DESTINATION Generic 994 Photosets
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| Hiking | 6.50 Miles |
1,675 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.50 Miles | 3 Hrs 40 Mns | | 1.77 mph |
| 1,675 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Mount Linn is the 10th most prominent peak in California. The first step to reach it is to get to Corning, CA, which seems like a bad idea in general. Step two is to drive another 55 miles west of I-5 into the North California Coast Range.
Driving from the highway to Ides Cove Trailhead takes about 2 hours one-way. The first 37mi are paved, followed by 15mi of standard forest roads. The final 2mi are steep and rocky. Nothing a Subaru couldn't handle, but I wouldn't want to bring a typical sedan up this road. At least not one that I cared about.
I reached the trailhead mid-afternoon after leaving Marin Headlands at daybreak. I packed and headed up the mountain's eastern slope. It's cross-country to start. I ran into a very well defined trail and stuck to it as long as I could. As it turns out, this approach seems to be strung together with small segments of use-trail which vary in tread. In between the segments is more cross-country. The terrain is mild and as long as you keep heading upward, you'll eventually hit Mount Linn. Vegetation is sparse and it's an easy walk-up.
There were some large patches of snow still clinging to the northern slopes. Mount Linn has good views and two reference marks. There might be a benchmark buried under rocks at the top but I didn't take the time to look. Frankly, I didn't stay up there for long as the rest of the loop seemed more interesting.
From Mount Linn, a good ridge drops to the NW. Basically class 1 unless you try to spice it up. The trail meanders a mile and a quarter to a junction. Once again, the trail disappears and reappears numerous times. It's more on the primitive side. I presume the massive August Complex Fire of 2020 has something to do with it. RouteScout sure came in handy! There was one big patch of snow right on the trail which I bypassed. Probably could have went right over it but that's okay.
At the junction, I headed north onto Trail 9W04. There's a beautiful section of forest here that was spared from the fire. Tons of bright green moss on nearly every tree. On the other hand, there are plenty of areas where virtually nothing has recovered from the fire.
I followed a primitive trail down to Long Lake for some pictures. Did the same for Square Lake. I was surprised to see a couple people on the trail near Square Lake, they had just arrived from Sacramento. I kept a good pace for the last mile so I could get back to the car quickly. Still had about 3 hours of driving ahead of me on the way to Redding. On the way down, a branch became wedged in my suspension and I had to stop and break it before pulling it out. That's a first.
It's worth stopping somewhere along the road before you return to Paskenta. The terrain in this area is very cool, lots of small, grassy, peaks/hills - an added bonus for all of the driving. It took 20 minutes less to do this hike than it did to drive in and out. I think it's worth it at least once. |
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