Jul 6, 2023
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Etymology |
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Burst Rock previously climbed Apr 2, 2011 Peak 9,219ft previously climbed Apr 2, 2011 |
I spent the first 50min in reaching Burst Rock, the only named summit in the bunch. The north side is steep and cliffy, overlooking the Stanislaus River drainage. I roughly followed the trail up the SW Ridge, finding only pieces of it periodically. The summit block is class 3 up the east side. Without the excellent handholds, it would likely be a sketchy class 4 effort. Peak 9,219ft is another half mile to the ENE, along a high connecting ridgeline (Burst Rock has only 40ft of prominence), taking about 20min. Views west are marred by smoke from prescribed burns taking place in that direction, but elsewhere it was very clear - lots of snow and quite picturesque. I took a break on Peak 9,219ft's snow-free summit rocks, taking in the views and answering a few emails/text at one of the few places I had reception all day.
Peak 9,300ft, the highest summit of the day with more than 500ft of prominence, is found a little over half a mile to the ESE with a 300-foot+ drop between them. Powell Lake near the saddle was mostly frozen over still, as were the few other smaller lakes I happened upon over the course of the day. Less than 30min saw me to Peak 9,300ft, whose summit also had a snow-free rock outcrop. The last summit, Peak 9,140ft, was more than a mile further east with a 400-foot drop enroute. It was the least interesting summit of the day, completely snowed over with no real discernable highpoint. I wandered east of the point marked on LoJ a sufficient distance to call it good, and headed back. Peak 9,140ft was so blase that I forgot to take any pictures from the summit. The return was almost an hour faster because I didn't have to go back over Peak 9,219ft and there was more downhill, of course. About 5hrs for the 8.5mi outing with 2,500ft of gain.
I finished up before 2p, leaving me with something like 6hrs of daylight. My boots were pretty wet and my feet beat up a bit, so I didn't feel like doing any more hiking. I went back down to Pinecrest and then went looking for a suitable place to camp for the night. It was much too warm at Pinecrest (78F), and similar up at Kennedy Meadows. I ended up driving to Sonora Pass where it was a much more comfortable 63F. More fun tomorrow...
Continued...
This page last updated: Sat Jul 8 09:35:47 2023
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