Rabbit, Villager, and Rosa Point - 1/31/09

[Rick Kent]

With only about 10 HPS left to go I finally got around to Rabbit, Villager, and Rosa Point. January seems to have been a popular month. Friends of mine Matthew Holliman and Miguel Forjan had dayhiked here just weeks earlier. Now it was my turn.

Friday night after work I made the drive from Bakersfield to the Thimble trailhead. With a stop for dinner this took about 5 hours or more and put me at my destination a bit later than I hoped. I didn't want to car camp at the trailhead (too close to the hwy) and per plan decided to camp and start somewhere between the Truckhaven road and Little Clark Lake. I got about 4 hours of sleep.

I set out at 5:30am Saturday morning about a half mile south of Little Clark Lake. My intent was to take a shortcut up the long ridge south of Villager. In the dark however I was not able to scope out this option and opted (wisely as it turned out) to ascend closer to the start of the ridge.

Shortly after sunrise and on the ridge a noise caught my attention. I had caught up with a group taking a break. I didn't really expect to see anyone else. I think we were both interested in what the other was doing. When the group revealed they were going all the way to Rabbit I was fairly impressed. They appeared to be a strong capable group. No faces looked familiar however. Turns out the group included a few (Ze, Tim, etc.) who have posted here on the message boards. I didn't reveal my intention of tagging Rosa Point in case things went terribly wrong. While I very much wanted to tag along with the group I unfortunately had to depart. I knew however that we would cross paths again likely near Rabbit.

Approaching the Villager/Rosa saddle I veered off and headed for Rosa Point. The ridge out to Rosa had a lot of ups and downs one of which even had a register. I reached Rosa Point at 9:44a. The climb from the saddle back up to Villager's south ridge was a bit draining and I started to drag. Back on top of the ridge I was back up to speed and continued on toward Rabbit after stopping briefly on Villager's summit (12:25p).

Around 1:30p I met up with the frontrunners in Joe's group as they returned from Rabbit. This time we got to talk longer and introduced ourselves. After a few minutes of conversation we parted company and I continued on. Soon I passed the stragglers and proceeded over numerous ups and downs before beginning the final 1000 foot ascent to the summit of Rabbit. Again I began to drag and was annoyed I couldn't sustain a non-stop pace. I reached Rabbit's summit at 2:40p. This was better than I expected and I now felt optimistic that I had a chance of getting down to the desert floor by dark.

My intent was to descend a minor ridge SW of Rabbit (HPS Route 3) to get down to the floor as soon as possible. The description said "steep". Holy crap! They weren't kidding. It was very draining and hard on the knees. Further down where the ridge flattens out I expected easier going but the combination of rocks and fairly thick desert vegetation made travel tedious and time consuming.

Shortly after 5pm I dropped off the ridge. Unfortunately I still had some ways to go before reaching the smooth floor. I had dropped down into a large alluvial fan that often resembled something closer to a moraine with huge fields of boulders. It was unpleasant and tedious but after what seemed like an eternity it eventually ended. After that it was about a 3 mile walk across the sandy desert floor back to my vehicle. Thankfully I had waypointed its location. Without a GPS I might never have found it even during daylight hours. I finished at 7:14p.

Total time car to car was 13 hours 45 minutes.

Photos are here:

Rabbit, Villager, Rosa (1/31/09)

-Rick

[lilbitmo]

Nice work Rick, great pictures.

Hope you got some sleep on Sunday?

Does that mean you are down to 7 peaks for the HPS?

Thanks for sharing

lilbitmo

[Rick Kent]

I did 2 more yesterday. That brings me down to 5 but in double checking my records I think there's one I missed so that makes it 6.

[lilbitmo]

Niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I'm jealous - great work.

As a fairly new rookie to the hiking world and going after peaks (started in late 04) I like the idea of having trials for fun, douable peaks for practice and longer tougher hikes and peaks for goal setting.

How long did it take you to do the 94/95 you've completed to date?

[Rick Kent]

Well, there's actually closer to 270 peaks on the HPS list. I started to focus on the HPS list in 2003 but over the past few years the SPS and DPS lists have taken priority (along with a healthy dose of canyoneering).

I should also note that both Rabbit and Rosa Point are also on the DPS list.

[Cy Kaicener]

Great pictures and trip report Rick
Here is a list of the Sierra Club "local" peaks (the Santa Rosas are in section 30)
http://angeles.sierraclub.org/hps/hpslist.htm

[AlanK]

Well, there's actually closer to 270 peaks on the HPS list. I started to focus on the HPS list in 2003 but over the past few years the SPS and DPS lists have taken priority (along with a healthy dose of canyoneering).

And natural modesty precludes mention of minor side trips to Denali, Aconcogua, etc.