Brother Jim had flown into town the night before to join me for a trip to
Southern California for an extended family gathering. I had a selection of
short, easy summits to tag on our way down, on either side of Interstate 5 north
of Santa Clarita. Jim didn't seem to care that these were 3rd order summits,
quite low on the ladder of climbing objectives. The last peak proved
surprisingly difficult, a most interesting summit by my reckoning, though not
so much by Jim's.
Townsend Peak
This P500 is found just west of I-5 at the Templin Hwy offramp. We parked at
the where Forest Road 6N381 starts. Heavy erosion at the
start has made it dangerous for low-clearance vehicles and
found just up the road blocks all traffic, or at least is intended to. Upon
, Jim found that the gate wasn't locked at all, just
had the appearance of being so. We followed up for half an
hour until we reached a saddle on the south side of the summit. An
was helpful for the final stretch to the summit. The top
provides a good view of the Los Padres NF and Cobblestone Mtn to
and northwest, Canton Canyon dropping down below us in the same
direction. The Angeles NF and the Liebre Range stretch out across the freeway
to . We dropped off a to get back to
the dirt road and followed it , taking just over an hour. This was
the longest of the three hikes.
Peak 3,096ft
We drove the Templin Hwy (not really a highway at all - it was never completed
as originally planned) east to the Old Ridge Route (a precursor to the Golden
State Hwy (Rte 99) which was eventually supplanted by Interstate 5). From there
we drove south less than a mile to a going west up to
unnamed Peak 3,096ft. The area is just inside the Angeles NF, but the gate is
signed for No Trespassing. It took less than 10min to up
to the where some signs indicated buried utilities amidst a
of discarded, old clothing. Why here? One of life's many unsolved mysteries...
We paused on the way down to marvel at
that grew along the road,
seemingly out of place among the sparse chaparral. Perhaps planted
by the landowner at one time in years past? A plot of land for a home that
never materialized? Another small mystery...
Peak 2,012ft
We drove the Old Ridge Route south into Castaic and then west under the freeway
into a newish suburban development along Sloan Canyon Rd. We parked in the
neighborhood off and hiked up to
serving the community there. Our goal was unnamed Peak 2,012ft, only 1/3mi from
our start. This would prove a more challenging summit, taking us almost an hour.
The area is comprised of disintegrating sandstone, rugged slopes that could
prove treacherous if one isn't extremely careful. We struggled up the
above the water tank, then gingerly walked across the
connecting to our summit. From , it
appears it
might be easier to approach this peak from the west via Sloan
Canyon. We went back nearly the same route, recrossing the
but finding an alternate way down
the initial slope. By the time we returned it was close to 5p so we called it
a day and drove to our sister's place in Santa Clarita - time to switch into
family mode...
Continued...