This was the start of a six-day roadtrip to the North Coast Region, my fifth
trip to the area in a little over a month's time. This would be the longest,
allowing me to get to some of the really deep peaks off SR96 in the NW corner
of the state. I was primarily out hunting prominence and
CC-listed summits, but
I would throw in an occasional Wilderness HP and a bunch of easy bonus peaks if
they were in the vicinity.
Mule Mountain
This is a fairly low-elevation P900 west of Redding and southeast of Whiskeytown
Lake, on BLM lands. It's a popular area for mountain bikers with a a whole
network of trails, and turns banked for bikes. One can park
at the end of Delano Dr where there is a gravel . The area
in the huge 2018 Carr fire the previous summer, so it's not
so pictureque these
days. It was 82F when I started around 10:40a after a 4-hour drive from San
Jose. It would be over 90F before I finished, making it less pleasant than it
might otherwise be. The good news is there are maintained trails all the way to
the summit - no need to bushwhack on this one. It took an hour and ten minutes
to make my way to the summit, a distance of just under 3mi. The
near the beginning were trivial. There is a picnic bench
at just below the summit and another one
with fairly open views. Bully Choop and Shasta Balley rise high to
, burned over in the same fire. To can be
seen Whiskeytown Lake, and Mt. Shasta can be seen just poking above the horizon
to .
Eastman BM
An hour of driving got me within a short distance of this P1K located in the
southern end of the Trinity Mountains, roughly between Trinity Lake and
Whiskeytown Lake. At nearly 5,000ft elevation, temperatures were in the 70s
here and much more manageable. The roads around here are well-maintained,
useable by most any vehicle. Much of this area had burned in the same fire as
Mule Mtn, though there were pockets of trees that had survived and they would
help regenerate the landscape over the coming decades. I parked at the base of
where a motorcycle track allows clear access to the summit
via a short but steep climb, taking about 20min to reach the bare,
. There are snowy views of the Trinity Alps to
and Mt. Shasta to .
Peak 4,635ft
After returning to the jeep, I continued south on the good road that follows the
crest and the boundary between Trinity and Shasta Counties, heading towards
Hoadley Peaks. Peak 4,635ft is an easy bonus roughly halfway between. I parked
at the saddle on the north side and hiked about a quarter mile along an old,
rough firebreak to the summit. The twin summits of Hoadley Peaks could be seen
to and Eastman BM to . To
was the small rise that comprises Brunswick Ridge which I visited next.
Brunswick Ridge
With little prominence, I would have skipped , save for the
fact that I could drive the jeep to , a short but fun little
exercise. A transmission tower lies atop the open summit with
to Whiskeytown Lake.
Hoadley Peaks
anchor the southern end of the Trinity Mountains before
the ridge drops down to SR299 at buckhorn Summit. The northern summit is the
highest, sporting almost 800ft of prominence, , and
. The southern summit has a and
. I parked off the roadway where it passes just below the
saddle between the two summits on .
I hiked up an old motorcycle track to the saddle, then visited the two summits
in turn before returning. About 40min was all that was needed to complete the
circuit to both points.
Sugar Pine Mtn
These last two summits were a pair of prominence points within the Hoopa Indian
Reservation another two hours' drive west along SR299. The Trinity River flows
north through the center of the reservation on its way to the confluence with
the Klamath River along SR96. The Trinity flows through Hoopa Valley where
most of the residents live. There are some homesteads in the hills on either
side, but these are generally not far from the valley floor. On a trip a year
earlier, I had been able to drive through the reservation to access the Six
Rivers NF lands around North Trinity Mtn to the east of the reservation, finding
no gates and no signs for No Trespassing. This would be the same experience I
found today. The roads were in decent shape that any vehicle could manage. At
just under 4,000ft, Sugar Pine Mtn is the highest point in the western half of
the reservation. A good road passes within 1/5mi of the summit on the east side,
making for short cross-country hike through and
at the summit.
Peak 3,160ft
This unnamed P900 lies about 8mi north of Sugar Pine Mtn. I had to first drive
back down to Hoopa Valley, then along a paved road to the north end of
Hoopa Valley. The road then begins to switchback up the hill, passing a number
of homesteads. Some cattle were found munching lush grass in various places
including a boatyard and other unconventional pasturelands. The pavement gives
way to dirt past the last home and then several more miles as
passes
east and north of the highpoint. The forest here is considerably brushier and
though only a roundtrip distance of less than half a mile, it took some stomping
around and circuitous route-finding to find my way to and
back. No views on this one, either.
It was after 8p when I got back to the jeep where I showered in a hurry while
fighting off mosquitoes. They would be a nuisance for only the hour or so around
sunset, not really being an issue at other times of the day. I drove back
down to Hoopa Valley once again, filling up on gas (quite a bit cheaper than
anywhere else in the state) and some snacks before continuing north on SR96. It
would be nearly 10p by the time I had found a quiet place to camp and had eaten a quick dinner. Busy as today was, tomorrow would be even busier...
Continued...