This could be one of the lamest reasons to go for a hike and I'm just going
to admit this up front. I happen to be looking at some stats provided on the
LoJ website and noticed that there are two calendar
dates for which I have no ascents with at least one peak having 300ft of
prominence,
Feb 29 being one of them. The other was Nov 4, which you'd think I might have
covered after 20yrs of doing this, but alas, no. I must go on a hike today or
this will stick in my craw for another year - no OCD issues here as you can
see. I decided to turn to Santa
Cruz County next door, knowing that Andrew Kirmse and David Sanger had visited
most of the peaks there and I could simply use their tracks. The peaks I
selected
were very minor, just over 300ft of prominence, no views and little of interest
to most peakbaggers, save the truly dedicated needing completion of some
arbitrary political boundary. Both summits were in the vicinity of
,
a quaint, hippy-ish mountain town along SR9 between Santa Cruz and Big
Basin. Lots of interesting folks in this neck o' the woods. I set out from San
Jose around 8a, taking about an hour to reach the start of the first peak.
Mt. McDonald
This peak is part of the Boulder Creek Scout Reservation, used by the BSA and
other groups for outdoor activities. Andrew and David's route starts from
outside the property on Highland Dr to the west. There are a number of ways
one can reach the summit using ,
use trails, and reservation
trails. I went up one way, down another. The summit is buried in redwood forest,
with several
found close by. I imagine these are used as part of
more rustic campsites away from the main facilities. It doesn't look like they
get much use anymore, possibly because of fire dangers.
Peak 1,580ft
This one is slightly more interesting. Andrew wrote of it:
just beneath the
summit where we found a 15' high impenetrable wall of poison oak. Scouting to
the left and then right we finally found a spot with less p.o. and more
manzanita that allowed us to crawl the last 100 feet or so to the wooded summit.
Miserable. I parked in the same place, but rather than crossing the creek as
they did, I walked up the road a short distance where the road goes over a
bridge, saving a little work. From there the route goes steeply uphill
to reach the West Ridge. No poison oak on
this first part. Once on the ridge, it gets a little brushy with some p.o. until
an and then they described are
reached. These make the rest of the hike a piece of cake. The buildings that can
be seen south across the canyon are greenhouses, part of a residence out of view
behind them. It seems far enough away that I can't imagine anyone noticing you,
or caring much, for that matter. With 300ft to go,
the road ends in the wall of p.o. described. I spent no time looking
for a way through it from the south as they did, figuring I'd circle around the
west side to approach from the north which they reported as much better. But
as I started to do this, I noticed some ,
some of them
more than an inch in diameter. I very quickly discovered a fine trail tunneling
through the manzanita to get me to
as easy as you could possibly
imagine. It was quite deluxe, cut high enough to stand up without hunching and
plenty wide, too, and only tens of feet from the miserable way they described
going. The cuts looked to be at least several years old so I'm not
sure how the others missed it on their visit. Of course I've done the very same
thing, so I guess I know that sometimes that's just the way it goes...
There were no views to be had from the summit, but some
on
the ridge during the ascent and descent. I was done shortly after 11a, taking
just under an hour for the 2mi effort. And with that I headed back to San Jose
where I had a lunch date with an old friend that would take up much of the
afternoon. Rough life.