Shumake Knoll
McKee Hill
Thunder Hill
Repeater Hill

Continued...

I was in the Stanislaus National Forest on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada for an overnight Jeeping & hiking adventure. The bigger day had been the previous one, with Dome Rock in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness as the primary goal. Today's summits were a collection of mostly forgettable ones, located in the heart of logging country on a mix of USFS and Sierra Pacific lands. All were named summits with minimal prominence, requiring little effort to reach them, other than the miles of driving on Forest roads.

Shumake Knoll

I had spent the night camped along Forest Rte 5N02, about half a mile south of Shumake Knoll. After packing away my sleeping gear, I drove up the road to where it goes over the west shoulder of Shumake Knoll. A spur road shown on the topo map but no longer driveable goes to the summit. I parked at the junction and walked the short distance to the summit on the old road as the sun was rising in the east. A 4-foot boulder with a small duck lies as the highpoint. Nothing much in the way of views. The most interesting thing was a moderately-sized pine tree to which someone had nailed steel crossmembers to form a crude ladder, purpose unknown. Perhaps done by a hunter to get a better view from the summit? Less than 15min for the roundtrip effort.

McKee Hill

This one lies about 3mi northeast of Shumake Knoll and about 400ft higher. A large tree had fallen across the roadway, still a few miles from McKee Hill. Luckily it was a rotted tree and not very dense or heavy. I was able to use my tow strap tied to one end of the tree to pull it out of the way, and was happy to find no other obstacles up the road. I parked on the northwest side of the summit where the road gets closest, about 1/4mi. It was a steep climb up to the summit, no real bushwhacking, just lots of low vegetation and a moderate amount of downfall. The summit area is large and rounded, with partial views looking south. Someone had placed ducks on the three or four highest boulders about the summit. About 25min for the roundtrip.

Thunder Hill

I spent about 45min driving from McKee Hill, parking along Forest Rte 5N34 on the east side of Thunder Hill, about 1/3mi from the summit. This was an easier gradient than the last, more low vegetation and an easy ascent. There is a USFS benchmark, some views to the north. 20min for this one.

Repeater Hill

This summit is located within Calaveras Big Trees State Park. I spent about 20min driving to it, but was eventually stopped by a temporary closure on the eastern boundary of the state park, due to heavy equipment in use in the area. Since it was Saturday, I figured there would be no work going on, and heard nothing to indicate otherwise. The road is closed by a simple wire gate which I could have driven into, but decided to do the 1.2mi walk to get a bit more exercise. It's an easy hike along the road into the park and slightly downhill to Repeater Hill. I stopped enroute to visit the state park highpoint which is positioned close to the eastern edge where the topo map shows a local highpoint. Judging by the topo, the highpoint should be just off the road at a slight uphill, but the contours are wrong here, and the highest point is actually along the roadway to the east of the fictitious contour. I wandered about the forest on either side of a barbed-wire fence before deciding it was rather silly and returned to the road. I continued down past a collection of large logging equipment, sitting idle on either side of the road. Repeater Hill was about a quarter mile further, a small rise just northwest of the roadway. I expected to see some telecom equipment here based on the name, but there was nothing to be found under or around the forested summit. On my return, I found a juvenile bear walking the road ahead of me in the same direction. I followed it for a short while without it sensing my presence. As I got closer, perhaps within about 20yds, I called out, "Hey Bear!" It turned and spotted me, then darted off through the barbed-wire fence and out of sight. I finished up by 10:15a and ready to call it a day. I had cleaned out the LoJ summits in the larger area and had no more on the agenda, so I decided to head home...

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