Continued...
My second day in the Warner Mtns of Northeastern California had me camped in
the middle of the range off a lonely stretch of forest road near the base of
Bald Mtn. The highlight of the day would be a hike to Warren Peak, the third
highest in the range, but first I had some unfinished business from the
previous day. I would end up going from before sunrise until sunset, a pretty
full day, covering quite a bit of territory. It was warm today, but the air
was clearer than it had been in months with a busy fire season in the
northern part of the state.
Bald Mountain
Having gone to bed quite early, I was up an hour before sunrise while it
was still dark. After packing up my bedding and rearranging the Jeep for
daytime mode, I drove a short distance from my campsite to where
comes closest to Bald Mtn on the north side. The cross-country
hike goes up 800ft in just over half
a mile, on steep, forested slopes with only modest brush to contend with. I had
considered the slightly longer 3/4mi hike directly from my campsite on the east
side of the peak, but that looked to be a bit brushier and I went with the
steeper approach. I had thought I might be able to reach the summit at sunrise
but I was a bit faster than anticipated. Sunrise was still ten minutes away when
I reached where a pile of rocks, a benchmark and the
remains of a survey tower marked the highpoint. Warren Peak could be seen in
profile to ,
the northern end of the range and Upper Lake to the north, the sun still
below the eastern horizon. It was a bit chilly at 8,270ft at that time of the
morning so I started back down, but when the sun finally did make
I sat down on the talus slope to come up
before continuing on my way. By 6:40a I was done with the 40min
effort and back to the Jeep.
Squaw Peak / Warren Peak
I spent an hour and a half driving back down to US395, south to Alturas, then
back up into the Warner Mtns to the for the
Summit Trail
to Warren Peak. It was almost 8:30a by the time I started off on this popular
hike. The trail runs south through the highest parts of the range for 20
scenic miles. There
were two other vehicles in the small lot but I would see only one other person
the whole outing, a trail runner passing by when I was nearly back to the start.
The trail start off in forest through a few switchbacks but quickly
to the more found when the trail
reaches the crest. Most of the trail is in the ,
a welcome contrast to the logging and
grazing interests that dominate the northern part of the range. About 40min
after starting out, I to head up to Squaw Peak, a bonus
summit along the way. I followed , taking about 30min over
easy terrain to reach . There was a MacLeod/Lilley
register with pages and pages of entries. I was surprised to
find that the very was
from a party of four, all of whom I've hiked with before - Dean Gaudet, Kathy
Rich, Sean Casserly and Asaka Takahashi, only 4 days earlier. Small world. I
descended back down the SW Ridge to the trail, enjoying the hike
past and Lakes
to the shoulder on the east side of Warren Peak. From there the route goes
, class 3 if one sticks (with
a sharp drop off the north side), class 2 by staying further off on the south
side. The summit sits high atop a with
unobstructed views in all directions. I reached the summit shortly before 11a,
finding and a messy, damp
inside a quart-sized
paint can. A paint can? One needs a screwdriver or other tool to open the thing,
or I suppose one could just smash it against the rocks in more caveman fashion.
Way too popular to photograph the many pages and just finding the oldest entry
looked to be a chore - bleah.
From the topo map, it looks like
would be a more direct route to
the summit and I decided to go down this way as an alternate. I figured if the
ridge became too tedious I could drop down at one of several places off the
North Face through steep talus to Patterson Lake. What I found was surprisingly
pleasant, mostly forested but with minimal brush. Staying a bit south of the
edge made for easier going and lower down I came across
that made the going easier yet. Further down the forest gave way to
, the whole ridge taking only about 40min to negotiate.
Once back on the trail it was an easy return, getting me back to by 12:45p, about four and a quarter hours all told.
Payne Peak
This P900 is found about 7.5mi northwest of the Pepperdine TH. Excellent dirt
forest roads get you within a mile of the summit with lesser roads taking you
all the way to the top. I drove to the very before
getting out to take in the with a small telecom installation
found just of the highpoint. Easy as pie, this one.
Cottonwood Mountains HP
The Cottonwood Mtns are a small desert range found south of the much larger
(and higher) Warner Mtns. Most of the range is on BLM lands, but there are
private ranch inholdings that make access somewhat questionable. I would spend
2.5hrs getting between Payne Peak and my start for the next hike, first driving
east out of the range to Cedarville, then south on paved Country Hwy 1 along the
eastern edge of the Warner Mtns. Less than a mile before reaching the NV border,
I turned south on a dirt road,
but growing rougher as time went
on. It was a long 22mi of driving into the range. When I turned off the main
road I was on private property owned by Dodge Ranch LLC. Though it is a going
concern with vast tracts of land in this area and has water rights to the
nearby Dodge Reservoir, there were few signs of commercial activity. I drove
about a mile and a half east on poor ranch roads until I came to
.
An opening in the fence allowed me to drive further yet, maybe a
quarter mile onto the BLM land where I parked when the road became severely
degraded. At this point I was a little under three miles from the highpoint,
as close as I was going to manage.
It was 4p by the time I started out, making me a little apprehensive that I
might find myself thrashing through the weeds and thistles in the dark, but
there were no such surprises. The topo map shows a network of 4WD roads in the
area, some approaching the peak quite closely, but most of these are no longer
viable. I found the cross-country not so bad despite the tall grasses,
especially when I discovered that wild horses have provided some trails to
make things easier. Rather than try to follow the deteriorating road, I
started off on a more direct line, dropping a hundred feet or so to
where I first discovered the .
As I was starting out of
this drainage for the 1,000ft climb up to the summit, I caught the attention of
a trio of horses. They didn't exactly run away, but they would
for a while and then run off to get more distance if they thought I was getting
too close, turning again to watch what me. When they finally realized
I was heading off in a tangential direction, they moved back to their original
location and resumed grazing - but with the occasional watching eye. Higher up
I encountered
which I should have simply followed to the summit.
I didn't realize until the return that the horses had made a use trail along
the fenceline which would have helped with the
encountered away from the fence. Still, it wasn't so bad and it ended up taking
only a bit over an hour to find my way to the top. The fence goes over the
summit ridgeline with the highpoint found just among
some . There was denoted as
"DODGE". The register left by Dingus Milktoast gave it the
name "Dodge Point". and
had visited in the interim, along with a couple of firefighters battling a blaze
back . On my way back, I took better advantage of the horse
trails along the fence and down the drainage I followed, once again running into
the three horses and some of their , seven all told. It was
6p by the time , giving me plenty of daylight by which to
back out of the range.
Observation Peak
I continued south through the range on roads that got progressively better.
There are scattered homesteads in the area where the hills begin to flatten into
the Madeline Plains. To the south loomed Observation Peak, a drive-up P2K topped
by a lookout. Its distinctive volcano shape told of an active past in this
now-quiet desert region. There is to go through on the
north side of the peak where a dirt road begins, a bit rough but suitable for
high-clearance vehicles. It took about 30min to drive to the summit where I
found deserted but with signs of restoration work under way.
The squat overlooks a of
California's northern , most of it managed by the BLM. I
took the opportunity to take a shower while I waited for which
came about 15min later. A large plume of
smoke from a new fire had risen high in the air and provided an interesting
backdrop for the setting sun. Afterwards I drove back down the mountain and
back out to US395. A few miles south I turned left on an excellent dirt road
that goes to a BLM campground and the starting point for the next day's summits.
I found a large turnout on this road and spent the night. I didn't expect to be
disturbed but was surprised when several vehicles drove by in the wee hours.
They did little to disturb my slumber however, and I was soon back to sleep...
Continued...