At the start of a six-day roadtrip to Joshua Tree, I spent the
first day visiting summits on the west side of San Bernardino
County, around the El Mirage OHV area. The OHV area is huge, with
many, many trails and a $15 access fee for the day, managed by
the BLM. There is only one entrance, found on the south side near the
community of El Mirage, though I knew none of this beforehand. In fact, only
one of the peaks is within the OHV area, and can be accessed by
foot from outside to save the entrance fee. The last three summits
are found in the Lucerne Valley area along SR18. None of the hikes
were hard, the longest about a mile each way, most of them about
a 1/4mi. I used all the available daylight before driving
east on SR247 to the Johnson Valley area where Karl would meet me
later in the evening.
Red Buttes East
I had been to , the higher of the two summits seven
years earlier, today I was coming back for the lower eastern
summit with little prominence. I'd slept the night off US395,
rising in the morning after 7a to start my day. High-clearance
vehicles can drive to the site of at the base
of the two summits. Otherwise there's another 1/2mi hike from the
good dirt access road. The abandoned and abused house that was here on my
previous visit has been mostly removed, though the area is still pretty
trashed with broken glass and ammo casings littering the grounds. The hike
to is short and easy. Both summits can be done together
in less than an hour's time.
Peak 3,996ft
The Shadow Mtns are a small range about 8mi south of Red Buttes.
I drove back out to US395, then used the good dirt Shadow Mtn Rd
to access Peak 3,996ft south of Silver Peak. Barbara Lilley had
visited this summit with Laura Newman only nine days earlier, and
it was this that had enticed me out to the area. I had visited
the higher summits of the Shadow Mtns in 2011, and others in 2016,
but had missed four others in the area, starting with this one.
I followed a rougher dirt road south from Shadow Mtn Rd, following
the boundary fenceline of the OHV area to the base of Peak 3,996ft
on of the mountain. Though the hike is short, it is
somewhat steep - I was quite impressed that Barbara managed it at
91yrs of age. Richard Carey had left a register here with Jeff
Moffat visiting in 2019. of two points (where the
register was found) appears to be the highest point.
Sunday BM
This one is about 7.5mi northwest of Peak 3,996ft. Good dirt roads
get you most of the way. A rougher road goes to with
Pt. 3,268ft, making for a short hike following
from the east. I didn't find the benchmark, nor a register. There
is a short distance north that appears to be 5-6ft
higher than the benchmark location. No register there either.
Nash Hill
Seven miles further south is . My on
the northeast side of the hill is a messy shooting area with tons
of bullet-ridden items including the shells of two ,
one that was somehow left . The
hike has some modestly . Someone rode a motorcycle
up much of the route, an impressive feat.
Resurrection Hill
This is the only peak found inside the OHV area. It would have
been inconvenient to find the entrance road and then backtrack to
the hill's location on the west side of the area. Instead, I
parked outside and walked the mile distance
to the small, . There are at least four roads leading
to , so for $15 you can have the privilege of making it
a drive-up. High-clearance and possibly 4WD needed for the ascent. Not far west
of where I parked a landowner was a eight-foot dirt wall
around his 100-acre property, presumably to keep out prying eyes. Desert folks
are interesting.
Deadman Point
This small point is found at the junction of SR18 and Bear Valley
Cutoff Rd, southeast of Apple Valley. Though exceedingly short, it
is a class 3 scramble on some to reach
. There are multiple ways to get to the top, including a
tight squeeze that I used on the way down. The area is
littered with bear cans and other trash. Efforts have been made to
paint over some of the graffiti at this popular party spot. I
liked on this one.
Peak 4,088ft
This one is found about 4.5mi east of Deadman Point, high in the
Granite Mtns. Access is via powerline roads off SR18 around
Fifteenmile Point, getting one about a mile from the summit,
starting from , north of dry Rabbit Lake. I found
some on this one, the hardest of the day, taking
about an hour roundtrip. I left at ,
shortly before sunset.
Pitzer Buttes
This last summit is found a few miles south of SR18 at Lucerne
Valley. The sun had set about 15min before , but it was
a of less than 1/5mi each way. I was treated to the
lights of scattered Lucerne Valley residents from the summit,
looking and . A few dogs barked up at me from their
homes on the east side, though the lighting was too weak for me to
see them. After to the jeep, I took a quick shower
before it was completely dark. I then spent about 45min driving
further southeast along SR247 before finding a quiet spot to
spend the night on the north side of the highway. I sent the
coordinates to Karl who was planning to meet me to hike in the
area the next day. A fun day...
Continued...