Continued...
The second of a short, two-day roadtrip to far Northern California was another
collection of short hikes designed to give my recovering right knee an easy
workout while exploring some new territory in the state. I was chasing down
P1Ks and CC-listed summits which started off
well enough, but got bogged down when snow made several of the planned summits
inaccessible (by easy means, anyway). I found some alternatives to keep me busy
until about 2p when I started for home.
Peak 3,855ft
All of the day's peaks were found north of SR96 and the Klamath River, in the
Siskiyou Mountains that straddle the border between California and Oregon.
Dennis Poulin of Medford, OR seems to have been the consumate peakbagger in the
area, having visited more peaks than anyone else by a long shot. He had many
helpful TRs and GPX tracks on the PB website, useful to know if visiting the
area. The first four peaks are all found along the miles-long Johnny O'Neil
Ridge just north of the highway and east of Seiad Valley. I had driven up the
evening before, spending the night at the saddle between the first two peaks,
both P1Ks. Unnamed Peak 3,855ft has a road reaching to , the
last part a bit rough. The summit is shown on the 7.5' topo map as a Comm Site,
but the only thing there are two giant rectangular
that look like drive-in movie screens. It seems doubtful these are still in use,
but nobody seems to be in a hurry to dismantle the unsightly things. Views from
the summit are a bit limited, by there were snowy views to
Tom Martin Peak and to Red Buttes. I had hoped to visit Red
Buttes today,
but the amount of snow that could be seen showed it to be too early in the
season yet it would have to wait for another time. Similarly,
CC-listed Lake
Mountain is not far from Tom Martin Peak, but snow on the north flanks would
mean a road blockage higher up - I didn't attempt either of these drives.
Johnny O'Neil Ridge
I had only a short drive from the previous summit. Forest Route 46N60 traverses
Johnny O'Neil Ridge from Horse Creek to Saied Valley, an excellently maintained
dirt/gravel road. It passes to the south of the ridge's highpoint, within about
1/3mi, but leaving a 600-foot ascent. I at a wide spot in the
road and went up through open but steep and loose forest
understory. is buried in trees leaving nary a view, but I
left anyway.
Peak 4,020ft
Back at the jeep, I continued west along the forest road, noting there were two
relatively easy bonus peaks elsewhere on Johnny O'Neil Ridge. Peak 4,020ft has
a spur road going nearly to the top, passing just west of the highpoint. I found
the road about a mile from the summit, but since it
was mostly on road, I figured it wouldn't put much strain on the knee. The hike
along was easy, as expected, but so was the final short
distance along the South Ridge which was neither steep nor brushy. No views from
this summit, either.
Peak 3,159ft
This unnamed summit located about 2.7mi southwest of Peak 4,020ft is at the
western edge of Johnny O'Neil Ridge. This one has a spur road getting to
within 3/4mi at on the peak's NE Ridge. From there, I was
happy to find a very decent trail leading all the way to .
There was a good deal of found in the upper stretch, the
first significant amounts
of the stuff I'd seen over the past few days. I stepped cautiously through
this section, again finding a summit with no views. It was only 9:15a by the
time I to the jeep, having already visited four summits.
Peak 3,420ft
The next two summits would not go quite so easily, and almost two hours would
pass before I was hiking again. After returning to the highway at Seiad Valley,
I got gas ( there are only two stations on the highway west of Yreka that I
found - at Saied Valley and Happy Camp) and continued west. There are numerous
found along the way indicating
the residents
aren't all that excited about their river becoming part of a Siskiyou Crest
National Monument, first proposed almost 10 years ago. A number of the residents
also believe they'd be better off without the shackles of the predominantly blue
state of California, wishing instead to form the red state utopia of Jefferson. Not sure what to make of it
all, but I'm glad they aren't shooting outsiders, at least yet. I was heading to
Happy Camp and from there more forest roads to reach
CC-listed Baldy Mtn and
Boulder Peak, both around 6,000ft in elevation. There is a road reaching to a
lookout near Baldy Mtn, so as expected it to be in good condition. I was stopped
with more than 3mi remaining when I ran into snow at the 3,500-foot level, much
lower than I had found the day before to the east. Seems they got a lot more
snow in these parts than the areas I had visited the previous day. Dang - I
needed a plan B. I found it in Peak 3,420ft, an unnamed summit with more than
700ft of prominence - not the P1K I'd been hoping for, but it would do in a
pinch, and there was no snow on this one. I had to drive a few miles back down
the switchbacking road I'd driven up, then off on another spur towards my new
objective. Once again I was stopped, this time by a road washout. It almost
looked like I could get past , but not 100yds further
the road has been to any form of motorized
transport. This left me with about a mile of hiking to reach the peak. I
followed the continuing road past the washout, then that
traverses the southwest side of the peak. This road ends on the shoulder of the
SW Ridge, leaving less than 1/5mi of cross-country up to the summit, an easy
enough effort in . The was once
again buried in forest with no views, but by now this was to be expected and
not really a big disappointment. On the return I decided to go along
, more cross-country, but not troublesome at all and I
found it an enjoyable alternative to the road.
Williams Point
I drove back down to Happy Camp and started east as I was now about 50mi from
Interstate 5 - it would be a long drive home. I decided to stop for one last
summit, Williams Point, tucked between the highway and the Klamath River. The
highway goes over a saddle northwest of Williams Point and a spur road goes a
short distance towards the summit before ending in a wide,
that would probably make a nice campsite. Parking here,
I was about 2/3mi from the summit and it would take only 20min to reach the top.
A decent makes its way along the NW Ridge all the way to the
top. There is a lot of to watch out for along the way.
Surprisingly, I found in a small collection of rocks at the
top, left by Bighorn Bill in . I had last seen one of
his registers the previous year - most of his efforts seem to be in the
mountains and hills east of Interstate 5, but it seems he's made some trips out
west, too. I was by 1:45p and decided that was about
enough for the day. I showered where I'd parked before starting the 7hr drive
home. It's obviously a lot shorter to Medford, OR, so I can see why Dennis made
so many trips to this scenic area...