I was to meet a few friends on the western edge of the Mojave desert
for some weekend peakbagging, heading out early on Friday after
dropping my wife and her friend off at the airport. With half
the daylight spent driving, I had the afternoon to tag some unnamed
summits in the Jawbone Canyon area. The canyon is a highly popular
OHV area, designated as "Open OHV" which means vehicles aren't
restricted to designated roads. This makes for a complete mess of
the desert landscape, or for a motorized wonderland, depending on
which way you lean. The three main peaks were all south of Jawbone
Canyon which I approached from nearby Water Canyon. The designated
roads I traveled are marked with BLM signs, something like "MK24",
and kept in very good condition. Some of the roads are rougher and
considerably more challenging.
Peak 4,100ft
Starting up Water Canyon from SR14, the HPS
Chuckwalla Mtn is the most
prominent summit to the west. I negotiated 5mi of good roads to get
within 1/2mi of Peak 4,100ft on its south side. A rough
motorcycle track
leads up from the road to the summit. It has good views to the
east of the Mojave Desert and some large solar farms
that have been installed in the past few years.
Peak 4,482ft/Peak 4,354ft
Another 8mi of
driving got me to the top of Peak 4,482ft, though the last 3.5mi
were rough and steep, requiring high-clearance
and 4WD. This spur road is mostly used by motorcycles and ATVs, but is
wide enough for the jeep. Some big steps require more careful
driving. On the north side of the summit, just before reaching the top,
one finds lots of old car wrecks and other detrtitus from what
looked
like old mining operations. On one slope, it appears a dozen
old cars were simply pushed over the edge to land hundreds
of feet somewhere
downslope. I could see how this provided great amusement for the guys
responsible for the carnage. I parked at a small turnout at
the summit
and went down the south side on my way to Peak 5,345ft.
I could
have driven this section down to a saddle, but it didn't seem all that
worth it and besides, I kinda needed more exercise. My route was about
1.5mi one way, making a big arc to the south before heading northwest
to the summit. Peak 4,354ft was the most interesting of the day,
featuring a small forest along the summit ridgeline, some modest
class 3 scrambling and good views north into Jawbone Canyon and
south to Chuckwalla and Cross Mtns. I left
a register at this one,
figuring it would get little traffic from the motorized crowd and have
a better chance of lasting a few years. I made a more direct return to
the jeep atop Peak 4,482ft, forgoing the road I'd used earlier to head
straight up the West Slopes.
Blue Point
Back at the jeep, I returned along the rough spur road and then
followed more good roads down into Jawbone Canyon, past and
under the LA aqueduct. There were plenty
of RVs, ATVs, and motorcycles circled about in various camps, though
only the beginnings of the weekend crowds which were sure to start
showing up in large numbers. Blue Point is a small bump of rock just
off the north side of the newly-paved Jawbone Canyon Rd. The rock is
really more green than blue and appears to have been partially
quarried over the years, but apparently of no great value. I climbed
to the top of this feature in less than 10 minutes, then went to
the higher point behind it for a somewhat more encompassing view
of Jawbone Canyon. There is a really nice view to
the south, framed by Peak
4,482ft, Chuckwalla and Peak 4,354ft in the late afternoon sun. It
would be nearly sunset by the time I got back to the jeep and time to
call it a day. I showered where I'd parked in the small pit of
the quarry, then headed back out to SR14. Quick but fun day...