Continued...
I was on my way back from Red Rocks, having spent the night sleeping off a dirt
road somewhere east of Barstow. I got up at 5a to continue the drive west
towards home, but only managed about an hour of driving before I was feeling
tired again. So I pulled off somewhere west of Kramer Junction and slept for
another hour and a half. I was much more refreshed this time, feeling like
doing some easy hikes before heading home to San Jose. There are two summits
on either side of Hwy58 near Tehachapi Pass that I was interested in, Pajuela
Peak to the north and unnamed Peak 4,883ft to the south. The former is at the
far south end of the Sierra Nevada, the latter at the north end of the
Tehachapis. I'd seen them countess times on my way to and from the Mojave
Desert and would finally have a chance to pay them a visit.
Peak 4,883ft
I exited Hwy58 at Cameron Canyon Rd and found my way to the PCT crossing of
this road a few miles to the southwest. I parked at a small clearing and
headed out
around 8a. My first effort would be to Peak 4,883ft,
just above where the PCT tops out as it heads south across the eastern edge of
the Tehachapi Mtns. The slope here is composed of a great deal of sand which,
combined with some heavy local rains that washed out Hwy58 a few months ago,
has seen some serious erosion. has been repaired
both to a
local Boy Scout Troop (who probably supply the man-power) and the energy
company that installed the wind farm at the top of the ridge (and probably
supply the dollars), with some replacing
and some tread repair elsewhere.
are in places along the trail as it switchbacks a number of
times,
almost 1,000ft in about two miles. I left the trail near
where it , passing through a gate and sevice road used to
reach the along the ridge. was
non-spectacular, a grassy knoll not much higher than surrounding areas on
the broad ridgeline. The descent was far more interesting, utilizing one of
the
that more or less go straight down the ridge, making for a
super-fast return. I had to get out of the gully near the bottom to avoid
trespassing on someone's property near the road, traversing north back to
before returning to the car. The whole outing took only an hour and a half.
Pajuela Peak
This summit lies at the top of another large windmill farm, all on private
property. I started from the ,
climbing up steep, sometimes loose
for several hundred feet before reaching one of the dirt/gravel roads that
service a line of on Pajuela's South
Ridge. As I was hiking up this road I spotted a white company truck parked
at the base of the only windmill that was at a standstill. I quickly backed up
and got off the road, traversing a slope and climbing a gully to the east until
I was well above the truck. Back on the road, I continued up to about the
5,100-foot level, less than half a mile from the summit. My luck gave out as
the
came rumbling up the road and stopped to ask what I was doing.
No, this was not BLM land. All private. No, I could not continue to the summit.
They were nice about it all, but quite firm. Having radioed to headquarters
near the Sand Canyon exit, they were instructed to give me a ride back down
the mountain. This would be a problem, however, as my car was at the next exit
to the east and I'd have no way to legally walk from one to the other. Would
they let me walk back down the way I came? More consulting, and finally, yes,
that was acceptable. I briefly considered waiting until they were out of sight
before continuing anyway, but since they were nice about it I decided to play
fair and descend. Good thing I did, too, because I found that they had simply
stopped out of sight below to make sure I continued down. They didn't leave
sight of me
for good until I had descended nearly to the bottom of the service road. Next
time I'll do this as a moonlight hike...
Tomo-Kahni Park
Nestled north of Hwy58 and west of Sand Canyon Road is a little-known state
park called Tomo-Kahni, after an indian tribe that had a Winter Village here
long before white folks were around. Access to the park is restricted to
docented visits that must be arranged ahead of time. The village site and
pictographs are in the northwest part of the park, but I was interested in
, found in the SE corner, just off Sand Canyon Rd. I
found a place to
park on the southeast side of the the road just past the vet clinic (big red
barn), hiking north and northwest to the highpoint. The slopes had a vast array
of colorful in , and
. The summit area is comprised of some very large
, some of which are class 5. The
highest is class 3 from its SW corner, offering a bit of challenge
to what I expected to be another tame summit. of this block
is quite large and could hold dozens of folks comfortably while offering
unobstructed in all directions. After descending the block,
I continued west down ,
eventually passing over the park boundary
at an old fenceline and curving to the south. I was aiming for bonus
about a mile south of Tomo-Kahni. The route followed the ridgeline
between the two, passing near some trailers parked at the edge of a mesa before
dropping to a saddle between the two peaks just northwest of Peaki 4,510ft. I
followed an old, unused ranch road from the saddle to the top of this second
summit. The top was rounded and not much for views, save for a nice one looking
east to
as I was descending in that direction. I dropped down to
Sand Canyon Rd and hiked the half mile distance along the road back to the van,
finishing up before 1:30p. A nice half day effort before continuing the
remaining 5hr drive back to San Jose...
Continued...