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Sunday (Morena Reservoir, Cameron Corners, and Mt. Laguna quadrangles). The
expected 1/2 hour car shuttle to Cibbets Flat Campground took twice that long
and we did not leave till 0900 when Wes Shelberg joined us. The PCT continues
at the north end of the campground and generally is well marked. In about 1
mile the trail turns right at the big oak tree (look for the PCT marker on the
ground or you will miss the turn-off). At 3 1/2 miles the trail meets the
bridge at the Buckman Springs Road. Cottonwood Creek was low so we went under
the bridge and found the PCT at the north end under the bridge. In the winter
it's preferable to cross on the bridge unless you like swimming in mud. The trail follows a dirt road and then becomes trail again but is well marked to Boulder Oaks (5 1/2 miles from Lake Morena). We passed groves of old oak trees; the area is reminiscent of how California must have looked 100 years ago. John Lutz bought a Pacific Crest Trail T-shirt and the rest of us bought drinks at the Boulder Oaks store. The trail continues across the street from the store and climbs modestly to Kitchen Creek road. To pick up the trail there it is necessary to walk back down (south) a short way Kitchen Creek road. At that point the PCT starts the climb of the Laguna Mountains, with expansive views to the east of Posts Valley and Antone Canyon. We left the PCT at Fred Canyon Road where we hiked southwest .8 mile to Cibbets Flat Campground and the cars, arriving at Cibbets Flat at 1430. We have now done the first 1% of the PCT. Come join while we knock off the remaining 99% and see remote mountain, desert, and historical areas of the beautiful Pacific Crest. JOE |
| SENTINEL PEAK | May 17-18 | Randy BERNARD/Maris VALKASS |
We meet at 6 am at the turn off to Ballarat on State Hwy 178 just 20.4 miles north of beautiful downtown Trona. We drove thru Ballarat (nobody was home) and then went north on Indian Ranch Road 1.2 miles to the Surprise Canyon road and headed north east up this excellent dirt road to Chris Wicks Camp where it stopped.
By 7 am our little band of 8 hikers were backpacking up the canyon. The road that once went through here was completely washed out by the big flash floods way back in 1984 and there is no trace of the road for the first mile or so as the trail goes up 600 vertical feet and over some water falls complete with running water. The next 2 miles we just walked up the old road till about one mile before Panamint (city) where you can look up the canyon and see a tall smokestack, a goal to hike to! At 11:30 am we reached the ghost town (about 5 miles and 3600 feet of gain) just as weather was getting hot, but we did beat the heat most of way up the canyon. Tom Jeter made a motion that we spent the afternoon exploring the city and resting in the shade, Chris Jeter second it and the motion carried.
Diane Rosentretter, Susan Hanna and Anna Valkass led the mine exploring that afternoon, there are so many to choose from.
We all thought a ghost had visited us because of a banging noise we heard all night long but in the morning we found it was the wind blowing a loose piece of siding on the work shop.
In the morning we took J. Holshuh's suggestion and hiked up Magazine canyon to Wyoming mine then followed the ridge top to the peak reaching it about 10:30 am. We signed the register and head down toward Panamint pass. Before we reached the pass we took a side canyon down to Frenchmans Canyon then followed the ghost trail (hard to find) back to Panamint.
We took a lunch break at Panamint City then the hard part started; hiking down the canyon the weather got pretty hot, but we all made it to the cars by 5 pm.