Tag: 13064

Mount Owen – 13,064

RT Length: 8.59 miles

Elevation Gain: 2897’

I was a little leery of doing Mount Owen after hearing about the private property issues with landowners.  So, I did my best to plan my route with CalTopo to avoid private property.   I didn’t see any private property signs while hiking so I’m fairly sure this route avoids trespassing.  In any event, I did see hunters out there as well. 

I started from a dispersed campsite just past Lake Irwin.  It’s a dirt road to get there but I saw several sedans in the parking areas.  There are several dispersed sites here, and this one had a porta potty.  They have signs stating only to camp in designated sites but I’ve seen people park at the lake or along the road.

I followed 4WD road 826 1D north for about 3/10ths of a mile from my site. 

Just before coming to the first house I left the road and headed west to avoid hiking on private property.

This first part is a little tricky because I did not go the obvious way (and believe me, there is an obvious way, but there are signs stating you can’t use the road if you don’t live there).  It was frustrating going up and over small hills I could have easily avoided and heading further east than was necessary.  Here’s an overview of my approach:

As I was heading east I was looking for a small gully to ascend. 

When I made it to the gully I ascended it, heading northwest to 11175’

At 11175’ I headed northeast and followed the mountainside at this elevation.  There were several strong game trails, and one took me all the way around the side of the mountain. 

I continued following a game trail north, parallelling the 4WD road below.  This eventually brought me to the base of Mount Owen, and an old mining road.

Once on the road I turned left and followed it west. This road hasn’t been used by vehicles for a long time.  In many places there’s just a trail over talus and rockfall, but it’s very easy to follow.  You can clearly see how the road goes all the way to the saddle.  You can follow it to the saddle or take a game trail to the saddle and avoid the switchbacks. 

I chose to avoid the switchbacks and head straight to the saddle.  There were game trails here and some scree to navigate, but it was only about 100’ of elevation gain to the saddle.

Once on the saddle I turned right and followed a game trail northeast up to the ridge and then all the way to the summit.  There was some scree here, but it was all class 2 with one class 3 move that could have been avoided by going to the left.  I was pleasantly surprised with how easy the trail was to follow.

Once on the ridge I followed the ridge proper most of the way to the summit. The trail is obvious.  Mount Owen is the peak to the left.

Here are some pictures of the ridge

The avoidable class 3 move.  Just go to the left to stay on class 2 terrain.

I summited Mount Owen at 9:10am.  Notice how clear the sky is?

Mount Owen:

This was an out and back hike for me, so I turned and headed back down the ridge to the saddle of Ruby and Owen.

Once back at the saddle you can choose to climb Ruby Peak, a ranked 12er, but I’d already climbed this peak, so instead I descended back into the basin down the scree and hiked the road back down to 11500’.

At 11500’ I left the road and headed south around the ridge.  There’s a good game trail here.

As I rounded the ridge I tried to stay high to avoid private property.  I didn’t go lower than 11175’ until I made it to the gully.

When I made it to the gully/drainage I followed the drainage southeast until 10550’, then headed east back to the road.  This is also when I heard a big clap of thunder.  Around 10:30am the skies opened up and it started raining.  At this point I was cursing the extra mileage avoiding private property was giving me (no, it wasn’t actually a lot, but it meant route finding in the trees which took time), and the weather forecast not calling for rain until after noon.

Back on the dirt road I followed it south back to my truck

I made it back to my truck at 10:30am, making this an 8.59 mile hike with 2897’ of elevation gain in 4 hours.

On to the next trailhead!

Mt Kruetzer – 13,122 and Chalk Rock Mountain – 13,064

RT Length: 10.43 miles

Elevation Gain: 3117’

My plans for this weekend changed last minute.  I got gas and was on my way, but suddenly my engine light turned on, saying there was a transmission problem, and to get to my dealer right away. I have less than 25,000 miles on my truck, so this concerned me.  I decided to pull over on the side of the road to google what could be wrong.  The next exit I came to there was a man wearing only jeans, holding a 6 foot 2×4 over his shoulders, swaying back and forth on the side of the off-ramp.  It was 1am.  I decided to wait for the next exit. 

I googled the warning notification, and it turned out the light could be one of over 40 things wrong.  With cars and mountaineering, hope is not a strategy.   I thought about it for a minute, and finally decided driving 6 hours and then another hour off road was probably a bad idea, so I turned around and headed to the nearest dealership, and slept in my truck until they opened at 7am. 

Bugs.  Bugs were what was wrong.  Bugs on my windshield and bugs on my grille were obscuring the sensors from doing their jobs.  The sensors were now clean, and I was good to go, with the admonition I should wash my truck more often.  To which I replied “It’s a truck.  It’s supposed to get dirty.  If not, you have no business owning a truck.”  Seriously though, washing my truck in the summer lasts a good 6 hour drive to the next trailhead, and doesn’t seem worth the money.  I got a high five and was out of there, now a day behind, so summit modifications would need to be made. 

I made it to the trailhead in a thunderstorm, which I’d expected.  It was my plan to wait it out, and start in the morning.  I parked 6 miles past Cottonwood Lake, at the junctions of 344 and 349.  There are dispersed campsites closer, but I planned to be here for a few days and this made a good base camp. 

I was up and on the trail at 4:15am to a clear, starry night ski, hoping to get in my summits before the clouds and rain came at 9am.  I followed road 344 west for 1.4 miles.

I then turned right onto  344G.  There were several dispersed campsites here as well.

I followed this road all the way to 12,020. 

I passed an old log cabin

Staying left, I continued to 12,020

At 12,020 I turned left, and followed a trail northeast through Mineral Basin

This is where I was headed, towards the saddle.  The road is sometimes a trail, sometimes two ruts, but it goes all the way to the saddle.

I’m going to apologize for the pictures on the ridge.  The weather forecast said 57% sky cover until 9am, when the clouds were supposed to roll in, but as you can see, they arrived early. I thought about waiting the clouds out, but it was obvious they were just accumulating.  At one point I even turned back, knowing I’d need to do this hike again anyway to get better pictures, but turned around again and summited, because I was so close.  While this is a class 2 ridge hike, I hiked it with my compass out the entire time, as I couldn’t see more than a few yards ahead of me at a time. I’m going to show you some really terrible pictures of the route, but know from the saddle it’s .7 miles southwest, and then .8 miles south/southeast along the ridge, mostly on tundra with a few rocks thrown in. 

At the saddle I turned left, and headed up the ridge

The summit is obvious, after quite a few false summits.  Here I saw a mountain goat run past me into the mist.  The summit was noted by an obvious cairn (that needs a new summit register)

It’s important to note by this time I was feeling like a popsicle.  I could not feel my hands and my feet felt like blocks of ice. Apparently it’s wet and cold hiking inside of a cloud. 

I summited Mt Kruetzer at 7am

Mt Kruetzer:

I made my way back to the saddle.  I’ll apologize again for the terrible pictures, and promise to climb these peaks again someday so I can get better photos of the route.

Back on the saddle, I headed northeast towards Chalk Rock mountain

This is the route I took up.  It was obvious why it’s named “Chalk Rock Mountain”.  There were game trails here, and the summit was surprisingly close. From the saddle, it was only .3 miles to the summit.

The summit was relatively flat, without a noticeable cairn

I summited Chalk Rock Mountain at 8:10am

Chalk Rock Mountain:

More than ready to be out of the clouds, I turned around and headed southwest back to the saddle.

Back on the saddle, I turned left and followed the road back down into the basin

This is the route out of the basin

I turned right onto the road and followed it back down

Back at road 344 I turned left, and followed it back to my campsite

I made it back to my truck at 9:45am, making this a 10.43 mile hike with 3117’ of elevation gain in 5 hours, 30 minutes. Now it’s time to dry out my shoes, socks, and feet for tomorrow morning.

On to the next trailhead!

Oh, and this is what the mountain looked like as I hiked down.  The clouds never went away!

The next morning I hiked Jones Mountain B.  Unlike yesterday, the there were no visible stars, as the sky was cloudy.  However, once I made it to the ridge, I could see Kruetzer and Chalk Rock were clear.  Here are some more visuals of the route

As you can see, it’s mostly a ridge hike.