|
| | | Whipple Mountains Highpoint, CA | | | |
|
|
Whipple Mountains Highpoint, CA
| | |
| |
|
| Hiking | 10.00 Miles |
2,729 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.00 Miles | 7 Hrs 16 Mns | | 1.58 mph |
| 2,729 ft AEG | 56 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | I decided to take my winter 2024 peakbagging tour west and hike to the Whipple Mountains Highpoint. The Whipple Mountains are in the extreme eastern portion of San Bernardino County, not far from Lake Havasu. The unnamed highpoint is at an elevation of 4,130 feet and it has prominence of 2,790 feet. It is on the Sierra Club Desert Peak Section (DPS) peak list, so you can count on it not being an easy hike. In addition to being a highpoint of the range, the peak is the highpoint of the Whipple Mountains Wilderness.
As for etymology, the Whipple Mountains were named in honor of American military officer and engineer Amiel Weeks Whipple in 1858. Whipple was a member of the US Army Boundary Commission and Pacific Railroad Survey. Actually, only one of the peaks in the range was originally named for him, but in 1903 the US Geological Survey named the entire range in his honor. Whipple, a Brigadier General under the command of Union Army General Joseph Hooker, was killed along with 17,000 other union soldiers in 1863 during Lincoln's war of aggression in a battle at Chancellorsville,Virginia.
The last 14 miles to the trailhead were on a dirt road, and the road was in worse condition than what I was lead to believe. There were some rough sections of the road and some high centering issues. I would not drive it without a high clearance 4WD vehicle, and even then you'd have to deal with some high centering. It took me close to 1.5 hours to travel the 14 miles, each way.
I parked at the War Eagle Mine, and generally headed south to the peak. I followed what is known as DPS Route B. The first couple of miles were across open country, and I was able to follow a burro trail for part of the way. I then ascended in a drainage for a good ways. It was a good drainage to hike through as there was very little brush, but I had to bypass a couple of dryfalls.
Once out of the drainage I had to make a steep ascent up to a saddle that is southwest of the peak. This was the hardest part of the hike. I had to ascend to the base of a cliff, and then traverse underneath the cliff to a gully, and then climb up the gully to the saddle. At the saddle, there was another steep climb of about 400 vertical feet to get to a ridgeline west of the peak. Once at the ridgeline it was a fairly easy hike to the summit.
There were nice views at the summit, particularly of Lake Havasu. It was a bit of a hazy day, so views weren't as good as they otherwise would have been.
I returned the way that I came.
Synopsis
I enjoyed this hike through a dry desert. I saw lots of signs of burros, but never saw any. If the road to the TH was in better shape I might even do this hike again sometime. |
| _____________________
| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
| | |
|
|
|
Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
