Point 7360+

DATE: Saturday, October 9, 2021
DISTANCE: 27.7km / 17.21 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 11992m / 3910'
TIME TAKEN: 9:30
SUMMIT: Point 7360+ (2243m+)
STANISLAUS NATIONAL FOREST
EMMIGRANT WILDERNESS
TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CA
CENTRAL SIERRA MIWOK, NORTHERN PAIUTE AND WASHOE STOLEN LAND
SOUNDTRACK: Cannibal Corpse: Force Fed Broken Glass

PHOTO ALBUM
MAP

*Note: The header photograph is NOT of Point 7360+ (I did not get any good pictures of that rock). The photo most likely is of a shoulder / false summit of Relief Peak that I admired along the way.


The stars had finally aligned, the fires were out, the smoke was gone, there was snow in the Sierras, and I had two and a half free days to get my ass up to the mountains! The only bad part was having to pick a place to go, with so many options available. The passes were actually closed at the moment, which presented some limitations, but I knew I could get to Kennedy Meadows, which was well below the closed Sonora Pass. I had just been to Kennedy Meadows, but under the constraints of a group / party trip, and so I was eager to go deeper, on my own time, now with my first solo overnight backpacking trip, and catch Blackhawk Mountain (SPS) and Granite Dome (my personal California Domes list). So, I left home the night of Friday, October 9, stopping in Manteca for cheap gas and snacks (snacks which may have been my downfall). I stopped to get my wilderness permit from the freezing cold, dark, closed ranger station at Pinecrest, then on to Kennedy Meadows, where I bundled up against the freezing temps, and passed out in the van at the backpacker's parking lot. I awoke to the beginnings of stomach pains that would shape and define the rest of the day. I had not gotten to sleep until very late, so I allowed myself to sleep in, and I didn't get an early start. Also, I just couldn't resist getting breakfast at the Kennedy Meadows restaurant, the novelty of getting a country breakfast, at a trailhead, on the edge of the fucking wilderness! After all this, according to my photographic timeline, I did not start hiking until about 10:30AM! WTF!

As I started hiking, the pain in my stomach grew worse, and now I realized that this was like the thing that had happened to me in Arizona earlier in the year. It got worse and worse, I felt like I had eaten a bag of nails, and my body was trying to digest it. It had already begun before breakfast, so I don't blame the restaurant. I soldiered on towards Blackhawk, and it got worse and worse. My only possible guess as to what caused it was that I had developed a very bad reaction to jalapeño flavored potato chips (last night's snack), which would be a devastating loss from my pantry if it were to be removed. (SOMETHING LIKE THIS?) When I got to the point on Huckleberry Trail where I would cross Summit Creek, and start cross country to Blackhawk Mountain, I sat down to fill my cantine, and just crumpled in withering defeat as the knife twisted in my guts. I decided to turn back: this wasn't fun, and I had nothing to prove to anyone. Eight miles from the trailhead, and nothing to show for it. All the way back down I went, with my tail between my legs. I eventually stopped again for another break, closer to the south end of Relief Reservoir, and by this time, I realized I was actually starting to feel better. Now that I had hiked half way back. AWAY from the mountains. I still continued back, but I now focused on salvaging the day somehow, anyhow.

At the north end of Relief Reservoir is a significant crag / cliff, nameless as far as I knew. (We shall call it Point 7360+) I was feeling energized now, finally, at 6PM, 630? And I cut over on some use trails to make it to this rock, so I could climb it. this must have been the main trail at one point, because I came across an old bridge over summit creek that looked very sketchy, so instead of using it, I rocked hopped across just downstream. The old trail continued visibly towards the nameless rock; when I got close, I dropped my pack and did a light scramble up the south (easy) side of the rock. There were quality views of the surrounding mountains and the encroaching dust, and to my surprise, a plaque embedded in the top... dedicated to the racist, white supremacist, Indian killing, homophobic John Wayne! Ewwwww! This sure is cowboy country, isn't it? Now that I had climbed something resembling a summit, the day was no longer a total failure. I got back on the old trail, which went down, down, into the meadows by the river, and split into many branching trails, probably for / from the cows. At 7:30PM, I was at the middle fork Stanislaus River, on the wrong side of it to get back to main trail, and I burned a stupid amount of time looking for a good place to cross, until I finally just took my damn boots off and walked through. Now I was about to come back into the cowboy village of Kennedy Meadows, I had wasted a whole day and a wilderness permit, and the idea of going back up again the next day, repeating the same trail, was not too appetizing.

I decided to go for a different plan. I went to the Kennedy Meadows front desk, and asked the lady if she knew if Sonora Pass had opened. She said "Yes, but it's colder than a witches you-know-what up there!" That was the information I needed to take the next step, and I hightailed it back to the van. My failure that day had opened the door for an unplanned triumph tomorrow. I drove over Sonora Pass and down into Bridgeport, got on 395 South and saw the electronic sign that told me Tioga Pass was also open. So down I went to Lee Vining, and then up towards Yosemite. I crashed out in the van in the cold darkness, just off of Saddlebag Lake Road, at my trailhead for the next day. 

...to be continued. 

Kibbie Ridge South

DATE: Thursday, July 15, 2021
DISTANCE: 6.6km / 4.10 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 261m / 856'
TIME TAKEN: 2:25
SUMMIT: Kibbie Ridge - South Peak: 1680m / 5512'
STANISLAUS NATIONAL FOREST
TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CA
CENTAL SIERRA MIWOK STOLEN LAND
SOUNDTRACK: Thin Lizzy: Southbound

PHOTO ALBUM
MAP

Was party camping at Cherry Borrow. Went up to Kibbie Ridge South because it was the closest "Peak" and I needed to stretch my legs. Class 1. Mild bushwhacking.

FURTHER READING
Kibbie Ridge - South Peak on PEAKBAGGER

Stanislaus Peak

DATE: Tuesday, June 30, 2020
DISTANCE: 14.21km / 8.83 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 712m / 2336ft.
TIME: 5:46
SUMMIT: 3424m / 11,233ft. SPS
STANISLAUS NATIONAL FOREST
CARSON ICEBURG WILDERNESS
ALPINE COUNTY, CA
SOUNDTRACK: Judas Priest: Dissident Agressor

PHOTO ALBUM
MAP

 ...continued.

Stanislaus Peak is really a classic butte, steep sided and flat on top, near perfectly shaped, (especially when viewed from the north). To add to it's attractiveness, it has a distinctive reddish color, different from the surrounding peaks, and it wouldn't even look out of place in Utah or New Mexico. It is an extinct volcanic cone, and the farthest north (named) 11'er in the Sierra Nevada. Faced with the choice of climbing either Sonora Peak or Stanislaus that day, with probably not enough time to do both, Axell and I settled on Stanislaus, because it "looked cooler," even though the original plan had been Sonora. The view of Stanislaus' majestic red cone in the distance, on yesterday's hike, had probably sealed the deal.

I awoke in my tent at Chipmunk Flat at 7:45AM, later than I planned. I'd had a helluva time getting to sleep in the tent, even though I was beat from climbing Leavitt. It was already plenty bright out, and with the tasks of eating breakfast, going to shit in the woods, getting water from the creek to dump on the campfire, and striking the tent, we didn't leave camp until about 9:20! This is when I especially realized that we wouldn't have time for both Stanislaus and Sonora, as we would have to leave back to The Bay by 3PM so I could make it to band practice.

Not too far east up Highway 108 from Chipmunk Flat was Saint Mary's Pass trailhead. When I got there, I saw that there were primitive campsites, and I cursed "Damn! We could have just stayed here last night!" From the trailhead, there were views of Margaret Lewis Peak, Mount Finiski, and the The Nightcap. We were on trail dirt at 9:48AM. The only human being we had seen yesterday had been a black dot in the distance, on top of Leavitt Peak. Today, we would not be so lonely, with a troop of backpackers storming out down the trail at us almost immediately. But that was it. Aside from Stanislaus Peak it's self, the most elevation of the trail occurred at the very beginning, going uphill to gain Saint Mary's Pass. There were fascinating volcanic rock formations along the way, including "The Eye." We were on top of the pass in 36 minutes. From this vantage point, there was a good look back at Starvation Ridge, and for the first time that day, an open view north of Stanislaus Peak.

The trail continued down from the pass and became a grandma grade footpath that gently followed along the west side of the ridge, through beautiful meadows and past trickling springs. We made good time on this part, and arrived at the granite outcrop "Stanislaus Crag," in just over an hour. (11:30AM now) Having arrived at the base of the red butte, the trail petered out, and we had to choose our ascent. While on our way up from the crag, we looked through a notch in the rock, which which was a window down into a surprise granite canyon, at least 1,000 feet deep, which had been completely hidden from view on our approach. "Stanislaus Crag," the granite formation, marks the end of the volcanic section of rock, and the beginning of the granite-bound canyon area, which leads down to the East Fork Carson River.

The route up to Stanislaus was an attempt to not lose elevation, so we tried to go due west, but some stubborn, giant chunks of rock would not permit this, and there was indeed some elevation loss and regain. As we started to go up, the only other consideration was to go around the stands of small pine trees, and by that method, our path came to be. Ghosts of use trails came and went, but it was mainly "choose your own adventure" over or around the worst sections of talus and shattered volcanic rock on the steep slope. Reports considered this peak to be a class 2 climb, so maybe there is an easier way to go that we simply didn't find, because our path to the top was decidedly class 3. More fun that way! We took turns going up to the top. I went up first, while Axell stayed below the class 3 section with the dog. The route of ascent was a short, but memorable climb through a jagged landscape, and I guess what you would call a brief chute. Up over the rim, and I was on the flat top, like a pile of broken terra cotta tiles. I found the summit register, and expected 360 degree views, not staying too long, time was on my mind. Then I went down, stayed with the dog while Axell went up to claim his first 11er.

We retraced our steps back down the mountain, as best we could, got back to the granite just before 2PM, and I posed for a "scary" photograph at the edge of the cliff. Now it was time for the long haul back on the wilderness highway of Saint Mary's Pass Trail, past the remaining snowy patches and bright green spring fed bogs. We were back to the van by 3:35PM. Behind schedule, but not disastrously so. Time to travel down, down, through surprisingly heavy traffic on Highway 108, through the foothill towns, through the scorching hot cowshit valley, and eventually back into the foggy embrace of the Bay Area.

FURTHER READING
•Stanislaus Peak on SUMMITPOST and PEAKBAGGER 
•Bob Burd: Bob tackles Stanislaus and Sonora in one go
•West Coast Hikes With Dogs: With snow! And dogs!