Continued...
I was in the Stanislaus National Forest on the western slopes of the Sierra
Nevada for an overnight Jeeping & hiking adventure. The bigger day had been
the previous
one, with Dome Rock in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness as the primary goal.
Today's summits were a collection of mostly forgettable ones, located in the
heart of logging country on a mix of USFS and Sierra Pacific lands.
All were named summits with minimal prominence, requiring little effort to
reach them, other than the miles of driving on Forest roads.
Shumake Knoll
I had spent the night camped along Forest Rte 5N02, about half a mile south of
Shumake Knoll. After packing away my sleeping gear, I drove up the road to where
it goes over the west shoulder of Shumake Knoll. A spur road shown on the topo
map but no longer driveable goes to the summit. I at the junction
and walked the short distance to the summit on as the sun
was rising in the east. A 4-foot boulder with a small duck lies as
. Nothing much in the way of views. The most interesting
thing was a moderately-sized pine tree to which someone had nailed steel
crossmembers to form , purpose unknown. Perhaps done by a
hunter to get a better view from the summit? Less than 15min for the roundtrip
effort.
McKee Hill
This one lies about 3mi northeast of Shumake Knoll and about 400ft higher. A
large tree had fallen , still a few miles from McKee
Hill. Luckily it was a rotted tree and not very dense or heavy. I was able to
use my tow strap tied of the tree to pull it
, and was happy to find no other obstacles up the road.
I parked on the northwest side of the summit where the road gets closest, about
1/4mi. It was up to the summit, no real bushwhacking, just
lots of and a moderate amount of downfall. The summit
area is large and rounded, with partial views looking south. Someone had placed
ducks on the three or four highest boulders . About
25min for the roundtrip.
Thunder Hill
I spent about 45min driving from McKee Hill, along Forest Rte
5N34 on the east side of Thunder Hill, about 1/3mi from the summit. This was an
easier gradient than the last, more low vegetation and an .
There is a , some views to . 20min for
this one.
Repeater Hill
This summit is located within Calaveras Big Trees State Park. I spent about
20min , but was eventually stopped by a
on the eastern boundary of the state park, due to
heavy equipment in use in the area. Since it was Saturday, I figured there would
be no work going on, and heard nothing to indicate otherwise. The road is closed
by a simple wire gate which I could have driven into, but decided to do the
1.2mi walk to get a bit more exercise. It's an easy hike
into the park and slightly downhill to Repeater Hill. I stopped enroute to visit
the state park highpoint which is positioned close to the eastern edge where
the topo map shows a local highpoint. Judging by the topo, the highpoint should
be just off the road at a slight uphill, but the contours are wrong here, and
the highest point is actually along the roadway to the east of the fictitious
contour. I wandered about the forest on either side of
before deciding it was rather silly and returned to the road. I continued down
past of large , sitting idle on
either side
of the road. Repeater Hill was about a quarter mile further, a small rise just
northwest of the roadway. I expected to see some telecom equipment here based
on the name, but there was nothing to be found under or around
. On , I found walking the road ahead of me in the same direction. I followed it for a
short while without it sensing my presence. As I got closer, perhaps within
about 20yds, I called out, "Hey Bear!" It , then
darted off through the barbed-wire fence and out of sight. I
by 10:15a and ready to call it a day. I had cleaned out
the LoJ summits in the larger area and had no more on the agenda, so I decided
to head home...