Granite/Middle/Red
I followed the driving directions in Mike White's Trinity Alps & Vicinity which got me to within a half mile of the Granite Peak TH. The last section of road was steep and rutted and I was not willing to take a chance on it with my van at night (it didn't look much better in the daytime, either). I backed down to a flat spot to spend the night after a long drive of some seven hours. I was up and on my way shortly after 7a. I was equipped with my standard snow travel kit - snowshoes, poles, crampons & axe. It was almost 7:30a by the time I reached
the TH, marking
the beginning of a very long uphill climb. The trail climbs 4,500ft in a little
more than 4mi on its way to Granite Peak's summit, a long grind by most
measures. Initially the trail stays buried in forest with only fleeting views,
and those are mostly to 
the southeast
in the direction of Trinity Lake (or
more formally, Clair Engle Lake). There was some early season 
downfall
along the trail, but nothing that couldn't be easily surmounted. After a few
miles the Trinity Alps 
Wilderness boundary is reached. More climbing
through more forest ensues. The trail meanders through a section of more open
hillside meadow where a branch of 
Stoney Creek drains down the middle.
Many switchbacks follow. A view opens up briefly to 
the south and
Monument Peak which I had visited a few weeks earlier. It is soon lost again.
By 9:30a I had reached the only 
trail junction on the way to Granite
Peak. The
left branch traverses around the southwest side of Granite on its way to Red
Mtn Meadows and a junction with the Stoney Ridge Trail. The right branch
continues up to Granite Peak and it was in this direction I dutifully headed.
This also marks the juncture of the more fun part of the outing. Most of the
elevation work is done (though still plenty to do), the views 
open up
more broadly and 
snow begins to cover the ground more thoroughly above
7,500ft. I'm not sure if I could have managed to reach the summit in just my
boots as I found the snow still hard and 
somewhat steep. Luckily I was
prepared and it was
not far below the summit that I donned my snowshoes. Ten minutes later I was at
the top, or at least what the end of the trail would like you to believe.
The 
south summit was once the site of a USFS lookout, but only some
concrete pads remain. There are two large 
ammo boxes containing the
collective notes and pages from so to a popular summit. None of it seemed to
date
back very far and it mostly looked like the contents of a wastepaper basket.
I really dislike the sight of such things and had the urge clean them out
except the one small notebook, but I fought the urge and simply left it all
as I found it without bothering to sign anything - there seemed little point.
To the north is the obviously higher summit and it was to this I headed to
complete the trek.
It took less than five minutes to make 
the crossing along the
snow-lined
ridge to the highpoint. It seems a better place for a register to be located
but I suspect the trail does not continue under the snow. The views
are grand from either location. To the 
east and 
south they
stretch out for many hazy miles, taking in 
Mt. Shasta, Mt. Lassen and
hundreds of square miles of forested lands reaching to the Sacramento Valley.
To 
the west are the higher Trinity Alps (the White Trinities) with
Thompson Peak standing tallest. Nearer in is Red Mtn which I planned to visit.
To the northwest was 
Middle Peak (next on my agenda) and to
the north, Gibson Peak which I planned to do the following day.
The 
traverse from Granite
to Middle was an interesting one. I'm not sure if the
snow made it easier or harder. The ridge itself was too rocky to follow so I
traversed down the west-facing slopes over steep, hard snow. It got steep enough
that I judged 
the crampons to be a safer bet than the snowshoes I
had used up to this point. It wasn't steep enough to swap the axe for poles and
I found the crampon/pole combination good for the majority of the snow travel.
Once down to the saddle with Middle Peak the route becomes far easier. The
snow is softer with more sun exposure, but not so soft as to sink in any
appreciable amount. There was a mix of snow and rock on this sunny face and it
seemed one could choose to favor one or the other. I chose the snow until I was
near the summit and could climb the last section without needing the crampons.
It was close to 11a when I reached Middle Peak. Far from any trail, I was in
a 
wintry landscape
with snow around me in all directions, but it felt more
like spring than winter. There were 
peaks and 
valleys in all
directions begging
to be explored - what a fine sight it was! I had entertained the idea of
making the almost 2mi trek north to Gibson Peak but that was more of a
map-perusal fantasy best conducted in the comforts of home. The reality was
that it would be a far more arduous undertaking now that I was
looking at it
from Middle Peak. It took only a moment to redirect my attention southwestwards
towards Red Mtn.
The distance is only half that to Gibson and the mile of
terrain is 
more benign,
though still interesting. I had to remove the crampons
in several places on the descent from Middle Peak where the snow could not
be connected in a continuous fashion, with some easy class 2-3 rock to
negotiate.
On my way down to Stonewall Pass one of the connector bars on my crampon
broke
in two, rendering it unusable. Luckily I still had the snowshoes (which I
switched to) and another pair of crampons back in the van (for the next day). I
had had this pair of Grivel G-10s for more than ten years without a problem so
I was a little forgiving. Later, I was less so when I found this was not so
uncommon. In fact, Grivel now pushes a flexible connector bar as a replacement
since the stiffer version can create undue stress when used with flexible boots.
$20 or so got my crampons back in working order, though Grivel never responded
to my request for help directly - their lifetime warranty appears meaningless.
I reached 
Stonewall Pass just after 11:30a and spent the next 45min
scrambling to the top of 
Red Mtn. It was about half on snow, half
rock scrambling, some of it very nice on a mildly exposed 
ridgeline.
The 
views from the top of Red Mtn are
much like on the other peaks I'd visited, perhaps with a better view
south towards Monument Peak and a nicer view into the Stuart Fork
drainage to 
the west. An ammo box here held a register with more than
40 pages filled since it was placed 
in 1999, suggesting it is fairly
popular, but by no means to the degree that Granite Peak is.
In descending Red Mtn, I decided against returning to Stonewall Pass as planned
for a somewhat 
more direct route down to Red Mountain Meadows. Snow
covered only a portion of 
the meadows
but the grass was all brown from the previous season -
it was not yet ready for spring at this elevation, but would probably arrive in
the next few weeks. I picked up the Granite Peak 
Cutoff Trail and
followed it
partway back up towards Granite Peak. Where the trail turns NE to climb the
last 300ft or so to the junction I simply left the trail and headed
cross-country down the drainage to pick up the Granite Peak Trail about 800ft
lower. It would take until after 3p before I returned to the TH and
the van.
Bowerman/Peak 4,104ft
Having more than a few hours of daylight remaining, I headed back down to Clair Engle Lake to tackle a few easy prominence summits. Separated by about 3mi, the two are located in the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity NRA, east of SR3 and west of the lake. I drove back down to the pavement at SR3 and then north to Covington Mill before turning right on a side road that follows through a residential area above the lake shore. First up was the higher of the two, Bowerman Peak. Named for an early pioneer family, there are numerous placenames throughout the area that have been given the Bowerman name including a ridge, gulch, peak, meadow and more. The 1878
Bowerman barn
has been nicely preserved
along this route at a picturesque turn in the road adjacent to a grassy
pasture. I found the dirt/gravel road I had intended to drive partway to the
summit was 
gated
for the season at the pavement. I was around 3.5mi from the
summit at this point, so it would have to do. I was happy to have my bike with
me and made good use of it on this outing. The road I followed for most of an
hour was of a decent gradient, not so steep that I had to walk the bike, but
steep enough that hiking would have taken almost as much time. The big advantage
of course would come on the return downhill. The main USFS road I followed does
not go to the summit, but skirts around the west side to continue north along
Bowerman Ridge. Not shown on the topo map, a side road from the south can be
used to reach the antenna-topped summit. I recall passing by it on the bike and
suspecting its purpose, but continued with the original plan
which was to 
park the bike
at the highpoint of the road on the peak's west side
and then cross-country for the last 1/3mi. I left the bike parked on the side
of the road without bothering to lock it, figuring the chances of someone coming
by were slim, and even slimmer than someone would come by and steal the bike for
the short time I would be gone. The cross-country was through forest understory
and not brushy aided by the existence of an 
old firebreak or logging
road. I came upon the summit road just south of the highpoint where I
first noted the microwave 
relay tower that is planted at the summit.
The views are poor, but with a little effort one can drop just off
the west side
to get a view to the Trinity Alps, though mostly washed out this late in
the afternoon. The bike made the return a breeze, taking all of twenty
minutes, including the cross-country portion.
Back on SR3, I drove north a few miles to the poorly signed Bowerman Ridge Rd.
This was the same road I had ridden on earlier, and marks the northern
terminus. It appears I probably could have driven to the summit of Bowerman
Peak from this point, but I didn't mind saving the van the trouble. The gravel
and dirt road was decent enough, but it would have been 4-5mi each way - my
van thanked me. I drove in about 1.5mi to where I was stopped by
a gate leading
up towards unnamed Peak 4,104ft. This 900ft+ prominence peak anchors the north
end of Bowerman Ridge. Because the distance from the gate to the peak was not
much more than a mile, I left the bike in the van and headed out on foot. Like
Bowerman, the roads do not go up to the summit but within about a quarter mile.
Easy cross-country up from the SW gets one to 
the summit.
Again, not much in
the way of views, but I did manage to catch a glimpse of
Mt. Shasta off to the northeast. It was 6:30p and 
sunset
by the time I returned to the van. The air
was growing chilly so I quickly showered with the lukewarm water I had left on
the dash before heading back down. I would spend some time driving to the next
day's TH at Swift Creek, with plenty of time to relax, cook dinner, watch a
movie and enjoy some wine. Not a bad life, this one...
Continued...