Continued...
With a free day in the Bridgeport area before the start of the Sierra Challenge,
I decided to head up to the
Sweetwater Range to tag a handful of unnamed summits, none
of them particularly outstanding. The highest, Peak 10,452ft, lands on the
oddly-designed "Calfornia non-Sierra 10,000-foot summits" list. I've got a few
of these left to complete, so this was an excuse to whittle away at it. It was
more of a driving exercise in the Jeep than a hike,
highly enjoyable save for the crappy views
due to the fires in and around Yosemite. None of the peaks required a hike of
even half a mile, so I've included the hiking and driving in one GPX file. The
main road into the area is well-graded Burcham Flat Rd off US395 north of
Bridgeport. Most cars can reach as high as Lobdell Lake, but various roads
branching off from there require high-clearance. There were several herds of
lazing about, but otherwise I had the place to myself.
Peak 10,452ft
Shortly before reaching Lobdell Lake, a spur road forks on the right, going up
and around the west side of the summit. I where the road tops
out (it continues south to a saddle and beyond, not shown on the topo map) and
climbed easy 0.4mi to the .
There was a register left by Paul Garry .
All of the half dozen parties to sign in had at least one recognizeable name.
Peak 9,380ft
The next three peaks are all past Lobdell Lake.
is furthest, with a moderate road going nearly over the summit. There is a
small where it comes closest, with about 100yds of hiking
through open forest to . The highest point is among some
brush and rock, not terribly inviting.
Peak 9,558ft
The middle of the
three, Peak 9,558ft has no road going up it, but one does pass within 0.35mi on
the southeast side. I and went up the sagebrush slopes (no
real bushwhacking, even when it gets thicker near the top). There was
at the highest rocks under a bush. There are open views
to from the summit.
Peak 9,540ft
This peak overlooks on its northwest side. A spur road
gets one within 0.2mi of the summit on the northeast side. I
where the road normally ends at a campsite, but motorcycle tracks can be seen
climbing higher up the mountain. An easy hike, mostly through dry forest, gets
one to the .
Peak 9,967ft
This one is the furthest south of the five,
with a spur road starting well before Lobdell Lake.
The spur road takes one within 0.2mi of the summit on the southwest side. The
Forest Service has blocked off to vehicle traffic,
but it's easy to hike the sandy road to . There is
another point 2/3mi to the south of nearly the same height. During my visit,
this other point was
under construction for additional telecom installations (there's already a cell
tower on it), including a large crane, numerous trucks and a bevy of workers.
Continued...