unnamed P900
at the southern tip of the
Tehachapi Mountains, exploring two options to reach it. Dirt roads lead to the
summit from the west off Interstate 5 at Lebec, but most of this side is
Tejon Ranch property and well-gated. There didn't seem to be any innocuous
place to park the van and no easy way to walk in without the possibility of
drawing undo notice. Unhappy with the options I found here,
I then drove around to the east side off SR138, a longish detour to reach near
the Oso pumping plant for the west branch of the LA aqueduct. This lone road
has a few isolated homes, some aqueduct traffic and lots of sign to let you
know you're not welcome. It doesn't help that the 
west side of the
mountain is
also the site of an active cement plant. I decided this might be best left as a
night hike. But what to do with half a day I still had left?
I recalled vaguely that I had not actually reached the P1K on Liebre Mountain, a long ridgeline running atop the Liebre Range just south of the Tehachapis. There are two closed contours about 3/4mi apart, with the HPS summit to the east alongside the PCT. Others have determined that the west summit is actually higher and while this has little bearing on the HPS list and their choice to represent it, it does place the prominence crown specifically on the west summit. I also knew that both summits are vaguely defined with poor views, so getting the right location was key. I was happy that I could get cell reception there on the edge of Antelope Valley along SR138 and pulled up the coordinate for the west summit from the Internet. Armed with this info loaded into my GPS, I headed up the Old Ridge Route where it branches from SR138.
This old road is a small wonder in its own right. Connecting Santa Clarita
Valley in the south to Antelope Valley and the Central Valley (through Gorman
and Lebec) to the north, it was marveled as an engineering wonder when it was
opened in 1915. It was supplanted by the old US99 (the Golden State
Hwy) in the 1930s and then Interstate 5 in the 1960s. Portions of
the Old Ridge Route are still drivable though the road is badly worn and
potholed. Built primarily of concrete, it is impressive that it has lasted
in these rugged hills after almost 100yrs. The first two miles north of SR138
are still maintained as far as the Quail Lake Fire Station and the junction
with Pine Canyon Rd. At this junction there is a 
spur road,
paved but poorly maintained that runs west up to the summit of nearby
Bald Mountain. I managed to drive the van to the summit to add it as
a bonus - the only summit I visited this day with a 
full view.
There are several
communications towers located here, the largest maintained by the City
of Los Angeles for some nebulous "Internal Services Department" as depicted on
a sign found there, complete with a bunch of
politician's names who probably voted for the construction funds but otherwise
had little to do with Bald Mtn.
Back at the Old Ridge Route, I drove about a mile further on the
unmaintained portion
heading south before deciding it was too rough for my van. Several
miles further along is a junction with a dirt road leading to the summit ridge
of Liebre Mountain, allowing those with sufficiently muscled motor vehicles to
make a drive up of it. I would not be joining that crowd. Instead, I noted an
old fire road running up the northwest side of the mountain and decided to use
that as a way to reach the summit ridge. (As an aside, the shortest route to
both the east and west summits without a high clearance vehicle is actually up
the PCT further east along Pine Canyon Rd. I chose to approach from the west
since I'd already been up the PCT route back in 2005.) After starting up the
fire break
I noted that there is also a single track trail that winds its way
up the side in a much more elegant manner. It appears open to motorcycle
traffic, but it must be a tough ride with encroaching brush in places that makes
getting handlebars through a real challenge. I used the steep fire break for
the ascent and the switchbacking single track on the way back.
Just before reaching the ridgeline, I turned left off the fire break where
the 
single track trail
crossed my path. I followed this rather than the more
mundane road for more than an hour, a scenic tour through varying terrain of
oak woodlands and 
thick chaparral with periodic
views off the north and south
sides. It took about an hour and a half to reach
the west summit. As expected, it was not obvious, and I first followed some old
blue flagging
to a clump of brush further west before finally making my way to
the 
actual highpoint. Richard Carey had left 
a register in
2006 with 16 pages
now filled. How Richard Carey and party managed to use a sight level to
determine the highpoint was a bit of a mystery (or rather, a degree of surveying
skills I didn't possess). I decided it was worth visiting the HPS summit to the
east to see what difference my GPS could ascertain. Though I didn't have the
HPS summit coordinate, I was able to find it without much trouble at
all, relying on my 10yr-old memory from the previous visit. 15min later I had
found the 
small cairn
just off the PCT with another register, this one left by
a Mars Bonfire party 
in 2010. Half the entries on the three pages were
repeat visits by Mars.
Again there were no views to be had, but even if there were I'd
have been out of luck as I found myself enveloped in a cloud layer hanging over
the higher elevations. Temperatures were dropping and would be in the 40s before
I returned to the van. I checked the GPS at the HPS summit and then again at
the west summit on my return and determined that the west summit appears to be
about 10ft higher - pretty much in line with what others have found.
On the return I followed the 
ridgeline road in places where I had
taken the trail, and as mentioned earlier, followed 
the traill
on the descent where I had
taken the fire break, just for the change of pace. It was nice not to have to
bushwhack for any of the 10mi+ I covered over the four hours. It wasn't the
outing I had been expecting to have when I left home in the morning, but one I
enjoyed nonetheless. I took a cool shower before heading back to I-5 and south
into the Los Angeles area. I found my way to Big Tujunga Canyon in the San
Gabriel Mountains where I spent the night near the Gold Canyon Truck Trail
junction. I planned to start the next day with a hike to Yerba Buena Ridge, the
last P900 I had left in this range...
Continued...