Trip Report
Brown Peak.
Thursday October 17, 2013 1:03am
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Yosemite's closed. Great. I'll go do some thing that I've always wanted to do since I began Yosemitizing in 1961...
Brown (5,600'+) and Pinoche Peaks (5,800'-) are in the Sierra (Nevada) Nat'l Forest. Pinoche Ridge connects to Brown Peak. Cottonwood Saddle is the area I traversed to get to Brown Peak. There are no restrictions on going through the Park to get there via Henness Ridge Road. El Portal is the USGS map. Turn left at the first intersection after turning into Yo West. Follow it to the sign that says 10 mph and follow the old log road to its end. No water, so bring your own freeze-dried Evian.
Once there, a brief look-around, pix of old junkers and other treasures and fire suppression tanks old and new. This guy has a good life out here in this lonely cabin. I took off up a trail passing by the tanks and came out on another log road which hadn't been used in a while. But it was clear sailing at my slow pace. This is the place that burned in the late eighties and three fires combined to threaten El Portal. A couple of burned-out places up there just before intersecting that road leading out to Cottonwood Saddle. Ugliness.
Nice thing about photography bugs. They slow you down, down, down. My physical state is not good, with asthma topping the list for sheer pain-in-the-ass and bad knees topping the list for sheer pain-anywhere-in-the-body. But I stop often enough to recoup and to hack and cough a bit and I'm good for the next leg. I usually go solo because I slow folks down and don't like to rush my photos.
Starting early is a bugaboo. I can't seem to get off at an early hour. I guess I'm not an alpine starter at all. I was farting around photographing still water and rocks and wasting time before the sun came up in the Merced Canyon at the El Portal bridge, the old one that managed to survive the flood, for so long that my idea of going up from there on one of the ridges (real bushwhacking) or following an old trail up a creek began falling through at an accelerated pace. I'm glad it happened so.
At the El Portal Store I spoke with a gent named Gerald D., who said Julia Parker's his auntie. He recommended abandoning the original plan and taking Henness Ridge Road and told me what to do. He's a lifelong EP resident and has the skinny, if anyone does.
It's a Class II ascent up oak forest mast from Cottonwood Saddle. I could see some folks ride up there on horses or mules. Some is steeper than necessary, but the trail is faint, when you can tell one is there. There is plenty of room for contouring and switching back, even lacking a trail, just keep getting higher by degrees and save the knees. That's the thing about oak forest. Leaves and branches keep building up over years and obscuring detail and snagging your ankles.
Near the summit ridge things level and open up and the sun's in full blaze. For the past hour it's been playing hide and seek with me in the trees at the top of the ridge. I reach the summit blocks around five o'clock. I kiss the gargoyle. I look around, swill water, eat a cheese sangwidge and smoke a bowl.
Other than the gargoyle and the raven I've seen, that's it for wildlife. Bear scat, though. And meat bees and gnats. Grasshoppers on the summit, too.
I see Pinoche, can't see into the South Fork, though. I'd have to be on Pinoche. I can't see down into either river from Brown at all, as it's too steep. Can't look into El Portal, either. I see Turtle, Crane, Elephant, I think Rancheria, and Eagle Beak above the Tioga Road. Foresta's plain to see, there's Reed's, and Indian Peak, as well as Ferguson Ridge, above that slide on 140.
It is so still up there and the sun is so friendly, too. The woodpecker calls. Summer is nearly gone. Fall foliage has begun. It is time to go now. My password. And so I do. Knees creak, up she rises, one last swig of Fern Spring and I'm on the flip side.
Timing it just right, I got back down to the logger's picnic area on Cottonwood Saddle just as it got dark, but had to travel downhill in the oak mast, so it was almost an awkward glissade with no arrest if I got going too fast. Plus the oak branches were little booby traps and the glim was indeed getting dimmer. I thought I might be lost, but timed my traverse straight left perfectly and came out where I needed to be.
I want to get back up there before snow flies and see the view from Pinoche. Taking the mountain bike next time. And camping. Too good to miss, too close for excuses, and best of all it's free and it's open.
It's Mariposa.
I had to drive home in the dark so I took full advantage and used the tripod that Ed Hartouni gave me at Facelift. I have a little ways to go on the learning curve yet.
I hope you enjoy this little adventure's recap.
mouse from merced
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About the Author mouse from merced is a tard climber from merced, california. |
Comments
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Oct 17, 2013 - 01:47am PT
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Right on Mouse.
Keep on shufflin'!!
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Risk
Mountain climber
Marooned, 855 miles from Tuolumne Meadows
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Oct 17, 2013 - 02:04am PT
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I'll not forget this great TR soon, if ever. Thanks for bringing us along on this special journey.
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silentone
Mountain climber
wisconsin
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Oct 17, 2013 - 02:42am PT
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Nice report Mouse.
What is a meat bee?
S.O.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Author's Reply
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Oct 17, 2013 - 02:56am PT
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Go to Yellow Pines during Facelift. Or Camp 4. There were fewer this year than last, maybe the chill had some negative effect on the turd worshipers.
Last year we had three traps hung over the eating area. We had to empty them for the Meatfest.
http://www.kevinroderick.com/meatbees.html
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Bargainhunter
climber
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Oct 17, 2013 - 02:50am PT
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Cool report. Brown Mountain in the San Gabriel's is also a worthy traverse for those stuck in LA.
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RyanD
climber
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Oct 17, 2013 - 02:51am PT
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Amazing day!
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T Hocking
Trad climber
Redding, Ca
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Oct 17, 2013 - 10:17am PT
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Glad you got out Mouse my friend!
TFPU
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Oct 17, 2013 - 10:23am PT
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Nice! Adventure is where we find it.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Oct 17, 2013 - 10:28am PT
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Thanks for taking us along!
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Murzerker
climber
Away from Walhalla
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Oct 17, 2013 - 10:51am PT
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Thanks for taking this California mountain kid on your adventure. I can almost smell the sugar pines, and hear the Jays from my exile in Austin.
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Oct 17, 2013 - 11:05am PT
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Nice TR - thanks for taking me along
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Ezra Ellis
Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
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Oct 17, 2013 - 08:17pm PT
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Kool beans!!!!!
Thanks!!!
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Oct 17, 2013 - 10:18pm PT
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Great trip, great reportin'.
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
The fake McCoy from nevernever land.
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Oct 17, 2013 - 10:37pm PT
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the colors of fall are most definitely out and about.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Author's Reply
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Dec 25, 2013 - 03:36am PT
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I shall return. Not real quick, but eventually.
This is the last transmission for this year from the Transition Zone.
Merry Christmas, it's 39.8 degrees in El Portal at this time.
I'm all toasted and warm. You do the same.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Dec 25, 2013 - 03:55am PT
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Nice Yosemitizing!
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jonnyrig
climber
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Dec 25, 2013 - 10:52am PT
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Nice!
and Merry Christmas to you!
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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syncopation, I never saw this till just now
I see that it was some time ago, and
merry Christmas don'cha know so...
bimp for all the world it is the mouse that roars
no no thats not right
it is
BUMP... )things(
that go in the night!
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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double bimp
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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That was fun. I was going along, going along, having fun, and then was surprised to be looking way down. It can be fun to not know where you are going. Still not sure where I was, but thanks.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Author's Reply
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Jun 5, 2015 - 09:53pm PT
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Blimp.
It' turned out that I climbed Pinoche Peak. Brown will have to wait some. Map reading is not my specialty.
Andy MH2, watch your step...
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Explorer
climber
Mariposa
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Oct 11, 2015 - 04:26pm PT
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Mouse,
Though easier than a ridge from the Merced River, that was a heck of a hike nonetheless! I'm data mining the net for more information about the old Pinoche Peak Pack trail that used to run between Hites Cove Road and Chinqapin. I think it used to run through Cathewood Saddle.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Author's Reply
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Oct 12, 2015 - 06:48am PT
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Explorer, this is kinda funny because just yesterday I was on the opposite side of the river some twenty miles downstream on a long ridge looking down into the Briceburg Canyon.
Tooling along a ridge is faster than following banks and bends of a river. That trail would have had to gain height fast from Hite Cove if it wished to avoid the pitfalls of travelling the river.
It sounds to me like you'll be doing some rugged hiking, possibly, to gain height. There were trails clearly seen from the south side of the South Fork up high around the road down to Hite Ccve from Jerseydale.
That little walk I took into the saddle where the old camp was set up was easy because it was level. Beyond that it was simply a walk in the woods heading in a vague direction.
Good luck with your 'proj.'
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