Continued...
Jakob Peak/Peak 3,678ft
We'd spent the night camped on the gasline road that runs between the Newberry
and Rodman Mtns southeast of Barstow in the Mojave Desert.
There was active work going on to add a new gas line that we
discovered a few days earlier when we were hiking in the area, but we were out
of their way where we'd parked. We'd come back to tag a couple of peaks we
hadn't had time for on that earlier visit. Finding the point-to-point
arrangement work so well the past few days, we did so again today, leaving the
jeep at the finishing point on a spur road heading south from the gasline road,
only a few miles from where we'd camped. We then piled into Jeff's truck and
drove west and southwest on the gasline road to a point just before it drops
into Kane Wash. This put as at of the Northwest Ridge of our
first summit, unnamed Peak 3,952ft. The ridge makes for a nice, moderate ascent,
gaining 1,000ft in about 1.7mi. There is a good-sized to
climb through initially, but the route grows and quite
enjoyable soon after, taking us about 45min to to the
summit. Jeff was out in front and making his way to another point to the north.
I called for him to come back and join me at the correct summit (or at least the
one that was indicated on my GPSr from LoJ) which he did, but as we waited for
Karl I had to admit that the other point looked like a contender. After
, we went over to check out ,
finding it was 5-6ft lower based on differential GPSr readings. We left
at the southern highpoint, dubbing it JaKoB Peak in fine
Smatko style, using the initials of our first names.
Our second summit, Peak 3,678ft, was about 1.5mi to , plainly
visible across the intervening canyon. Our route was a bit out of the way to
avoid losing so much elevation, but turned out to be a nice route. After
descending the NE Ridge, we had along a relatively
flat mesa capped in dark lava rock originating from a small crater three miles
to the south, Peak 4,906ft. There is a small cliff on the east side of the mesa
that we needed to descend in order to reach the saddle with Peak 3,678ft.
Luckily, we found through it, pretty much in
line with the route to the saddle. As I started down through this break just
behind Jeff, I was suddenly stopped when I spotted . They
had been cut into the varnished lava rock facing east, many
in several locations. We as we
descended and we took about five minutes to look around the area for more and
to photograph the ones we found. We were careful not to disturb the petroglpyhs
and avoided touching them , but that didn't stop us from
joking about doing so.
We found more recent graffiti scratched in the rocks too, the oldest dated to
1901, but there were other names of more recent origin. We continued down the
, making our way and then
of Peak 3,678ft, gaining the summit shortly before
10a. There was a surveyor's wooden stick with a few guy
wires hanging loosely from the top. We took a second break here, perhaps 10min
all told, before and northeast
descending down where the
jeep had been left. We found an abundance of flowers in and
in the wash and along before exiting
a short distance from where we'd .
Finishing by 11a, Jeff and Karl decided they'd had enough for the day and would
head home. We dropped Karl off at his car left where we'd camped, after which
I drove Jeff back to retrieve his truck. For my part, I decided to continue
southwest on the gasline road to tackle a few more peaks on my own before
calling it a day.
Peak 4,525ft
This minor summit is located about a mile southeast of the Newberry Mtns'
highpoint. It is most easily accessed directly from the pipeline road to the
south, starting almost due south of the summit where the road goes
on the ridgeline. I drove almost an hour to reach this
starting point, having to negotiate through 3-4 sections of the pipeline where
on the new pipe. It's interesting that they keep
the road open to the public, obviously something negotiated with the BLM whose
land it runs through. The crews would have to stop working,
, and in one case, even
where they'd pile dirt in order to allow
passage. The hike itself took about 40min to reach with a
good view of the , and just about as long for the
return, all easy class 2. The
peak was not far from the route we took to reach Birthday Peak two days earlier,
and in hindsight this would have made a reasonable addition to that outing.
Peak 4,980ft
I next drove out to Camp Rock Rd and then southeast for 5.5mi to a signed
junction. I turned north and drove a few miles into the Rodman Mtns on a rough
spur to its apex at
between Peak 4,980ft and Camp BM. Karl and I had
been up this road two years earlier to tag Camp BM. At the time, I had tried to
talk Karl into the bonus peak on the west side of the saddle, Peak 4,980ft. He'd
had enough by that time and we were both making the 7hr+ drive home that
afternoon, so we left it. Today was the day to pick it up again. The easy hike
starts off as cross-country, but joins with an
for most of the way along the SW
Ridge. There doesn't seem to be any traffic on this
road any more, but it still appears useable. There is another road coming up
from the south that may also work, but that seemed more involved to get to and
I didn't give it much consideration. It took only 30min to reach
as it was, and just over an hour for the roundtrip effort.
Peak 5,240ft
Back at Camp Rock Rd, I continued southeast on the good road that leads to a
quarry at Peak 4,906ft. This is the same cinder cone that had spewed out the
lava that we had traveled upon during our morning hike.
is found
about 1.6mi south of the cinder cone and is easily reached from the good dirt
road leading to the quarry. There are no turnouts available, but the road is
to park along and still allow large trucks to pass. The approach
from the west was short, about half a mile, all cross-country but fairly tame.
The is dominated by the much higher Rodman Mtns HP found
only 1.5mi
to the south. After returning to the jeep, I drove north to the quarry where I
found .
The summit of Peak 4,906ft was only half a mile away at
this point and I considered hiking to it from the gate. But I noticed what
looked like a caretaker's quarters on a hill to the left overlooking the
property. There was a white truck parked there, giving me the impression that,
even though the quarry itself was closed, there was likely someone at the
residence to keep an eye on things. I decided not to take my chances and
drove off.
Peak 4,242ft
I spent much of the next hour driving out to the
utility road we'd used the previous
day and then southwest along the marine base boundary. While in good shape, the
road gets one pretty far from civilization and pavement. There are a few
to let you know you've officially reached "nowhere." Not far from this sign,
one is treated to a fine display of on the south side
of the Rodman Mtns. There were six summits
in the diminuitive Fry Mtns that I planned to hike the next day. When the road
reached a highpoint northwest of the first of these, I decided I had enough time
and energy for . It made for a nice finish in the late
afternoon, taking about half an hour to reach with the last
rays of the sun stretching across the desert around 6p. The Rodman Mtns
HP and Red Hill stood out to , the snowy San Gabriels not all
that far off to across Johnson Valley. After returning to
the jeep, I took a cool shower
and decided to camp the night where I'd parked, a lovely, quiet place where I
slept quite well...
Continued...