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| Hiking | 5.50 Miles |
1,464 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.50 Miles | 1 Hour 36 Mns | | 3.67 mph |
| 1,464 ft AEG | 6 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Last Fall I bagged the highpoint of Red Mountain, [which sits at 6373’ and is where the lookout tower is located], along with two other fun-looking, unnamed peaks, [one of which exceeds 6,000’ and the other labeled as 5937’ on topo maps]. At the time, I was on the mend from having undergone stem cell therapy for a knee injury that had sidelined me for several months. Feeling great and not wanting to push my luck, I called it a day after three summits and resisted the urge to head up this 4th, fun-looking look peak ( [ photo ] )… which ironically proved to be the official summit of Red Mountain, as per Cal & FS Topo maps.
It wasn’t until just a month or so ago as I was compiling some peak lists from listofjohn (pay $ite) that I noticed I missed the peak. Since I live nearby, [and have been traveling through Patagonia at least once per week for personal biz], I figured I would knock it off the next time I was in need of a shorter, 5-6 mile hike, [and one that I knew wouldn’t turn into a half-day bushwhack]. Today proved to be that occasion.
I ended up parking just under 1 mile closer to Harshaw road from where I parked the previous year because FR 4649 had deteriorated a bit just after the first creek crossing. While I’ve driven much worse, the short rutted section immediately after the first creek crossing would definitely have taken some very careful maneuvering in an HCV in order not to hit bottom, and I just didn’t need the added stress. Jeeps and 4x4’s would definitely have no issues.
Wanting to log at least 5 miles anyways, the extra distance did not bother me; and with several areas of shallow water flowing across the road, along with many pretty colored rocks to marvel at along the way, I thoroughly enjoyed walking the section of dirt road that I’d driven up last year. Although I felt some mild fatigue at the start, I was very pleasantly surprised when MapMyHike announced 17:42 for my first mile, [which was mostly flat with a little bit of uphill]; and I think I actually smiled after hearing I’d clocked in at 17:30 for the grueling second mile, [which was just over 2 minutes faster than the previous year over pretty much the same stretch of road, in similar weather conditions, and after exerting what felt to be about the same effort].
About to ease up the pace and give myself a little breather, I took one look at the skies around me and pressed onward… in addition to the dark gray skies to the East and the North that were closing in fast, the moment the Red Mountain Lookout popped into view [and the views to West open up], I realized there were more immediate threats: not only much closer dark gray clouds, but bolts of lightening as well.
I pressed onward toward the peak, [with the intent of hunkering down amongst the Manzanita if things got ugly]. Given the conditions, [and wanting to minimize the time on the peak as a result], I bypassed the longer [~0.25 mi] NE ridge and continued up the dirt road, which wraps up and around toward the shorter [~0.15 mi] NW ridge. Luckily both the NW and NE ridgelines are extremely well routed, and, [with excellent footing], it made for a very fast ascent/descent.
The highpoint is obvious and there is a medium-sized summit cairn with a register that dates back to 1996. The pages were drenched and under normal circumstances, I would have hung around an extra 10 minutes or so to allow them to dry out… but at this point there were lightening bolts in every direction except the South and it was time to get the hell out of dodge. I paused for a few quick summit shots and quickly took in the amazingly beautiful views, and then bounded down the NE ridgeline.
While the lightening was definitely very close, it never felt like I was going to get struck and I was never more than a little nervous. Nonetheless, [not knowing just how fast or in what direction the storms were moving], it was freaky enough that I did not want to risk taking an extra 60-90 seconds to fetch my bushwhacking pants from my pack. Needless to say, with nothing more than some Manzanita growing across the well-defined route, [and never once experiencing any pain/soreness], I was shocked to see how my legs got torn apart [at least in appearance; there was nothing deep / nothing more than surface scratches]. Nonetheless, the many long scratches at random funky angles almost looked like I was engaging in self-mutilation.  |
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| God save the Prom Queen, cuz [reality check!] AEG's King...! |
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