Continued...
I had moved overnight from the the North Coast area to the CA Cascade, a region
shaped in recent geologic time by volcanic activity. Today I was after a
collection of prominence peaks, managing eight of them including 3 P2Ks. My
hunting grounds were east of Interstate 5, between Mt. Shasta and the Oregon
border, an area I had visited only once before, briefly.
Black Mountain
This Black Mtn is found just east of the interstate, about 10mi north of Yreka.
I followed the general route from the north described by others on PB, with
some improvements. The starting point at the end of Robin Dr is in a rural
development that has seen better days. One has to pass through an
signed for No Trespassing in order to reach the end of the development. Portions
of the summit are on BLM land, but the summit and starting point are private,
though there seems to be little chance of discovery. Some properties appear
abandoned and where
at the end of the road in the early morning hour
was out of view from the occupied properties nearby. I followed Dean's
description of to a that leads to
a small at the 1,020-foot level. From here I
followed another road south
then southeast, deviating from the others' routes to see if I couldn't use more
road and less cross-country. The mountain is laden with large fields of
volcanic rubble that is tedious at best, and to be avoided by those that have
encountered them. I followed went past an abandoned
, then gave out under an oak forest on the rounded North
Ridge. I went up from here through the forest understory, encountering a
(and sometimes ) route that
as best I could up to the summit. I lost it in a few places (I did a better job
of following it on the way down), but for the most part it had a minimum of
brush and none of the volcanic nastiness. I reached the top in an hour and a
quarter where there are of an old airway beacon that once
guided planes at night through the area. The is found a
short distance to the south of this where a very busy register was left by
Bighorn Bill .
There were some 90 pages all told, mostly repeat visits by a Bill White and
a few others who came up repeatedly over a period of 20yrs or so. Most of the
entries since 2010 were from the usual crowd, including Vitz, Carey, Dodge and
others. No real views from the summit, but there are some decent ones looking
east and south along parts of the route near the top that are more open.
Overall I found it an enjoyable outing (helps that it was the first of the day
when I'm freshest!). I was back at 9a, for a total of two and quarter hours for
the outing.
Willow Creek Mtn
Lying 15mi to the east of Black Mtn, Willow Creek is a large, extinct shield
volcano rising from the plateau between Shasta Valley to the west and Butte
Valley to the east. Willow Creek Mtn Rd is a long, winding Forest Service
road in the Klamath NF, generally in excellent condition. It climbs to over
7,300ft, passing 500ft below the summit on the east. There were a few lingering
snow patches I had to drive over on my way, one of only a few cars that had
driven the road this high so far this year. on the side of the
road near where another vehicle was parked (a bit of a surprise), it's a
relatively easy hike through mostly open forest understory, with a good deal of
found in places still. I found portions of
higher up on the East Ridge where the forest to manzanita and
other low brush. I found with his dog relaxing in the open
ummit area. There was erected here, still a short distance
east of where the highpoint was indicated on the topo map. I spoke briefly to
the guy before continuing west to seek out which I
determined was not the actual highpoint. It does have a commanding view at this
open perch, with fine views of Mt. Shasta to (along with
Goosenest in the mid-ground), McLoughlin to , and
across Shasta Valley. There was a disorganized
here that consisted of a bunch of loose pages from a poorly bound notepad. After
signing it, I examined just to the east that proved to be
4-5ft higher. The flat area further
east with the pole was about the same height as well,
so take your pick as to which is highest. About 50min for the roundtrip effort.
Ball Mountain
Rather than drive north along the way I'd come, I wanted to exit to the south
towards Ball Mtn and Goosenest. I hadn't driven far when I came upon a large
log . I got out to examine it, but didn't think I had
any chance of clearing it. It turns out the dead tree had rotted quite a bit and
broke up into smaller chunks as I rocked it, allowing me to in
sections. Guessing that no one had yet driven on this section of road this year,
I didn't hold out much hope that it would be the only road blockage. Again I
got lucky, and found the remaining sections down the mountain free and clear.
is a smaller version of Willow Creek Mtn, a P1K about 5mi to
the ESE. A spur road off paved Smith Spring Rd goes to the summit where
and some telecom equipment are located, but
and locked about a mile from the top. The here is very
easy up forest and grass slopes, and faster than following the meandering
roadway. The lookout is abandoned and in need of repair, but open for
exploration of its three rat-infested levels. The was the
living quarters and observation cab, the virtually empty,
and the holding some batteries and old electrical gear they
once powered. Butte Valley is spread out to , Willow Creek Mtn
to , Goosenest to .
Goosenest
This P2K lies 6.5mi south of Willow Creek Mtn, similar in shape and rise. There
is a on the north side where ample parking can be
found. There were half a dozen cars there when I arrived, and was met by two
returning gentleman as I was about to start out. They were part of a large party
of 20 or so that were on their way down the mountain. I would encounter them in
smaller groups as I ascended the first part of the trail, amused my some of the
comments:
You're starting out NOW? (it was 1:15p)
We're part of a senior hiking club!
Be careful, it gets REALLY steep!
I was just happy to see a bunch of 60-75yr-olds out enjoying themselves. Once
past the last of them, I had the mountain to myself and my jeep would be the
only vehicle left at the TH when . climbs
gently for the most part, with a few steeper switchbacks. Snow across the trail
in a few places offered the only difficulties, minor ones at that. The trail
reaches the small where one
can go left or around the crater rim to reach
on the NE side. There is a large ammo box at a cairn
here, filled with a number of and hundreds of entries - a
very popular summit, it would seem. The are mostly open and
quite nice. I had forgotten to bring my GPSr with me from the TH, so I got no
track of the hike, but it's hardly necessary - it's a very well-established
trail, this one. I decided to drop cross-country off
to avoid most of the trail.
This worked exceedingly well as the ground was soft, open and made for a very
quick descent. Once I hit the trail again, I followed it back to the start,
just under an hour, roundtrip.
Miller Mountain/Herd Peak
By now it was after 2p and seemed like a good time to
the cold mango Mike's I had in the cooler. Mmmmmmm. I would have four of them
polished off before I was done for the day.
Miller Mtn is a P900 another 5.5mi south of Goosenest. More driving on Klamath
NF roads got me to the good road leading to the Herd Peak lookout. A spur road
forking off 1.5mi north of the lookout leads to of
Miller Mtn, a short distance from the summit. A seven minute effort through
modest brush got me to that had only
. Bighorn Bill had left a register here
with Ron Moe the only other visitor to sign it until I
arrived. Herd Peak is just a lower summit on the south side of Miller Mtn, but
far more interesting. I met Pam at this operational lookout, a fiesty woman
with 34 years of experience with the Forest Service. She gave me a tour of
, the and the history of the land and people
in this part of the
county.
And John owned 1,200 acres off that side - his wife left him in
1956 for the handyman... and such bits of trivia that are both next
to useless and pretty darn funny. It took some doing to extract myself from
the lookout, pleading I had other summits to visit before my day was through.
I think she would have liked if I'd spent the afternoon with her - I'm guessing
she's more social than your standard lookout ranger and doesn't get enough
visitors.
Orr Mountain
It took me most of an hour to drive between Herd Peak and ,
13mi to the ENE. This, too, has a manned and I knew from Pam
that his name was
Bob, he was a Vietnam veteran, had 45yrs with the Forest Service and was quite
a character. He was out on the observation deck when I pulled up, with a
booming "Hello there!" I responded, "You must be Bob," to which he countered,
"And likewise." Seems Pam had called him on the radio to let him know I was on
my way. Bob was indeed a character. Following his 'Nam experience, he came back
to be a smoke jumper for the forest service. Around his 400th jump and 45th
birthday, he landed in a tree and broke himself up pretty good, deciding maybe
that stuff was better left to the younger guys. He went on with other stories
faster than I could absorb them, faster than even Pam had been capable of. Once
again it took me some time to tear myself away, but I eventually escaped after
getting a few pictures and a few more stories.
Cedar Mountain
Following two easy drive-ups, it was back to the brush for Cedar Mtn. Though
less than 5mi NE of Orr Mtn, it would take almost an hour to drive between the
two. The forest roads I traveled got me within 3/4mi of the summit on
where the road ended ubruptly. It would take about 25min
to cover the distance to the summit, a mix of semi-open spaces and
that eventually landed me onto some
that had a partial view looking . There
was and the now-expected Bighorn Bill ,
this one also from 2011. No other signatures since then.
Wild Horse Mountain
Another hour's drive saw me to within 0.6mi of Wild Horse Mtn at
on its west side. The cross-country here was a tougher
affair, off not so bad but becoming
the closer I got to the summit. It felt a lot
like the peak I'd just come from (but harder) and I got the strong sense that
Bighorn Bill must have been here too, and I could almost sense his presence. I
hunted around in the summit area which suddenly opened wit sourring views
and , eventually locating what I guessed was the
highest rock, and finding one of Bill's red
tucked against it. Just like Cedar Mtn, the register dated
and had seen no other
visitors since. It took some effort to get myself out of the thick tangle about
the summit, but I was to the jeep by 8:15p, less than an hour
after starting out.
It had been a pretty full day with a lot of driving, so I decided I was done
for the day with both hiking and driving. I showered where I'd parked, then
moved it to a more level location and spent the night there. It was so far out
of the way that there was pretty much zero chance of anyone driving by in the
night and I slept quite soundly in this remote location...
Continued...