White Mountain Peak via Barcroft Station; Third-highest Peak in California

August 19, 2015 / Rachel / Leave a comment

White Mountain Peak (14,252′) stands above every other highpoint in Mono County, the White Mountains, and is just 250′ shorter than Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,505′. Its claims are impressive, but the climb isn’t as demanding or romantic as some of its Sierra neighbors. In fact, the most popular route takes hikers up a gravel 4WD road straight to the summit.

Sunrise over the White Mountains.

Neither of us were completely prepared for the drive in to the White Mountain Peak unofficial trailhead. We’d slept at the cozy climbing-themed Hostel California in Bishop the night before, and took off towards Big Pine at 4:45am. Heading south on US-395, we turned left (east) onto US-168, which is a windy two-lane road that ascends into the White Mountains. After 13 miles on this highway, we found the clearly-marked White Mountain Road on our left (north). This road starts off nicely paved, continuing for 9.5 miles to Schulman Grove, where the pavement ends and a 17-mile 4WD gravel road begins.

Now, for contrast’s sake, the National Forest Service declares the 6-mile road leading to the Queen Mine route of Boundary Peak to be a 2WD road – but we found the White Mountain Road to be in much better shape and much more passable than Boundary’s (you can read that blog post to get a better idea of what we put my Jeep Liberty through). Either way, those 17 miles on gravel stretched out a lot farther than we initially expected, and we didn’t reach the parking area at Barcroft gate until 6:30am – making our total travel time from Bishop 1 hour & 45 minutes.

Far-off views of the long, windy 17-mile road that takes you to Barcroft gate.

Our first view of White Mountain Peak in the distance.

Nina and I had just climbed Boundary Peak (13,140′) the day before we took off to White Mountain, so we were feeling strong and acclimatized. The “trailhead” begins at the Barcroft gate, about 1.6 miles below the facility (despite the sign reading 2 miles), at 11,670′. This means you only have about 2,600′ total elevation gain to look forward to, though the rising and falling slopes leading to the base of the mountain add a few hundred feet to this total.

Barcroft gate; the official start of the White Mountain Peak climb.

Here’s a breakdown of our timing:

4:45am: Left Bishop, CA.
6:30am: Arrived at trailhead (1:45 travel time).
6:40am: Departed trailhead.
9:15am: Arrived at White Mountain Peak summit.
9:25am: Descended from summit.
11:15am: Arrived back at the car.

Barcroft Station – Check out that white sedan, if he can make it, I’d guess nearly any car could!

Like I’d mentioned above, hikers follow this gravel road for 7.5 miles all the way up to the summit. The elevation gain trailhead to summit is around 2,500′, but because the trail slopes up and down throughout, our total elevation gain was about 3,500′. There is a more challenging route up the West Ridge described by Summitpost, but this entails gaining 9,000′ of elevation in just 10 miles. Nina and I had neither the time, nor desire, to take on that endeavor.

Nina making her way up the last couple hundred feet to the summit.

We made a few extra shortcuts on the last few hundred feet to the summit. While the gravel road continues to wind in steep traverses, there are some crude hiker trails that are easy to follow, and large enough rocks for scrambling.

The White Mountain Peak summit cabin.

Before we knew it, we were on top! Most notably, we were impressed that it wasn’t as cold on the summit as we expected. Everyone we’d passed throughout the day (3 different groups) were bundled up in pants and jackets, while we skipped along in hot pink shorts and tank tops. We were lucky enough to have a thin cloud coverage all day, so we were shaded from the 100 degree heat infecting the valley.

Nina and I on self-timer at the summit of White Mountain Peak.

Nina and I on the summit of White Mountain Peak.

“Descending” the long approach that leads to White Mountain.

We were up there!

Like many descents, this one flew by, and before we knew it we were back at the Barcroft station mid-morning. Because Nina’s a badass climbing machine, she suggested we trail run the last few miles that gradually descended back to our car, which saved us some extra time. We said goodbye after a successful high-altitude weekend and promised to reconnect over another 13er or 14er soon.

QUICK STATS

Length: 15 miles
Trailhead: 11,670′
Summit: 14,246′
Elevation gain: 2,576′ (3519′ total with up & down slopes according to Nina’s Runkeeper)
Time: 5.5 hours

A few resources I found helpful before this climb…

Summitpost route description and directions to Barcroft.
Timberline Trails route description.
Great trail description from Scaruffi.
Route description from Natural Born Hiker.

Boundary Peak via Queen Mine; Highpoint of Nevada

August 19, 2015 / Rachel / 2 Comments

Nina and I met in June while climbing Mt. Baker and immediately bonded over this shared ambition to explore the highest peaks of the west coast. Just a month after exchanging contact information we put together a plan to meet halfway between San Francisco and Orange County to hike up the tallest mountain in Nevada, Boundary Peak (13,140′).

And actually, two days before we were meeting, we decided to tack White Mountain Peak (14,252′) onto our travel plans for a 13er and 14er two-fer weekend.

Let’s talk about getting there. You’ll find the beginning of a gravel road 9 miles east of Benton off of Highway 6, on your right (south) side of the road, just across from an abandoned ranch (see Summitpost for more detailed directions). I realize now that many of the sites I was using as a reference were as many as a dozen years old, and the 6.2 mile gravel road between Highway 6 and Queen Mine has severely deteriorated since then. I drive a 4WD Jeep Liberty Sports Edition, and sincerely doubted my car’s ability to get through the ruts and deep gouges that tore up this washed-out road. Maybe the conditions have worsened in just the last two years – a trip report I read from 2013 said this road was “easy peasy” in a 4×4 pickup.

In comparison, the following day we drove up the arduous 17-mile White Mountain Peak gravel path, which is labeled as a 4WD-only road by the National Forest Service, and we found this much more passable than the Queen Mine route. Either way, we were happy to get out of the car to start our climb.

We left my car at Queen Mine proper, an obviously large flat area next to a couple of open mine shafts. There was about 700 vertical feet, 1 mile, of road walking until we reached the trailhead register at Kennedy Point and our real hike began.

The Queen Mine trailhead register.

This first part of the hike was steep, and I could feel the altitude at 10,000 ft. sucking at my lungs. It didn’t take too long to ascend this first ridge, which flattens out after just a thousand feet into a nice sloping meadow where you can see wild horses, deer, and marmots. The Trail Canyon saddle slopes down to the left of this ridge and is unofficially “marked” with a pile of rocks and logs that created a perfect morning break spot to fuel up and hydrate before tackling the peak.

Here’s an overall breakdown of our timing:

7:00am: Left Queen Mine trailhead
8:30am: Took a break at the Trail Canyon saddle
10:15am: Reached the summit of Boundary Peak
11:00am: Departed the summit
12:30pm: Took a second break at the Trail Canyon saddle
1:45pm: Arrived back at the car

Our first views of Boundary Peak, a little less than a thousand feet above the trailhead… with wild horses!

These first views were quite intimidating, but it was really only from this point that we could see the entire mountain. As soon as we descended to the Trail Canyon saddle, we could only see that first false-summit on the right. In fact, we’d forgotten about this image and believed that we were walking up to this first (much shorter) peak, to the actual summit.

Finally heading up Boundary Peak.

You can see what we thought was the true summit here, when we really had an extra 1.5 hours and near a thousand vertical feet to gain still. The trail was reasonably sloped, covered in rocks and scree. It might’ve taken us just as much time to go up as it did to return since we were constantly slipping on the unstable conditions.

Looking down at Trail Canyon saddle. Farther to the right you can see the slightly uphill path that leads to Queen Mine.

Our favorite view of Boundary Peak.

This was the “ah-hah” moment where we realized we were very, very miscalculated in our summit estimating. Overall, the trail was well-defined, and we never had too much of a problem finding the path once we’d wandered off. There were parts we chose to follow rock paths and bouldered up to avoid unnecessary elevation gain or loss, but the ridge was relatively easy to follow.

Looking across Nevada at the summit.

Reaching the summit felt like quite the accomplishment! We could see across Nevada and over to the Sierras and Yosemite region of California. On the top, Montgomery Peak (13,442′) loomed back at us from California. We speculated where the state border actually laid, and contemplated a second summit, but couldn’t spot a good trail and noted that the final 800 or so feet looked a little too sketchy.

Summit of Boundary Peak, looking across to Montgomery Peak, a few hundred feet higher.

Looking down the ridge we ascended from the summit.

Returning down the way we came, we used the ridge above as a natural handrail and made our own path until we met with the Trail Canyon saddle again. We had run into 3 other groups during the day, and all 3 had also come from Queen Mine. Notably – we were also the only women we saw on the mountain that day (girl power!)

Returning through the meadow until dipping down to the left to Queen Mine.

Looking down the valley from Queen Mine.

Below you can see where we chose to park – at the entrance to the abandoned Queen Mine. You can faintly see the road continuing up the ridge on steep switchbacks that take you 700′ up to Kennedy Point and the official trailhead. I never got a shot in the morning, but there was enough room for a few cars and tents with a firepit just to the right of my Jeep. By the time we arrived back at the car in the early afternoon, it was hot. The cool breeze that had kept us company at altitude disappeared once we’d reached the valley. Since this is one of the most remote desert hikes, and there are no sources of water along the trail, I’d highly recommend bringing three liters of water.

This is my recommended parking spot, next to the Queen Mine, before the super-rugged road conditions start to the traditional trailhead.

Leaving the trailhead, we were back in Bishop by 3:00pm… With just enough time to feed our hiker hunger and get ready for our ascent of White Mountain Peak in the morning.

QUICK STATS

Length: 10.4 miles
Trailhead: 9,200 ft.
Summit: 13,146 ft.
Elevation gain: 4,000 ft.
Time: 6:45 total, 6:00 moving

A few resources I found really helpful before this climb…

Boundary Peak on Peakbagger.com
Step-by-step of Queen Mine route by Calipidder
Queen Mine route on Summitpost
A second Queen Mine report on Summitpost

Alamere Falls via the Coastal Trail

August 5, 2015 / Rachel / Leave a comment

On Saturday we unknowingly ventured along a northern portion of the same Coastal Trail that you can follow along Muir Beach to Rodeo Beach, this time starting 10 miles north of Stinson Beach. Alamere Falls has made a name for itself as a beautiful and popular Bay Area getaway spot. From San Francisco, it takes about 1.5 hours, mostly due to the scenic winding of Highway 1.

This hike was similar to other seaside trails around The Bay; soft ground, exposed with little shade, and extremely populated by the early afternoon. As we’d been warned, we had to park out car about a quarter mile down the road from the trailhead since the parking lot was full by noon. I didn’t include a time estimation below, because we were with a group of 7 and took our time making our way through the trail, stopping to picnic at Bass Lake and spending a while at the turnaround spot: Alamere Falls.

Bass Lake

The last few miles to the falls open up on another ocean view, and that’s when you’ll want to look out for an old trail sign on your left covered in graffiti that serves as the cutoff to Alamere Falls. At this point, you will have gone about 3.75 miles and only have .4 left on a narrow trail that takes you straight to the oceanside.

The falls drops a couple hundred feet down to the beach, which will be even more crowded than the upper areas of the trail. And even though California is full-force in its drought, the falls were still running with plenty of water. Speaking of water, our group grossly misestimated the heat of the day and we were without water the last couple miles of our trek – which should serve as an easy reminder for next time. I noticed that most hikers brought swimsuits and towels to take full advantage of their beach destination.

The long, dusty walk back to the car was eased with more views of the ocean. I’ll be returning here soon to try a trail run, a little earlier in the day, and with more water.