep slope, I might find myself stuck, so I decided to hike it
instead. As it turns out, the ground was firm enough that I could have
managed well enough, but it made for a nice hike, too. I spent an hour and a
quarter on the roundtrip effort before driving the
Jeep the same route.
Table Rock
This minor rock is located in Texas Canyon. Access is via Rush Canyon Rd off
Sierra Hwy, which leads to the Rowher Flat OHV area. Before reaching the OHV
parking lot, I stopped on the uphill side of Table Rock on the south side. I
then to the saddle and up the easy class 2-3 route on
. I thought that might be the only scrambling route to
the summit, but I found that could also be climbed at
class 3, as could on the east and west sides.
is flat, thus the name, but the rock turns out to
be underwhelming. On the drive back out, I was struck by a much better rock
formation found about a mile to the southwest of Table Rock. I parked a second
time, then walked past and down to what turned out to be
a . Later, I found it is called the Texas Canyon
Rock Climbing Area, with representation on Mountain Project and other sites. It
was near sunset, so I made a speedy recon of , finding
bolts, , , but no scrambling route to
the highpoint. This would require a rope and climbing partner. There were two
where
I'd parked by the gate, but the owners weren't to be found in the rock climbing
area.
Peak 2,740ft
Back out at Sierra Hwy, I drove another ten minutes through the rural community
of Agua Dulce and onto a utility road that leads to the summit of Peak 2,740ft.
There is a tranmission tower located here. The highpoint is at the adjacent
where is located. It was now after
sunset and I beat a to take a shower before it got too
chilly. I ended camping the night there in the flat clearing, a very lovely
site away from the highway noise and surrounding neighbors...
Continued...