DISTANCE: 25.81km / 16.04 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 1250m / 4100’
TIME TAKEN: 10:18
MOKELUMNE WILDERNESS
ALPINE COUNTY, CA
SOUNDTRACK: Autopsy: Twisted Mass Of Burnt Decay
SUMMITS:
•Ebbetts Peak: 2,792m / 9,160’
•Raymond Peak 3,052m / 10,014’
PHOTO ALBUM
MAP
Raymond Peak is the third highest peak in the Mokelumne Wilderness which
straddles the Pacific Crest between SR4 (Ebbetts Pass) and SR88 (Carson
Pass). The 105,165 acre Wilderness takes in portions of the Toiyabe,
Stanislaus, and El Dorado National Forests, and lies in the mid-Sierra
region between Lake Tahoe to the north and the High Sierra to the south.
The peak lies just east of the Sierra Crest, about six miles north of
Ebbetts Pass. The views offered from the summit go north to Freel Peak
and Desolation Wilderness, west to Mokelumne Peak (and to the Coast
Range on unusual clear days), south to the peaks of Emigrant Wilderness
and northern Yosemite, and sweeping east into the Great Basin of Nevada. -Summitpost
I had spend the previous day working on my van at my parents’ house in Jackson, CA, attempting to rip out the old floor, and put a new one in: I only succeeded at the first part. Then, faced with the choice of leaving for my hike the night before and staying the night at Ebbetts Pass to get an early start the next day, and a little acclimation, or leaving early in the morning so I could see Highway 4 (I had never been past Big Trees on it), I chose leaving in the morning, a choice which was more or less thrust upon me by the amount of drinks had with brother and dad that night!
Up at about 5:30AM, on about 4 hours of sleep, I was on my way. Stopped for gas in Arnold, where there seemed to be “Rednecks Against Mask Wearing” (R.A.M.W.) convention in the parking lot. Kept going, past Big Trees, and into unknown territory, new exotic sites such as Lake Alpine and Cape Horn. I reached Ebbetts Pass after 8AM, and ate my breakfast there. I was hiking by 830AM, across the highway, I thought it would be quickest way to reach Ebbetts Peak (I decided to throw it in as an appetizer, not desert, a wise choice) by avoiding the PCT, and going through the woods right across the road from the turnout. I almost immediately ran into the steep talus slopes below the peak, and (no trail yet), had to cut west to continue. I instantly found a dirt road with a parking lot, and a trail leading up the west side of Ebbetts from there, a well worn footpath in the pile of volcanic rocks. Twenty minutes after leaving the van, I was on top of Ebbetts Peak, where there was an american flag fluttering on a pole, and a register in a box at it’s base, which I signed.
It was actually a good choice to climb Ebbetts at the beginning of the day, because it gave me a lay of the land (S-W-N-NW-E-SE), to see where I would be going today and tomorrow. You usually don’t get to have that chance at the beginning of a hike. Still not knowing much about Ebbetts Peak, I figured I could probably just descend the east side, as a nice shortcut down to the PCT. I scrambled around for too long, looking for a way down, and almost tried descending a nasty chute, before I realized my folly, and went back down the way I came up, to it's west shoulder. Lesson learned. Ebbetts Peak: “JUST STAY ON THE FUCKING TRAIL.” I surfed down a sandy hillside, and then walked through some light woods, finally hitting the PCT at about 9:30AM, having burned most of the first hour fucking around on “warm up” Ebbetts Peak.
The well trodden dirt of the PCT had me picking up speed, finally, and I blew past the Kinney Lake Trail turnoff, intending to take a dip in it later. Right after that, I crossed the wilderness boundary. The PCT took me in a generally northern direction, with the volcanic sub rocks of “Kinney Crag” and Reynolds Peak protruding to my left. It was a beautiful day, not too warm, and flowery meadows abounded on either side of me. I hadn’t forced myself to to decided beforehand if I would climb both Reynolds Peak and Raymond Peak that day. As I passed the turnoff for Reynolds, I decided I would hit Raymond first, and at least obtain the highest peak in the area, and then hit Reynolds on the way back, if I still had the energy. So I kept on hauling ass down the PCT toward Raymond, the Sierra Superhighway beneath my feet. As I got farther north, and had Reynolds Peak rising on my left, the rock formations became more astounding. It was almost national park grade scenery! If didn’t already know better, I would have assumed Reynolds Peak impossible to climb! It was quite the twisted mass of volcanic decay.
Not long after that, possibly the most striking feature of the whole area came into view. Being called by such names over the years as Pennsylvania Crag, Sentinel Peak, and The Cylinder, the still unofficially named feature has, at least on peakbagger.com, become known as “The Sinister,” which is quite agreeable, for obvious reasons. It looks like a burned, smashed and melted cathedral fortress. Quite sinister indeed, I will have to find a way up it someday. About this time, the PCT veered to the east, following the south side of a sub ridge that rises between Eagle Creek and Pennsylvania Creek. Jutting from this intermediary ridge were yet more astounding specimens of volcanic turbulence, the most prominent being a titanic bulk of stone which I eventually nicknamed “Behemoth Rock.” (Moron that later.)
About 2.5 hours after leaving the van, I turned off the PCT again and temporarily followed Pennsylvania Creek west, then began angling north-west, uphill toward Raymond Peak. I’m pretty certain that this is not the easiest way to approach, but it worked. The route was very steep, lots of talus, occasionally using the scrub bushes to help drag myself upward, but there was no tricky rock climbing. Just up and up, through the strange steep world. I found a cave, an animal jawbone, and plenty of cool rock formations to keep me interested. There was now a terrific view of Reynolds back behind me. I began to slow down, I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep, the lack of acclimatization to the elevation or both? It took me about 1hr 45 to climb the 1800 feet from the PCT to the top of the mountain. There was a volcanic summit block area, a keyhole crack view of Round Top, and a summit register which I dutifully signed. I hung around up there for maybe 20 minutes, had a snack, and then began heading southwest down the ridge toward The Sinister. At first I tried to stay on top of the ridge, or close to it, but I kept on getting to shitty cliffs, so I finally went north, down off the ridge, and continued through the trees. I was pretty tired by this point, and wanted to save energy for getting back, so I decided to hike a bit closer to The Sinister, then go back cross country to the PCT and retrace my steps, saving the ascent of Reynolds for a future date.
Just after I had gotten off the summit of Raymond, a thunderstorm had come by, not too close, but I'm glad I wasn’t still up at the top. By 2:45, I came up over the saddle low point between Raymond and Sinister, and that was the closest I got to that ominous black rock. I began descending south, through monstrous rock formations, down a dry canyon that was probably the upper reaches of Pennsylvania Creek. By now I was coming around the other side of the ridge that contained “Behemoth Rock,” and I saw there was more to it than had realized on my way in. It was not a thick chunk of rock, but more of a thin fin, which appeared to have a large opening bored in the north side, resembling an eye? A mouth? A black hole? As I continued my hike, the angle of “Behemoth Rock” kept changing, it looked like a vile creature erupting from the earth, fascinating and obscene at once. In a day of many rocks, it might have been my favorite. During this section of the hike, I also had a good view of the saddle between Reynolds and The Sinister, “The Devil’s Glove,” six fingers of black volcanic rock.
The cross country travel through the area was enjoyable and scenic, rocky hills with rust colored earth exposed, down through some drainages and light pine woods, trying not to gain or lose too much elevation. The end of it came as I descended another small canyon, surprisingly red rocked, this one with a bit of water in it, but not enough to be a problem. After this, I veered east and my cross country travel came to an end as I rejoined the PCT at about 4PM. It was time to stop picking my way through rocks and talus, and start picking up the pace. I stormed south through Raymond Meadows, outpacing the afternoon clouds which drifted lazily across the sky, stopping only to take pictures of the wildflowers. By 5:30, I was at the shore of Upper Kinney Lake. The storm had cooled off the second half of the day, and it was getting late, so it was not as warm as I'd been hoping, so I didn't jump in, but I dutifully inserted my feet. Continuing back south again on the PCT, I was in the shadow of Ebbetts Peak by 6:20, and I was glad I had already climbed it. Although the hike was almost complete, I extended it just a bit more by going out on a granite plateau for photos of Kinney Reservoir, Silver, Highland and Ebbetts peaks. I got back to Highway 4 on the proper trail this time, and then did the short walk along the road to get back to where I had parked, just before 7PM.
So If I was only going to hike Raymond Peak that day, why didn’t I take one of the AT LEAST two easier ways to get to it? Who cares? I enjoyed through the scenery, and it was a fine intro survey of the north side of Ebbetts pass. So then I jumped in the van, and drove 15 minutes down the road to my reserved campsite at Silver Creek.
...to be continued.
FURTHER READING
•Alltrails: This is similar to my approach to Raymond
•Raymond Peak on SUMMITPOST and PEAKBAGGER
•Ebbetts Peak on SUMMITPOST and PEAKBAGGER
No comments:
Post a Comment