Continued...
Day 2 in the Northern Sierra had us visiting a trio of P1Ks and a P900. The
first of these was the hardest hike of the trip which Jackie found a bit too
much. Brush and thistles in her boots and socks does not make for a happy
Jackie. She
had asked in the moring at the motel if she'd be ok in shorts to which I
suggested she bring her pants along, in case they're needed. "Do I have to?"
she asked, imploringly. I couldn't see how bringing them along had any
mearsureable cost, but she's an adult and can learn from mistakes rather than
take sage advice, if she so chooses. "No, not if you don't want to," was my
response. The other three hikes were shorter and had less brush, but after
successfully making the second
summit, she decided she'd had enough and waited things out in the car for the
last two. Can't say I blame her - it's not a particularly scenic part of the
Sierra and the work it takes to get to some of the summits is hard to justify
for all but the fanatics.
Reconnaissance Peak
Reconnaissance overlooks the Sierra Valley on its northern perimeter, just above
the small community of Beckwourth, about 9mi northeast of where we were staying
in Portola. Forking off from the paved Beckwourth-Genesee Rd, unsigned Forest Rd
24N32 is a decently maintained dirt road climbing up to Dotta Saddle. From
there, a
rougher road, unsigned 24N02, forks off and can be driven another mile and half
to its end to get one within a mile and a quarter of the peak. Though the
distance isn't far, the navigation is a bit tricky, especially if one is
wearing shorts. Now, if Tom had been with me I would have picked a route based
on what I was wearing (long pants) rather than him (shorts), but since it was
my daughter I paid closer attention to where I was going and did my best to pick
the least brushy route. We
the slope, zigzagging ,
trying to stick to the grassier spots. It dawned on me that my definition
of "brushy" can be very different from others. The thistles and seeds from the
mature grasses were attacking her socks and getting into her boots, causing some
measure of annoyance that required periodic stops to deal with. To her, the
grass areas were quite brushy. To me (and because my pants kept most of the
thistles out), it was a walk in the park. "Brushy" is when you have to claw
through stuff above knee level and often over head level - manzanita, buckthorn,
that sort of stuff. And we did have
when I could no longer find
openings through the brush in a few places, but they lasted no more than about
20-30yds before the route would open up again. We carried on for about half an
hour, covering about 2/5 of the distance to the summit in that time, before
Jackie decided to stay put, hang out on a rock, and wait for my return. I didn't
fault her and felt a bit guilty for dragging her off on this chase.
I was able to pick up my pace once on my own, to no real surprise. I made good
time up to the main ridge where the summit comes into view, then struggled some
to fight my way through a heavy
with thick understory of alder
and immature aspens. Jackie had picked a good time to call a halt, it seemed.
There was more open country after this, but there were more
to
get through, making for a pretty tricky bit of navigating to keep from bogging
down and getting my clothes shredded. I finally made it to the open, rocky
summit around 9:40a, an hour and a half after starting out. There was
to an outdoorsman that died at the age of 45 in 1996,
that included a hunting bow and a selection of broken arrows. As there was no
register to be found, I left one of my own. With less smoke, there were better
views today, overlooking Sierra Valley , Dixie Mtn (which we
visited the day prior) , and other summits to the north that
I hadn't yet learned. I retreated soon after arriving so that I wouldn't be too
late for my return which I'd told Jackie would take about an hour. I did a much
better job of navigating the terrain this time, finding a far less brushy and
more direct route back to where . She was waiting patiently
for my return, having enjoyed here quiet nature time, save perhaps for the black
ants that would periodically climb onto her. We took an alternate route on the
descent that I thought would be more direct and less brushy - it proved to be
the former but not . It was nearly 11a by the time we
to the Jeep and I promised her the rest of the day would be
easier...
Crocker Mountain
Crocker Mtn lies just east of Davis Lake and north of Portola, about an hour's
drive from our TH for Reconnaissance. The rough road we took from the pavement
on the east side of the peak was only about 2.5mi in length, but fairly slow
going for much of it. The road becomes overgrown towards the end and I
called a halt when we got within about 1/4mi of the summit. We followed the
for about 1/4mi to reach the south side, getting us
about 200ft higher but still 1/4mi from our goal. We then had to cross-country
through a mix of and more along
the South Ridge to reach the top. We found a John Vitz register
at the summit, a mix of the usual suspects and local visitors, signing our names
to it before tucking it back where we'd found it. After weighing our options, we
decided to head directly east off the summit back to the car by the shortest
path. We could have run into serious bushwhacking trouble but were happy to find
it was even less brushy than our circuitous ascent route. Sometimes taking
shortcuts pays off.
Black Mountain
Another hour's driving ensued following our visit to Crocker, taking us almost
20mi north into the Diamond Mountains on the edge of the Sierra escarpment
overlooking Honey Lake and the northern desert lands of the Great Basin. The
highest peak in the Diamond Mtns is the SPS's Adams Peak, at the south end of
this Sierra sub-range. The two peaks I was after are in the central part of
the range, overlooking the south side of Honey Lake. Black Mtn is the higher of
the two and our first stop. There is a lookout tower and radio facility atop
Black Mtn, though neither are found at the highpoint, located about 1/4mi from
the . We drove in on very good roads for most of the
distance, becoming rougher for the last few miles to the telecom towers. We
found two trucks with technicians working at different sites and it was only
upon reaching them that I realized the highpoint was across the way. We drove
back down a short distance, stopping at a turn in the road near the saddle
between the two points. Though the distance was short and there was
to contend with, Jackie chose to sit this one out. It
took me less than ten minutes to make my way across the shallow gap to the
higher summit, finding no obvious highpoint among the stunted trees growing in
the broad summit area. I continued to to the last
possible rock outcrop overlooking before satisfied
I'd checked all the possibilities. I found no register, but was later emailed by
Jerry Kohn that there was another Vitz register to be found here, too. Drats -
finding that would have made it more worthwhile. We had a view of
on the drive out, just off a spur road, but
neither of us cared much to visit it and so continued on our way.
McKesick Peak
This summit lies about 4mi SE of Black Mtn, also along the crest of the range.
There was about 10mi of driving between the two trailheads, about six miles of
good roads and the four miles of deteriorating ones until we were using 4WD to
reach our starting point where
was blocked by a large fallen tree.
Though less than a mile to the summit, Jackie declined to join me on this one
as well, preferring to explore the abundance of interesting-looking rocks on
the adjacent hillside. I told her I'd be about an hour and headed off up the
road on the other side of the log. The area is used for grazing and there is
of cattle though none were seen here today. It seems I may have
been able to drive around the log and further up the mountain to the saddle
between ,
though it would have been a bit rough. It took me
20min to reach the saddle where the old road continues over the south side. I
turned right to climb , brushy for the
first part before turning to a class 3 rock scramble. There are probably class 2
ways up as well, but those appeared to have more brush to deal with.
had several , evidence of a survey tower and
the expected .
After taking a few photos of the surrounding views, I briefly considered
dropping off the north side as an alternative descent route, but thought better
of it (the brush factor was hard to predict) and returned back down
I'd
come - a little bit of known brush and a road seemed the wiser choice. I was
back by 3:30p, finding Jackie perched on a rock up the hillside to the east,
enjoying the solitude during my absence. We then drove back down to Portola, a
longish drive, where we cleaned up before heading into town for pizza. "Into
town" really just meant driving a few blocks, crossing the river and finding
the empty Pizza Factory in the old part of town next to the railroad yards.
Decent pizza though...
Continued...