My daughter's high school volleyball team had lost a very close match to a cross-town
rival in the first round of playoffs. With so much sadness, she needed consoling, and
at her pleading I put off my trip until the following morning. Consequently, I wouldn't
get to the Southern Sierra until early afternoon, only leaving time for a few easy
hikes which was fine by me - daughter comes first, naturally. I picked out a trio of
peaks that appear in Jenkin's
Exploring the Southern Sierra maps, a collection
I've been slowly working on over the years.
Hooper Hill / Ball Mountain
These two minor summits are located on either side of the highpoint of the paved
Bodfish-Caliente Road found southwest of Lake Isabella, neither more than half a mile
in a straight line from the pass. Hooper Hill is easily twice as high as Ball Mtn,
rising almost 700ft above the pass. There is a fenceline along the road but
where a rough dirt road heads southwest. There are no signs found to forbid entry.
As luck would have it, a
traverses up the east side of the hill towards
the north, following along the route of a transmission line in that direction. I
followed this trail up to
where there is a junction with another trail
up to Hooper Hill. I investigated the northbound trail further,
following it until I had a good overlook view of the Kern River drainage, looking
down the canyon and
up to the valley and Lake Isabella. I then returned to the
junction and followed it to the summit of Hooper Hill. The summit is topped with a few
moderately-sized granite boulders, in all directions.
The nicest view I thought was to
where one can get a fine view of the HPS Bald Eagle
Peak. Rather than follow trail back down, I made a shortcut down the steep,
grassy slopes to return more directly. There was some yucca and rocks to avoid in
the grass, but the footing was often semi-loose dirt which made for a very quick
and easy descent.
Once on the road, I hiked the dirt
up around the south
side of Ball Mtn. The road is in excellent condition that any vehicle could drive, but
since I was in need of the extra workout, I just hoofed it. On the back side I
found a wide
running up to the summit, making easy work of it, taking
but 15min.
are weak, partially blocked by burned snags and mild
brush. Off the west side there is a decent view of rising in that
direction. The off the west side took only 5min - easy
as pie!
Kelso Peak
I drove back down through Bodfish and Lake Isabella (the town, not the lake!) to
get back on SR178, driving east to Kelso Valley Rd, then south for about 12mi or
so until I was almost due east of , the most prominent peak in the
Bright Star Wilderness. The problem with this one is access since it appears
that the shortest routes from the east are blocked by private property along
Kelso Creek. An all-public lands route can be found from the south but is considerably
longer and I wasn't in the mood for it.
The dirt road I had picked out that I
thought I might use
to get across the Kelso Creek and to the Wilderness boundary was clearly signed as
Private and
No Trespassing. Rats. Instead, I followed a short dirt
road just north of this that tops out on a small hill about 100yds from the
pavement. From there I wandered west across a burned moonscape, the scorched
remains of a fire that swept over the area back in June. Most of the
homesteads along Kelso Creek were spared, likely by the fine work of the
firefighters assigned to battle it, but some were not spared. I reached a network
of barbed-wire fences shortly before the creek and picked my way through these
to get down to the creek, ,
and starting up the other side. The route
I chose seemed to go between (no cars to indicate anyone
home) and that was left pretty much flattened.
Once across the
creek I started up for the East Ridge, but it wasn't until I was 200-300ft up
that I could relax as the route is open to observation from a number of vantage
points. It didn't help that I was wearing a bright red shirt. Though steep,
the hiking was easy thanks to the fire that had denuded almost everything along
and most of the slopes as well. Not as easy as the first two
summits, I spent a full hour in climbing 1,500ft over about
a mile and half to reach Kelso's summit. There are some large granite blocks
, but they are
conveniently arranged to allow one to climb to the highest point with a class 2
effort. I took a few pictures looking , and
before taking some time to peruse . This was a little gem, with
50 pages of a notebook filled with entries, the earliest . The
had an entry from
a party that included Bob Rockwell (and his brothers) and Carl Heller. The peak
appears to have been very popular from the 70s through the 90s, but visits have
fallen off to less than one per year since then. The descent went much faster,
taking only 40min by a slightly more direct route to the creek.
There were a couple of motorhomes parked near the creek,
but they weren't occupied when I went by and I was able
without incident by 4:30p.
I was to meet Bob Sumner the next morning at Coso Junction, so after showering
I spent the next hour and then some driving out to SR14 and north along US395 to
the meeting spot. Time for dinner, beer, and a movie...
Continued...