Continued...
I had planned to spend three days in the Southern Sierra but ended up going home
halfway through the second one. It was simply too warm for me to spend all day
hiking in the hills and I found myself mostly spent before noon.
I had camped the night along Chimney Basin Rd, a long, 15mi spur road that used
to circle around Chimney Peak in a large loop but was blocked by a landslide
some years ago. The first two peaks were located within the Chimney Peak
Wilderness, the others in the adjacent Owens Peak Wilderness.
Peak 7,139ft - Peak 7,434ft
I had gotten up early at 5a while it was still dark in order to take maximum
advantage of the cool, early morning temps. I drove a few miles from my campsite
to a suitable parking location along Chimney Basin Rd near the two peaks. When
I
at 5:40a, it was just light enough to not need a headlamp. The
counter-clockwise route went across brushy flats to the base of Peak 7,139ft
on its northwest side. The gradient is steep and steady, gaining more than
1,000ft in half a mile. The footing is decent but somewhat sandy, the forest
understory moderately brushy. It took about 50min to find my way to
with an open view into the Domelands area to
, nicely lighted by the early morning sun. I spent the next hour
making my way northwest in a fairly direct line to the higher
. This involved a desending traverse on the east side of
Peak 7,139ft's North Ridge, then crossing the drainage between the two peaks
where trickled back out towards Chimney Peak Rd. This
was followed by a second 1,000-foot climb up Peak 7,434ft's SW Slopes, the lower
portion steeper than the earlier climb, but rolling off in the upper half.
One could see snows around Olancha and Langley on the Sierra Crest far to
, and more of the Domelands visible to . Views
east take in Chimney Peak and environs, but these were washed out by the sun not
far above the horizon. I found no registers on either peak but
on the higher one as marginally more deserving. As I started off the summit to
descend , I found some scattered
about a small area. Perhaps a sign of arrowhead making in past centuries by the
natives hunting in the area? It was 8:15a by the time I had to
the jeep, a good three mile effort in cool temps.
Peak 7,125ft - Peak 6,936ft
I spent the next 40min driving back out to Chimney Peak Rd and then to the
.
Like the Long Valley CG the day before, it was closed by the
BLM due to COVID-19, but again I drove in to use it for parking at the far
east end. This would get me to within a mile of Peak 7,125ft, and combined with
Peak 6,936ft would make for another 3mi outing. Peak 7,139ft lies just west of
the Sierra Crest while the lower Peak 6,936ft lies directly on it. It was this
that had drawn me to visit the peak, part of a years-long quest to visit all
the summits on
CA's Pacific Divide. There is a
use trail of sorts that starts from the campground, climbing
between
two drainages of Chimney Creek. The route start off with a gentle gradient that
grows progressively steeper the higher one goes. Some obstacles along the ridge
are easily avoided on one side or ,
the ridge eventually disappearing
in a muddle of broken aretes and rocky features on the west side of Peak 7,125ft
where the route grows steepest. I aimed for a class 2 break between cliff
sections that got me to the north side of the summit rocks, so far all class 2.
The final 50ft or so to the top requires some easy class 3, circling around to
either the east or south
side of the summit. I found the PVC register described by James Morehouse from
his 2018 visit, water and fire damaged and .
I pried apart a
few pages to see that it dated back to at least the early 1990s and probably
quite a bit older. It was too bad that the contents were unsalvageable. There is
a nice view to to Chimney Meadow, bordered on the north side
by paved Kennedy Meadows Rd. Chimney Creek once flowed out to the east through
Ninemile Canyon, carving an impressive drainage on the eastern escarpment. In
more recent geologic times, a second channel was carved to the south through
Chimney Meadow, around the east side of Peak 7,125ft and
the Chimney Peak CG and then into of the Kern River.
This change meant that Chimney Peak and other points which were once on the
Sierra Crest, were now left well to the west of the "new" section of Sierra
Crest.
After a short rest, I
along the connecting ridgeline to Peak
6,936ft, about 2/3mi distance. Due to brush and rocky obstacles, I couldn't
follow the ridge directly, staying on the sunnier and slightly less brushy south
side of . It would take about 45min to cover the distance
between the two thanks to the difficulties. I found no sign of a register on
this peak so I had carried in my pack. A lower sub-summit to
blocks much of the view of Ninemile Canyon and the eastern
escarpment. The point probably would have had better views, but it seemed too
far to bother. It was nearly 11a and getting quite warm despite the elevation,
and I was finding my energies flagging. In order to avoid the extra work in
going back over Peak 7,125ft, I descended Peak 6,936ft to the WSW to traverse
low on the south side of the first peak. This worked out pretty nicely with
than I'd been treated to earlier, and I managed to
to the jeep in about 45min's time. I was
really surprised at just how tired I was though it wasn't even noon yet. I had
a group of five summits to the north of Chimney Meadow that I had planned to
do in the afternoon, but was now feeling too tired to manage. I could wait out
the afternoon and then do them the next morning before going home, but that
seemed like a long, tedious half day of waiting out the afternoon sun. Relaxing
is not one of my strong suites. And so I decided to pack it in and drive back
to San Jose with the remaining daylight instead. Those other five summits would
wait for another time...