BLM land
(a rarity east of Interstate 5) and a good
gravel road reaches from paved Little Panoche Rd about five miles into the
range. There were about a dozen other vehicles found along the way, some
camping, some shooting, others wondering where this rain had come from. I drove
past the end of the gravel, intending to drive another 3-4mi to the start a
hike to some summits I hadn't been to before. I found
the dirt portion of the road slippery and somewhat dangerous as my jeep was
sliding about even in 4WD (and the rear lockers on), no guardrails at all. The
mud is a very sticky type, like liquid clay, and my 
mud tires
held no advantage
over bald ones in this instance. Mine was the only vehicle to drive out to
the end of the road where I would have started a 4.5mi one-way hike. When I
examined the ground in my boots, it was clear that this stuff would stick to the
soles and make for some of the worst hiking imaginable. I'd done this sort of
thing in Santa Barbara County before. If it was a mile or two, maybe I'd have
done it anyway, but I aborted. I would find something else to do. I
tagged the 
Panoche Hills HP
on 
the drive out because it was easy, less than a
quarter mile each way. I'd been to it twice before, so this wasn't really
offering me anything new. In drier conditions I might have been able to drive
to the summit, but today it gave me a modest workout.
After driving back out to Little Panoche Rd, I turned left and drove south a few
miles to where the road goes across Glaucophane Ridge. I'd been to the southern
highpoint some years earlier, but there was a northern one about 2mi from the
road. It would do nicely. Most of the non-BLM lands in the Panoche area are
used extensively for ranching, including all of the six mile-long Glaucophane
Ridge. I parked off the pavement at the closest point to the summit, a little
less than 2mi southeast of it. There were no active roads running along the
ridge, so little chance of being caught out and also no mud to deal with. I had
just slipped through 
the fence
when a white truck came rumbling by, but it
didn't stop. I was about a hundred yards further when another came by, this one
towing a cattle trailer. It slowed, stopped, then backed up to park off the
road. Not wanting to cause any trouble, I immediately returned to the roadway
to take my lumps. The driver was about my age, his son a passenger who let dad
do all the talking. I apologized for causing him trouble right off the bat as
a means to disarm him. He seemed pretty cool-headed, so we got along fine
after that. Turns out he wasn't the owner, but asked if I knew the owner.
I did not. After ascertaining that my motive was simply to go for a hike, he
made an interesting comment along the lines of, "Well, you're gonna do what
you're gonna do. I can't recommend that you continue, but... I hope you can
read between the lines," with a sort of half smile. I thanked him, watched him
drive off, then continued to go on the hike anyway. I wondered about this while
I climbed the easy gradient to the top of the rounded ridgeline where I had a
nice view of Panoche Valley to 
the south.
There I could see a new solar farm
that had been constructed since my last visit here. It was then that I
surmised that the surrounding land is probably owned by the solar farm's
owner, Duke Energy, in this case. I knew the project had been proposed as far
back as 2009 and the local ranchers were none too happy about it. I'm guessing
this guy I met might been one of the unhappy parties, but who knows. It was
all guesswork and I don't really know who owns the land I was walking on.
I saw no cattle, though there signs of recent use. Clearly the ridge and
surrounding lands are still used for grazing. The terrain is exceedingly easy
for cross-country travel, mostly closely-cropped grasses and some modest brush.
Small 
flowers added some color on an otherwise gray day.
There are no trees whatsover (as for most of the Panoche Hills), leaving open
views off both sides - Panoche Valley to the west, Little Panoche Valley to
the east. There are 
three points vying for the highpoint along this
northern half of the ridgeline. The first two have
spot elevations of 1,961ft and from my rough measurements, are probably the
highest points. The other, noted on LoJ as the highpoint of the ridge, is
located at the northern end and seems to be about 5ft lower than the other
points. The exact point didn't seem too concerning to me, especially since the
ridge makes for a very nice walk, even in the heavily overcast conditions found
today. The rain held off nicely through the entire hike as I
finished up
shortly before 1p. After driving back home, it would take several hours to get
all the mud off the jeep, one of the messiest cleanups I've had yet.
I think I'm going to have to give this place at least a few weeks to dry out
before giving it another try...