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| Hiking | 10.50 Miles |
2,375 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.50 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 1.75 mph |
| 2,375 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This is one of my very favorite hikes in the Catalinas. The view from the summit of Thimble Peak is among best around, and the hike is beautiful, fun, and adventurous.
We did this hike in January and I wouldn't wish it on anyone in hot weather. Because of the Aspen Fire there is virtually no shade on the entire route, save a bit of riparian forest around Sycamore Reservoir.
The route description above is very good. Since the fire the intersection with the Bear Creek cutoff trail may be less obvious than ever. Right now its marked by several cairns and a ragged yellow flag, forking off to the left about .6 miles above the reservoir. The cutoff crosses the creek directly, and a well worn and well-cairned path leads up to the Bear Canyon Trail.
From Thimble Flat we had a bit of trouble finding a cairned route all the way to Thimble Peak. This is not a problem, because the route-finding is straight-forward. We followed cairns up to the first low ridge across Thimble Flat, then contoured around the large bowl on game trails until we picked up another set of cairns that led to the Thimble Peak summit block.
A few words on the summit block itself. We climbed the big west-facing gully, as described above. The gully has a few moves that require easy hands and feet climbing. If you find this uncomfortable, and you're not equipped with a rope and climbing gear, you should probably TURN AROUND. Moves higher up are about as hard, but risk a much more dangerous fall (possibly involving death). From the top of the gully, look for the orange face with a bolt on its right side (as described above). The easiest way up is to traverse right below the bolt around the arete. Easy (5.0-5.1), but exposed, climbing leads up from here. Climbing directly up the orange face involves a couple 5.6-5.7 moves. There is another bolt on a horizontal ledge above the orange face, making the whole process very safe with a rope.
For getting down, contrary to what is described above, there is no rappel bolt. The higher bolt is a standard bolt through which you can't safely thread a rope to rap off. We didn't find a particularly good solution and ended up belaying our party down. Unless we missed something, you'd have to leave some gear behind to safely rap off. |
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