Etymology Story

Continued...

Forest Road 2N49 follows the Pacific Crest (not to be confused with the PCT) on the long ridgeline extending southeast from Cajon Mtn in the San Bernardino Mountains. I had been on this ridge back in 2010 on my 50th birthday, tagging the collection of four HPS summits found along it. TomB had done a similar tour a few years later. Today I was interested in five unnamed summits that we had skipped, and since three of our companions hadn't been to any of the HPS summits, we would repeat those for good measure. The road is suitable for most high-clearance vehicles. We had camped the night at the start of 2N49, about a mile west of Silverwood Lake, at the end of paved Cleghorn Rd. Five of us were ready to head out in the morning at 7a, piling into the two Jeeps for the day's adventure.

Peak 5,220ft

This was our first stop after reaching the crest in about 15min. Less than 1/4mi from the summit, it seemed like this would be a quick one. The satellite view is promising, showing the west side of the peak to be mostly open terrain, while the east and south sides have heavy brush. What it doesn't show is that the west side is steep, dangerous terrain. We would have to thread a route up from the southwest. Because the brush was thick at the saddle where we parked, we had to first drop about 50ft off the north side to get around this initial blockage until we could traverse east across the slope and then work our way up. The five of us all took variations on the effort, splitting up, rejoining with one another, and mostly struggling with the brush. TomG favored the steeper terrain with less brush and was the first to reach the summit. Jeff and I reached the summit ridge south of the summit and spent some time finding a route through the dense brush found there. Much of Jeff's peakbagging was honed in Lake County's brush-covered summits, and it was clear that he had much experience in such terrain. He seemed to have a knack for finding ways through, so I let him forge ahead of me. TomB was in shorts and happy to let others beat a route through the scratchy stuff. Iris was some distance behind, but found the tunnel we'd forged through the brush. Bloodletting seemed unavoidable for everyone. We got to the summit in about 25min, finding brush well over head level and poor views. TomG collected rocks for a summit cairn we would leave a register in. Returning was much better, now that we'd beaten a path that looked like a trail through the densest parts. The roundtrip would take us more than an hour and our plans for a dozen summits was looking unlikely. It turns out that this was the only real bushwhack we had all day and the rest of the summits went much, much better.

Cajon Lookout - Cajon Mountain - Peak 5,420ft

We moved the Jeeps only about 1/4mi up the road to a junction with the road leading to the Cajon Lookout site. The road is in good condition but is gated to keep out vehicles. This one would not be easily defeated like yesterday's, leaving us with a mile-long walk out to the lookout site and Cajon Mtn. It was the longest of the day's outing, which isn't saying much. We spent about 20min hiking the road out to its end where a lookout once stood. There are a few small telecom installations, but no lookout anymore. A benchmark at the highpoint is labeled CALO, perhaps for CAjon LOokout. There are nice views of Cajon Canyon to the southwest and northwest. After a short visit, we backtracked on the road to find the clipped HPS route to Cajon Mtn. A first effort quickly dead-ended, but then we noticed a pair of small cairns marking the start further back on the road which turned out to be what we were looking for. The route was overgrown in places - not surprising when we found we were the first visitors of the year - but serviceable, and taking all of six minutes to find the summit. We found the Mars Bonfire register from 1998 with many, many entries, including previous visits by myself and TomB. We returned to the road and followed it nearly back to the gate, pausing for the more challenging summit on this hike, Peak 5,420ft.

The topo map shows an old road going up to the summit from the northwest, but there was no sign of this anywhere. The satellite view shows the summit ridge mostly clear, but getting there is a bit of a trick. The north side seemed to offer our best chance, and it was from this direction that we approached it. Our route went up steeply to start, then traversing east to avoid brush blocking access to the summit ridge. This led around nicely to the east side and then up to the summit ridge without any need to bushwhack, mostly on deer trails. Once on the summit ridge, there is a clear path and easy walking to reach the highpoint in about 15min. The highpoint is nicely open to views looking south and west, and we left a second register here. The satellite view appears to offer another option off the South Ridge which some of us wanted to explore. Since our vehicles were at the north end, TomB and I went back down the ascent route to retrieve them, offering to pick up the others at the saddle on the south side of the summit. This worked nicely for TomB and I, not so much for the others. The southside route works well for a while, but then devolves into a brushy mess. TomB and I chuckled as we watched them start into a wall of dense matter before retreating. Fortunately they didn't have to go back over the summit again, instead finding a bail route off the east side down to the road, after which they had merely to follow the road south to the saddle to find the vehicles. The north side route was definitely better, all agreed.

Peak 5,481ft

We drove a short distance further to a saddle east of Peak 5,481ft, only a quarter mile from the summit. Brush blocks the start along the East Ridge, but backtracking a short distance along the road finds one a deer trail that goes nicely up to the ridge where a better trail is found going all the way to the summit in less than 15min. Mark Adrian had left a register here two years earlier, our party the only other one to sign in.

Peak 5,514ft

The next peak in line is about a mile ESE of the previous one. A short drive to a saddle on the peak's NE side would be our starting point. Again, the start is a bit hard to find, but going through forest on the right soon leads up to the NE Ridge where a use trail leads to the summit, taking about 20min. It was pretty warm, so we sought out shade for our break before heading back the same way.

Sugarpine Mountain

A mile east of the previous peak, Sugarpine is an HPS drive-up with a sufficient vehicle, via a rough road forking from the saddle northwest of the summit. Ours vehicles proved sufficient, delivering us to the top without breaking a sweat. No register was discovered.

Bailey Peak - Bailey BM

Bailey Peak is an easy five minute hike from the saddle on its southeast side. There are summit rocks half-buried in the brush that have a class 3 move. We found a busy HPS register partly hidden on the north side of the rocks.

Bailey BM

Bailey BM is just south of Bailey Peak with a gated road leading to the summit. Our skilled locksmiths were able to defeat the lock and chain, allowing us to drive to the summit, or nearly so. There are telecom installations north and south of the class 3 summit rocks that are easily surmounted. The surrounding brush offers no real hindrance.

Peak 5,598ft

There is a spur road leading to the east ridge of Peak 5,598ft. The road is no longer driveable, but can be hiked in combination with a clear path up the East Ridge to reach the summit. We used a shorter route up from the saddle southwest of the summit where a faint use trail offers a clean path through the brush and forest. Mark Adrian had left a register on this one in 2021 as well. Just over ten minutes to reach the summit.

Monument Peak

This is another drive-up. There is a monument for the Mohave Indian Trail that was placed in 1931. A benchmark was added atop it in 1934. No register was found.

Jobs Peak

Jobs Peak is an ex-HPS summit located about 2mi northeast of Monument Peak. Getting between them appears easy, thanks to Forest Road 2N43 that descends Sawpit Canyon to the community of Cedarpines Park where Jobs is located. A sign indicating Road Closed had been set aside at the top of the canyon where we started down. It's not in the best shape, but any high-clearance vehicle should be able to manage it. Just before reaching pavement below, there is a washout that has undercut half of the dirt roadway. A stop sign on a tree marks the location. We got out to survey it, then decided we could get across with careful driving. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Not sure if they plan to ever fix this, but I could see it being permanently closed in the future. Jobs Peak is the highpoint of this mountain community with a water tank holding the highground. We drove to the top, noting the summit rocks are found inside the non-trivial fencing. I had gone over the fence on my first visit with Adam Jantz 13 years ago, so felt no need to breach it a second time. None of my companions felt the need either (especially with the area surrounded by homes), so we left it untrammeled and headed back to Silverwood Lake and our camp.

Continued...


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