Peak Fun

[Hikin_Jim]

Missing any from your personal "to do" list?

(click to enlarge)


HJ

[Ellen]

Ellen to HJ --"Surely you don't expect me to climb alll of those peaks?"

HJ to Ellen "Yes I do and stop calling me Shirley"

Congrats on your great peak bagging trip

[Hikin_Jim]

Some of the Southern Peaks in the San Jacs are really worthwhile. Where as a peak like San Jac itself might get dozens and dozens of people per day, dozens and dozens of days go by where the southern peaks get no visitors.

On Pine Mountain, which is tough but not overly so, the previous entry was over a month old:


My entry:


You won't find that kind of solitude going up from the tram or even on Skyline.

There are some really worthwhile peaks down there. I thought Pine, Pyramid, and Antsell were particularly worthwhile. Ken Point had great views to the south but was brushy and had ticks. Butterfly Peak is where the panorama with peak labels photo was shot from. Very brushy.

I didn't do Red Tahquitz this trip, but it's relatively easy and eminently worthwhile with fabulous views to the east and south. As good as the views to the north and west are from San Jac, so the views are from Red Tahquitz to the south and east.

HJ

[Sally]

Welcome back, Hikin Jim! Great job! I feel really wimpy for omitting bagging the peaks when I did that section of the PCT (not really!)

[Hikin_Jim]

lol.

It's about 30 miles from Hwy 74 to Humber Park if you stick with the PCT. It's "only" about 10 additional miles if you tack on the 12 peaks, but the difficulty goes up exponentially. Brush, rock, and steepness.

Some like Southwell are a snap (10 minutes off the trail). Others like Antsell rock are work. Antsell Rock is only about 0.25 to 0.3 miles off the PCT, but it took me an hour to get to the base of the rock. Let's see, 0.25 miles in an hour? Yep, Steve, Fern, Perry, and Zip had better look out.

HJ

[cynthia23]

Congratulations on your trip HJ! A wonderful journey. And thank you for posting this very cool photo. I'm constantly confused by the geography of these mountains and this was a very helpful picture .... I'm hoping to at least get to Antsell one of these days ...

[Hikin_Jim]

Antsell Rock is a cool one, but it is hard.


Think obstacle course, not hiking.


Oh, and I hope you're not afraid of heights.


HJ

[Hikin_Jim]

Here's a photo looking the opposite direction of the original photo, showing the northern section of the Desert Divide. As with the orginal, click to enlarge.



HJ

[bluerail]

You're peak picture leaves out Yale and Sam fink due to angle and cropping?

Antsell is a fun scramble and a wonderful place to hangout.

[Hikin_Jim]

Steve, it's just getting crowded over there in that neck of the woods. Harvard in particular is indistinct from where I took that photo (Butterfly Peak). I went ahead and added in what I could. I was pretty impressed that the peaks stood out so clearly from Butterfly Peak which is quite a ways south.

Sam Fink Pk as you surmised is out of frame. Sam Fink is a most worthy peak named for a guy who must have been pretty darned hard core. Can you imagine going down the Desert Divide before the PCT? Sam Fink made his own trail. In-freaking-credible. Sam was the one also as I understand it who discovered the route up Antsell Rock. I need to get over to his namesake peak one of these days.

Cornell, Harvard and Yale are a lot more clear when seen from this angle:


HJ