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ToTheSummit
peregrinus



Registered: 08/22/99
Posts: 9,126
Loc: Las Vegas
Last seen: 2 hours, 32 minutes
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WWS4
#4843765 - 10/23/05 10:46 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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Weekends with Summit - Part 4 October 22, 2005
This was an awesome week for me. I got rained out at work 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday) which allowed me free time for some mid-week hiking as well as my Saturday hike. When it was raining on Tuesday there were flash floods everywhere. Here is a wash crossing from that day...

...and here is the exact same spot on Saturday morning...

Anyway, on Saturday morning I decided to do some reconnaissance. There is a peak I want to summit but I don't do any technical climbing. But I've heard rumors that there is a class III route that leads up the backside, but the canyon leading to the backside is almost inaccessible. So I decided to go check things out. The trail is called "Pine Creek Canyon" and the peak I want to climb is the red-tipped dome that splits the canyon in two (right in the center of the picture).

The name "Pine Creek Canyon" comes from the strange phenomenon of an out-of-place grove of ponderosa pines that grows at the mouth of the canyon. Scientists think that the year-round water supply here has kept this 'mini forest' in place since the ice-age as the surrounding area slowly turned to desert. It is strange to see ponderosa pines growing alongside yucca cacti!

There is also the remnants of a homestead from the turn of the century here. It would've been the logical place to settle in this area.

Once the trail dies out at the mouth of the canyon I had to continue on 'commando' style. I went up the left fork. There is a lot of bushwhacking and rock scrambling invloved in getting up the canyon. And this was not made easier by the flow of water from the rains just a couple days before. Places where I would've normally walked through with ease became tricky obstacles whilst trying to keep my feet dry.


Eventually the water dried up as I got higher in the canyon, but the canyon became uncooperative...

Soon many large falls (dry, but often 15-20 feet high) blocked my passage. But at each obstacle I found a way to climb them without too much trouble. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of this part of the canyon because I was caught up in the moment of trying to navigate my way and I had my camera gear stowed safely in my pack.
Eventually the canyon once again leveled out. By this time I was at an elevation that was about 2/3 of the way up the height of the mount and almost directly behind it (as seen in the first pic). Here it became obvious to me that the canyon was, in fact, accessible and if the class III route does exist I could easily get to it. But alas, I was running short on time (had to be home by noon) so I turned back. Here is the spot at which I stopped and turned back. Still a lot of bouldering to continue, but easily passable.

I turned for home and left with a greater understanding of the route I must take and the ability to find the elusive class III route to the summit. Next time I go here it will be an all-out assult on the summit!
And one more nice shot of the mountain as I walked out..

AND JUST FOR FUN At the same time I was heading up the trail in the morning there were 3 climbers also going up. This spot is popular with climbers for its easy access and seemingly limitless routes to climb. As I came back out of the canyon I spotted them about half way up this mountain...

Here is the same pic with the climbers circled in red for reference...

...and here is a closeup of them on the mountain. One climber has led and set rope as two more are about to follow on this pitch.
-------------------- You invented the wheel....You push the motherfucker!!
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Rustifer
prestige worldwide


Registered: 04/10/05
Posts: 7,071
Loc: Central Texas
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Wonderful pictures, what part of the U.S. do you live in.
Everything looks so breathtaking there.
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oDin
Registered: 08/12/99
Posts: 5,789
Last seen: 10 years, 7 months
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nice
i wanna go!
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Rustifer
prestige worldwide


Registered: 04/10/05
Posts: 7,071
Loc: Central Texas
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Re: WWS4 [Re: oDin]
#4846308 - 10/24/05 03:45 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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I do too. =( I have to drive 2 hours to see anything like that. And I don't have a car.
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annielicious
pisces


Registered: 03/31/00
Posts: 459
Last seen: 10 years, 7 months
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Nice man! We do need to hook up for a long weekend or something.
-------------------- "Everything that limits us, we have to put aside." Jonathan Livingston Seagull
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ToTheSummit
peregrinus



Registered: 08/22/99
Posts: 9,126
Loc: Las Vegas
Last seen: 2 hours, 32 minutes
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Quote:
annielicious said: Nice man! We do need to hook up for a long weekend or something.
For sure! I'm finally getting back into shape now where I could enjoy a trip with you guys and not have to kill myself. We really should think about planning a backpacking trip. Maybe in spring just when it starts to warm up we can take a week. We'll get some other shroomerites involved...it'd be the best gathering yet!! 
Quote:
Rustifer said: Wonderful pictures, what part of the U.S. do you live in.
Everything looks so breathtaking there.
Las Vegas, Nevada. The spot in these pics is less then 30 minutes from my front door.
-------------------- You invented the wheel....You push the motherfucker!!
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Irijes
Dankwoman


Registered: 02/22/04
Posts: 369
Loc: Happy Trails
Last seen: 8 months, 30 days
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Count Dankman and I in on the fun! We're totally outta shape and will probably puke on ourselves from exhaustion but hey that's part of the fun!
-------------------- "Apparently there is a great discovery or insight which our culture is deliberately designed to supress, distort and ignore. That is that Nature is some kind of minded entity. That Nature is not simply the random flight of atoms through electromagnetic fields. Nature is not the empty, despiritualized lumpen matter that we inherit from modern physics. But it is instead a kind of intelligence, a kind of mind." -Terence McKenna
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vivid
Stranger


Registered: 12/14/99
Posts: 1,888
Loc: Berkeley, California
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Re: WWS4 [Re: Irijes]
#4868456 - 10/29/05 09:42 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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Once again man, awesome pictures. That one of the mountain as you're leaving is awesome, particularly that isolated cloud floating directly above it... i dont know why but it struck me as "mystical" . Pine trees in the desert... that too is awesome, strange how mother nature works sometimes.
BTW TTS, you should come on out to the lost coast with us in spring man! fun to be had by all!
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ToTheSummit
peregrinus



Registered: 08/22/99
Posts: 9,126
Loc: Las Vegas
Last seen: 2 hours, 32 minutes
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Re: WWS4 [Re: vivid]
#4872382 - 10/30/05 07:35 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
vivid said: BTW TTS, you should come on out to the lost coast with us in spring man! fun to be had by all!
Yeah, I've talked to oDin about it. I'm gonna plan on it. I definately need a backpacking trip!
-------------------- You invented the wheel....You push the motherfucker!!
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kindkesey
take it further


Registered: 03/16/03
Posts: 2,789
Loc: on the bus!!!
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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ok..... now your making me feel traped in the concrete jungle!
Thanks for sharing you wonderful pics!
-------------------- Stay Kool, and enjoy the bus ride.....
"Intrepid Search For Innerspace" DAVID JONES where are you?
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Simisu
taken by gravity


Registered: 08/08/03
Posts: 5,435
Loc: Israeli in
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oh man... that first picture killed me... i miss the desert so much! when i was in the army i was near "machtesh ramon" which is the biggest natural creator in the world located in the "negev" reagion of israel... i LOVED the winter over there it was simply magical all i had to do to forget i was in the army was take a walk outside in the chilling air (the kind that gets straight to the bone)
i've talked about this with a freind about a week ago... i should really go for a couple of days out in the desert and it's also the perfect time of the year...
thanks for yet another excelent post!
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   Shr mery    Visit & Support Free Spore Ring Earth Please help spread live Salvia Divinorum
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