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| | | Micro - South Fork - Thomas, CA | | | |
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Micro - South Fork - Thomas, CA
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| Hiking | 3.60 Miles |
1,188 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.60 Miles | 2 Hrs 36 Mns | | 1.70 mph |
| 1,188 ft AEG | 29 Mns Break | | | |
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| Partners |
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none
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| no partners | | This was 3 separate hikes with each hike bagging a peak:
1) Micro Benchmark (elevation of 3,772 feet and prominence of 1,292 feet)
2) South Fork San Jacinto Wilderness Area High Point (elevation of 5,447 feet with zero prominence)
3) Thomas Mountain (elevation of 6,825 feet and prominence of 1,945 feet)
I was originally going to do another hike, but the road was road was rougher and would take longer to drive than I anticipated, so I switched to plan B.
Micro Benchmark
(2.84 miles with 1,135 feet of AEG)
This peak is in the Chuckwalla Mountains, south of I-10 off of Red Cloud Road. This is the second most prominent peak in the Chuckwalla Mountains, and it has an antennae farm atop it; as such, a service road leads to the top.
I drove through an open gate, after which the road steepened significantly. I started out in 4HI but switched to 4LO. The road got steeper than I was really comfortable with (think Thompson Peak steep) so I pulled over and parked at a wide pullout on the road. From there I hiked up the steep road to the top. In a couple of places the dirt road was paved to provide some extra traction for the service vehicles.
Once on top I located the benchmark and a higher boulder a short distance away. There is another highpoint candidate on a hill nearly 1/2 mile away, so I hiked over there. This hill had a Lilley-MacLeod register, and I thought that it was higher than the area with the benchmark. Hiking to it from the antennae farm was the best part of the hike, so I am glad that I went up there.
I walked the steep road back to my car, and the descent was tougher than the ascent. I went really slow on the steep sections to avoid a mishap.
South Fork San Jacinto Wilderness HP
(0.22 miles with 33 feet of AEG)
After hiking to the Micro Benchmark I drove west on I-10 to Palm Desert, and made my way up Highway 74 toward the San Jacinto Mountains. This wilderness area is off of Highway 74 near Thomas Mountain. I drove up toward Thomas Mountain from the north and stopped very near the wilderness boundary on the way. The high point is a short distance from where I parked, and I made the easy hike to the high point. The high point is atop a large round boulder that is 10-12 feet high. Fortunately, there is another boulder next to it, and I was able to wedge myself between the 2 boulders and shimmy up to the high point. There is a great view of San Jacinto Peak from the high point.
Thomas Mountain
(0.54 miles with 20 feet of AEG)
From the wilderness high point I continued driving up the road to Mount Thomas. I took a rough, rutted spur road off of the main road a short distance and parked not far below the summit. There are a couple of potential high points there, and it looked to me like a large fin shaped boulder was the highest point. The boulder was very grippy so I was able to get up on the fin. The top of the fin was only an inch or two wide, and with the strong Santa Ana winds gusting to 30+ mph I thought it unwise to stand atop the fin. However, I did sit on the fin and I figure that is sufficient to claim the high point. Once again, there are nice views of the surrounding area from the high point.
I drove back down the mountain on the road on the south side of the mountain, and I thought that it was a better road than coming in from the north. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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