Continued...
Most of the day was spent inside Yosemite National Park, visiting some obscure
summits on its southwestern boundary, with the last few actually located outside
the park in the adjacent national forest. I had spent the night camped at the
Trumbull Lookout overlooking the Merced River and was up early for the
hours-long drive back out to SR120. Combined with the
,
it wasn't until nearly 8:30a that I was ready for the first hike. It was a fine
day with temperatures a bit on the warm side, some breezes to help things and
not a cloud in the sky.
Peak 6,140ft
This summit is located close to the Merced Grove. I parked at the
along SR120 and hiked in on the road from there.
I turned off the road after 1/3mi (the grove is located another mile further
south), heading southwest up to the peak. The slope had burned
in the 2018 Ferguson Fire, leaving lots of charred downfall, but no serious
impediment. is partially covered in new manzanita growth
doing well in three years' time. Lots of standing snags leave only partial
views, including one of Pilot Peak to . Overall, not much going
for this summit.
Peak 4,902ft
This summit overlooks the Merced River gorge to the south and Foresta to the
north. Foresta is a residential community within the park boundary. There are
access roads from SR120 and another from SR140 to the south, though this is
currently closed due to a washed out bridge. The slopes on Peak 4,902ft burned
in 2009, 2014, and most recently in the Ferguson Fire. I drove in from SR120 and
parked at the southwest end of town where warned of the
bridge out ahead. I walked a short distance to where it comes
closest to Crane Creek, and headed cross-country for
the summit. The slopes are now covered in brush of varying degrees of thickness
and it took both patience and determination to find a reasonable way through it.
I headed south , finding only moderate brush once past the
immediate vicinity of the creek, but this became thicker and heavier in
of the route. The distance to the summit was less than half
a mile, the saving grace in this brushy affair. The upper third of the mountain
held less brush, making for easier going at the end. I spent 35min in the effort
to reach the summit, finding with the remaining handful of
trees reduced to charred snags. The takes in the Merced River
downstream. Trumbull and overlook the river on the north
side, while Henness ridge rise high to the south. I left
among the summit rocks, expecting it to see few
visitors over the next decade. It may take only a few years for the brush to
become virtually impenetrable here. I returned via the same route with only
unintentional deviations - I had done well on the ascent to avoid any truly
awful bushwhacking, and didn't trust myself to avoid finding such by taking an
alternate way back.
Henness Ridge Lookout
After returning to the Jeep, I spent the next hour driving to Yosemite West,
enduring more (this time due to construction), taking
in of the before driving back out of the
Valley heading
south. Yosemite West is another residential community, this one located just
outside the park boundary in the adjacent Sierra National Forest. The only
access is within the park from SR41, near the turnoff to Badger Pass. There
is a good deal of construction taking place, replacing old cabins with huge
modern homes, rented out for $300-$800/night through Airbnb and VRBO. The
decommissioned Henness Ridge Lookout is located with the park, accessed through
Yosemite West. There are no signs directing you there and it does not appear
on the park brochure or website. I
near the end of
which offers access to the dirt road leading to the lookout. A 15min walk
through forest brings you to the open views on Henness
Ridge where . The Park Service provides occasional
maintenance to keep the three-story structure sound. There is
next to which leads up
to where things are tidy but in need of TLC and some
paint. Views overlook Yosemite to and Sierra NF looking
. Definitely worth a visit.
Henness Ridge
Access to these last three summits is via dirt Forest Rte 3S30, which exits
Yosmite West at the end of Henness Ridge Rd. Henness Ridge is found a few miles
west of Yosemite West. traverses around the summit,
400ft below the highpoint. I off the road about 1/3mi east of
the summit, to the top from the southeast through mostly
in 15min. The Ferguson Fire burned over all of
Henness Ridge but with mixed results, sparing many trees in isolation and
pockets of varying sizes. stands at the highpoint,
half-charred but surviving. overlook the South Fork Merced River
drainage to the south and the main Merced River gorge to the north.
Pinoche Peak - Brown Peak
This was the meat of the day, hiking to these two summits found further west
along Henness Ridge. I drove another mile west on the road before coming across
alone with a bobcat and chainsaw at clearing the road. I stopped
to talk with him briefly, finding he was clearing the road for a friend who has
property at the end of the road. I had hoped to be able to drive another mile
further to Cathewood Saddle, but this would have to do. I was grateful that the
guy had cleared as far as he did, and told him so. I parked in a wide lot off
the road and headed out on foot. Only after I had gone a few hundred feet past
where the guy was working did I realize I was on the wrong spur. Doh! I
backtracked some and then climbed uphill to quickly meet the road fork I should
have taken. It turned out this one was blocked as well, so I wouldn't have
been able to drive any further anyway. I spent about half an hour
to , found between the
Henness Ridge HP and Pinoche Peak.
The topo map shows a trail running along the ridge from here all the way to the
saddle between Hite Cove Indian Flat. I was hoping to make use of this trail
since I had almost four miles along the ridge to reach Brown Peak. After
starting up from the saddle a little too high, I spotted the trail below me on
my left and dropped down to meet it. was in decent shape, at
least to start, but it was quickly obvious that it sees very little traffic. I
followed it through unburned forest to the southeast shoulder of Pinoche Peak
where the rugged peak comes into view . The South Face
looks like crumbly cliffs that would be dangerous to attempt, but
worked nicely, steep class 2-3, but little brush. The views
open dramatically with the rugged drainage of the Merced
River's South Fork. I reached of Pinoche around 2:30p, a
little over an hour after starting out. Along with some , I
found a surprisingly busy register with 16 pages of entries since Richard Carey
had left it . A number of Sierra Challenge participants had
entries - , , and the most recent
entry from April, . Chris had done this as part
of a backpack trip to Hite Cove. Sounds tough.
Especially considering the trail section between Pinoche and Brown. The topo
map shows the trail mostly running below the ridgeline on the south side, and
indeed it might have at one time, perhaps before the Ferguson Fire. But there
was very little evidence of it now. I descended Pinoche off
,
looking for the trail but finding only bits and pieces. I dutifully tried to
follow it as shown on the map around intermediate Pt. 5,445ft, but found the
trail blocked by downfall and brush, virtually obliterating it. After fighting
this for a short while, I decided to head back up to the ridge and take my
chance there. This turned out to be the key. A use trail has developed there
over the past few years, taking one and forest, over
craggy points and , with generally little bushwhacking,
all the way to Canty Meadow just east
of Brown Peak. It took an hour from Pinoche's summit to reach the meadow where
an
goes over the saddle. Grant had used this road from SR140
on the Merced River 3,500ft below to reach Brown and Pinoche back in 2017, a
harder route for sure. There are the remains of a concrete foundation for a
structure that once stood at the saddle, with just
remaining.
From the saddle, I found no sign of a trail Brown Peak, but
the distance was short and I found it only modestly brushy. I reached
after 4p, finding it covered in partially burned manzanita.
There is just southwest of the summit with
overlooking the South Fork Merced River drainage and a bunch
of summits I would visit over the next few days. I left
here under a small cairn, figuring the clearing filled
with talus would prevent it getting torched in the next fire. Now I just had
to get back before sundown. It would take me until 6:40p to get back to my
starting point, shaving about 30min off the return, some by not having to go
back over , the rest by doing a better job of following
along the ridge. I was pretty tired by the time I
, but had enjoyed the
outing a great deal, despite the challenges. I had originally planned to head
elsewhere in the park for the night to set myself up for the first peak the next
morning, but after some deliberation decided to stay where I was. The area was
quiet (the guy had left with his truck and chainsaws), remote, flat, and
oddly, had cell service. It would do nicely...
Continued...