Northwest Spur Ridge Route

[zippetydude]

Hi all. I explored a new route this weekend. It starts just off Haugen-Lehmann Way just west of where the 111 splits from the I-10. There's a ridge-line there I've been wanting to explore for a couple of years now, so I did it on a lark. I went about a third of the way up to Black Mountain, which will lead on over to Fuller Ridge for a straight shot at the peak. The route has a use trail for part of it, though I did xc for maybe half of it. It has great vistas and is totally open and hikeable.

Anyone done this route to the top before? It looks like it's fully doable, but I haven't done it yet. So far, some really fun exploring. If we don't get any further snow for a couple of weeks, I'm thinking of trying to find the full route to the top.

I don't know how to post a topo page here, but if you look at this NOAA link:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... tType=text

just look at the spur that starts nearest the I-10 / hwy 111 split (right by the bottom left corner of the red forecast square) and follow it up. I followed the ridge-line straight up, and it's a beautiful area.

Anyway, anyone know anything about the rest of the route?

z

[Zé]

dunno anything, but if its doable in 2 weeks, i'd be up for it!

[DaddyLongLegs]

Looks interesting. Looking forward to the full TR!

[lilbitmo]

I cannot quite go at Zip speed but given notice of a couple of days I'm willing to join you for the next adventure up it? If you can handle having someone go at a much more human pace

Let me know.

[halhiker]

I've looked at this for a long time and think it'd be interesting to explore. The upper parts look very overgrown, rocky and steep but that never stopped me before. Still waiting for my back to heal up and then I'd be happy to do a little recon out there.

[halhiker]

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=33.91758,-11 ... %2Cunnamed

Is this the one you're talking about?

[zippetydude]

Yes hal, that's it exactly. I only scouted up to about the middle of square 19, but it was very easy terrain and almost completely brush-free to that point. Looking up from there, I'm afraid you're right, it appears to be overgrown when you get to about the 5000' level (see square 30) and it may be very steep there as well.

I didn't have time to go scout it out, but if you look at the next ridge to the west that comes up and meets this ridge, you can see that it comes in from the northwest and runs from the northwest corner of square 25 down to the right, hitting this ridge in the southeast corner of that same square. It may be less steep in that really tough section from 5k to 6k.

After that, it looks like it would be easiest just to follow the PCT from Black Mountain until it hits the base of Folly, and instead of taking that long descent to the Deer Springs Trail, we'd just turn east (see the bottom of square 17) and head up the flank of Folly.

lilbitmo, it would be great to hike with you. This isn't a runnable route, so our speeds would be the same.

Ze, the mere fact that you're interested makes me afraid of this hike. jk. Long time no see. If it works out, it'll be fun to get into a crazy predicament with you.

Sam, come with us and you can write the TR!

bluerail, you and fern maybe up for something like this?

I'll check to be sure I'm in town Saturday, 11/26 if that's the day we're talking about (see Ze's post). If the weather holds, this could be a fun one.

I'll probably scout it a little farther this weekend, so I'll get some first hand recon if I can make it out there.

z

[neverwashasbeen]

People used to take One Horse Ridge from the Black Mtn road and head down and west to Cabazon. They seemed to like it as I recall.

[zippetydude]

Ah hah! So it is a known route! One Horse Ridge is the second ridge that I was talking about in my previous post (if you look at halhiker's link, it's at the bottom of square 25). Hmmm. Maybe I'll scout that out instead this weekend. Thanks for the post!

z

[bluerail]

we're in....text me, you too Joe...

btw, watch out any time Cameron sais "you'll like it"