Continued...
Update 9/22/2023: It has been determined through LIDAR that Hayfork Bally's
HP is about half a mile to the east, NOT at the lookout. So it looks like I
will have to return to claim this one...
I'd spent the night parked just off Forest Road 16 on the Hayfork Divide, a
quiet enough place in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest that only a single
other vehicle came driving by during the night. Come morning the place came
alive as a bounty of hunters came to the area for the last weekend of deer
hunting season for Zone B. From what I can tell, hunters here are much like
others I've run into across the state - nice enough fellows, but they were
never more than about 10ft from their vehicles. Some would park and sit on a
stump aside the road waiting for the lucky chance to have a buck wander by.
Most would simply drive along the main road or one of its many branches, slowly
cruising while keeping a sharp eye out to the side of the road. Several took
this to deluxe measures, mounting cushioned chairs on the truck bed high enough
to sit above the roof of the cab, rifles ready in custom mounts between the
two seats. I imagine they took turns driving while the other two (or three)
sat mounted on the thrones, ever alert. Still others rode around on camouflage
,
rifles mounted on the hood. They all probably have a better chance of
winning the lottery than bagging a buck. In the three days I was out, I saw
only a few skittish does that took off fast at the sight of me. Still, these
fellows seem to be having a good time and at least their sport is less
silly-looking than a peakbagger's.
Hayfork Bally
This P2K is the highest summit in the area and the easiest to reach. Paved FS
Road 16 runs from SR299 at Big Bar all the way to the Hayfork Divide where I'd
spent the night (and it continues east over the divide some miles down to Big
Creek). A side road in excellent condition that any vehicle can drive goes all
the way to perched atop the summit some 4mi+ from the paved
road fork. The lookout was locked at the observation platform, currently
unmanned. The actual highpoint is about 20yds to of the tower
in a small rock outcrop where the remains of a and
several can be found. from the summit
are excellent, especially from the tower, though today there was much overcast
that combined with the early hour for .
Limestone Ridge - Hayfork Divide
The highpoint of the miles-long Hayfork Divide is found at its northeast end. I
had planned to follow the along the crest for 4.5mi from
where I had spent the night, but found that one can drive much closer by going
further along Road 16 on the east side of the crest combined with a side
gravel/dirt road to get . A better vehicle than mine (4x4,
high clearance) can actually . I enjoyed the hike
more as a way to stretch my legs after much driving on these windy forest roads
- this would be the longest hike of the day. I found a
from 2014 at , not all that
surprising considering its P1K status. An older fire (>5yrs?) had burned the
few trees about the summit area leaving in
. Haze and clouds continued to obscure things today,
however.
Pattison Peak
This P1K lies 6.5mi almost due west of Hayfork Bally. To reach it, it was
necessary to drive almost 20mi. As I started off from my
for Hayfork Divide, my low tire pressure indicator sent out an audible
alarm. It was showing low pressure, around 28psi, not flat, which was a
positive since it meant a slow leak. I drove back to my overnight spot where FS
Road 16 goes over the divide to . I have a selection of
tools and a repair kit for such cases, but found the
lugnuts far too tight for me to get off without a leveraging pipe. I had
recently gotten new tires and forgotten to check the torque on the lugnuts. I
asked a hunter who stopped to check on me if he had some sort of leverage, but
alas, no such luck. He let me know there was a tow truck down at Big Bar, but
that seemed an unlikely need. At worst I could probably keep adding air
periodically until I got back to Weaverville. Luckily it was a front tire and I
was able to turn the wheel to one side to expose a section of tire. I would then
check this area for the puncture, drive forward a
small amount and check the next section. After 3-4 times I found a small screw
that was the cause of the problem. This turned out to be way easier than
removing the tire. I had the hole repaired as the second hunter
stopped to offer assistance - they might be too attached to their vehicles, but
they
are a friendly bunch. I reinflated the tire and was on my way with
only a half hour delay. It took most of the next hour to drive the various
roads to Pattison. I had to a mile before the summit when the
road grew too , but up until that time the roads were
in great shape.
A recent fire had burned a large portion of and as
seems typical in these parts, the loggers were swift to sweep through with a
salvage operation. In places where the trees hadn't yet reached useful maturity,
the burn areas were left as they were with a -
everything in
the understory had burned along with most of the trees, but already there were
signs of new foliage springing from the charred trunks and spared root
structures. The road I hiked for the 1.4mi distance had been the front line in
battling the fire which burned up to the edge of the road and across it in a
few places, but it appears the fire was held at this line along the ridge. A
bulldozer had plowed a path up to the summit, a slope of loose, turned earth
that required some exertion to scale. had partially
burned over and I half
expected to find the remains of a toasted register, but found none. The fire
had opened up views some, allowing one of Hayfork Bally to
and a nice profile of the Trinity Alps to .
I was back to the van after an hour's effort.
Barker Mountain
With an extended stop in Weaverville for lunch, I spent the next three hours
getting
from Pattison to Barker though the straight line distance was less than 14mi.
Barker Mtn is located east of Hayfork Bally across the Big Creek drainage,
about 8mi NE of the town of Hayfork. Though a long drive from the pavement of
SR3, the Barker Mtn road is in excellent shape for the first 8.5mi
where it meets a major junction atop Farmer Ridge. The last 4mi on Dog Run
Spring Rd were in good condition and easily negotiated though at a slower
speed. The road actually ends shy of the summit about 1/3mi to the north of
the highpoint and I found a closer approach from the NE, about 1/2 that
distance. This mountain, too, had seen a recent fire as could be seen in the
around the summit. A
went straight up the side of the
mountain from where I parked and I used this to make my way to
in less than 10min. John Vitz had left
here in 2014 with two additional
entries this year from firefighting teams engaged in the Forks Complex fire
suppression efforts. It was interesting to note that if this had been in
Southern California they would have closed the forest for a year or two until
all the proper impact assessments can be made and public safety maximally
ensured. Here, they seem to put out the fire, leave, and let the public come
back whenever they feel like it.
Another hour's driving saw me back down to SR3 and then along Indian Creek Rd
where I spent the night at the base of Tylers Peak, the next day's objective.
This is , a bit less managed than the Forest Service areas I'd
been on most of the day. The immediate thing one notices is the road across
has no bridge, no concrete bed, nothing but rocks and water and sand. Even the
short road going down from the pavement to the water's edge is steep and loose
and looked unlikely that I could drive back up it. I was good with this, really.
It would make for a longer day but it seemed unlikely I'd find the assortment of
hunters I'd crossed paths with the last few days...
Continued...