My knee was doing better, though far from good, but more importantly I really
needed to get out on a road trip. It had been a month since I'd been anywhere
aside from local hikes. I decided to head north to tackle some P1Ks in the
Coast Ranges, elevations running from 4,000-6,000ft. This would be low enough
to avoid any snow (which I was afraid could tweak on my knee) and high enough,
hopefully, to avoid a mini-heatwave forecasted over much of the state. I didn't
leave San Jose until after 10a in an effort to avoid Bay Area traffic problems,
which for the most part was successful. It meant that I didn't get to Red Bluff
until 2p and several hours later before I had driven west on SR36 into the
mountains that form parts of the Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests.
Most of these hikes were fairly short in length, separated by stretches of
driving with the air-conditioner set on max. I brought along my mountain bike
for the longer stretches of road I might not be able to drive.
Many of the forest roads I
traveled, though steep, were graded for passenger cars, a surprising number of
them paved. A high-clearance or 4WD vehicle would have made things easier, to
be sure, but the van did nicely for all the summits I visited over four days.
Grouse Prairie/Copper Hill/Peak 4,845ft
This 5,000-foot P1K is reached via Forest Road 14 (aka Flume Gulch Road) off
SR36. The graded road runs for six miles to a saddle, climbing 2,000ft in the
process. The first 4mi are nicely paved. At between Grouse
Prairie and Copper Hill, I drove a short distance further towards the former
before ruts in the road made me think otherwise. Starting off around 5p, I
planned to ride the 1.5mi distance to the summit. I got only a few minutes up
the road before I was stopped by across the road, however,
and without much desire to lug the bike over the large trunk, I left it there
and hiked to the summit instead. I found
just off the road in a tangle of brush in a
partial clearing. Surrounding trees left no views whatsoever, the common theme
for many of these peaks that see little love from peakbaggers. Though I found
no register, I knew from ListsofJohn that John Vitz had logged an ascent. I
returned to the bike and moved both it and the van back to the saddle just down
the spur road where I set off on foot for Copper Hill and Peak 4,845ft. With one
hovering just under 300ft of prominence and the other just over, these were
obscurities. Rather than precision P1King like I'd done in the past, of late
I've been pausing to find other nearby summits before blasting off for the
next P1K. Fifteen minutes up a (high-clearance could
drive to the top) saw me at the . No copper, no views
here. I found some old (no longer driveable) that took
me to Peak 4,845ft about a mile to the southeast in half an hour. Some
, but otherwise it was not too hard to reach this unnamed
with no views.
South Fork Mountain
A few miles to the east lies South Fork Mountain, a 40mi-long ridgeline
separating the Mad River and South Fork Trinity River drainages. At the south
end it tops out at the 6,000-foot Horse Ridge Lookout while 30mi to the north is
Blake Mtn, barely 100ft lower. SR36 goes over the middle of the ridge at just
over 4,000ft. I drove to this saddle and headed northwest along paved South
Fork Mtn Rd (Forest Road 4N12, eventually becoming Forest Road 1) more than
16mi to Blake Mtn, with more than 1,800ft of prominence. Along the way I stopped
at three other minor peaks, none of them, including Blake Mtn,
were more than about 10 minutes' effort, round trip. Norse Butte was the first
of these, only a few minutes up the road from SR36. I drove until I was due
north of the summit, parked at , and hoofed it
up the steep hillside without any real brush to deal
with. was a tangle of downfall where a large tree is found.
No views, of course. Back on the road, I continued along the scenic road,
for short visits to Peak 4,840ft and Peak 5,640ft in
succession. The former actually had a nice view off to where
the sun was getting reading to set, while the latter was another
at a small rock outcrop surrounded by trees. The sun
before
I reached the last stop for the highest point, Blake Mtn. It was 9p, but because
of the approaching summer solstice, it was still light enough to hike the short
distance without a headlamp, though barely. I found my way to a
where I found a register left by Barbara/Gordon
. John Vitz had visited along with Dennis
Poulin in 2014 and another party in 2015. I'm
not sure this was the highpoint, however, as I found another, larger rock
outcrop about 100yds to the northwest that appeared to be 5-10ft higher
according to the GPSr. I scrambled up that one in the fading light, looked
around but found no second register, and then returned the short distance to
the van.
I had planned to spend the night here near Blake Mtn but since I'd already
visited the summit I decided to use the next hour or so to do some nighttime
driving to position myself for the next day's first outing. I drove back down
to SR36, crossed the highway and drove another 8mi southeast along Forest Road
23, the first six miles of which were paved (but lots of potholes). I eventually
stopped at a large puddle in the road. In all likelihood I could have driven
across this one, but I did not relish the idea of getting stuck in a mud hole.
By now it was 10:30p and I'd had a pretty full afternoon/evening. I pulled out
of the road to a clearing on the west side and went about setting up my
bedding in the back of the van. I was still more than six miles from Horse
Ridge Lookout, but the bike I'd brought along would help to make the next day's
first outing easier...
Continued...