A big up gives fantastic views from Miners Peak.
- May 9, 2021
- Team: Dave
- Peak
- Miners Peak, 7810'
- Class 1, 10.4 miles, 4075' gain, 6:38 c-to-c
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
It's about a 1:45 drive from my house to the bridge across the South Fork below Reed Ranch. Today's drive included a long stretch alongside a controlled burn of which we had been unaware. When we got underway, the smoke was still hanging around. We were hoping for a north wind..... As we walked the first 1.1 miles of ATV track, we discussed taking up smoking to prepare our lungs for the upcoming fire season, which we suspect might be significant. |
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But soon enough, we were on sweet hiking trail with clearing skies. |
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We started hitting intermittent snow at just above 6000'. Some supportive, some not so much. (and less so on the return) |
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There's the lookout. |
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There it is all zoomed in. But still with another 1100' gain to go. |
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Now following a ridgetop, the views were popping all around. But I'll save the NTP for the summit. |
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| Somebody had skied up here recently. |  |
| Even at elevation, the south faces were mostly melted out. |  |
| The snow leading to the summit ridge was quite steep. There was some pretty diligent step-kicking leading up to this point. |  |
| But now on the ridge. The views! |  |
| Looking sort of northwest. It's the backside of peaks we recognize from the west, so a little unclear just what is what. |  |
| But some were obvious. That's Majers Peak. So named because it shares the ridge with Miners peak, is higher, yet was unnamed. |  |
| With full zoom, that's Keyhole Peak on the other side of the South Fork. |  |
There's our lunch spot. Like the last time I was here, there was a chilly wind blowing. We gobbled down some food and drinks, then headed down. |
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| But we opted to try to follow the trail for our descent. That went okay, although the trail dropped down into the snow zone. So we instead stayed high and traversed the dry for a while. |  |
| This shows the snow/dry situation. We're headed down the ridge angling to the left. |  |
| Down below, dry trail. And if you click for a bigger version, you can see the snowshoes that never left Dave's pack. Training weights. |  |
| A little lower down we got to see the profile of Eagle Rock, which once held a lookout. |  |
And we even got to see a little wildlife. Awesome hike! |
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Map |
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| Dave's photo blog |  |
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