Last week Sean and I camped out at Crystal lake. we arrived on a friday afternoon and claimed our spot at camp site 55. we had the site all to ourselves the first night. it was peaceful. we went up there on friday because sean had planned a hike with the forum boys on saturday.
sean's friend nate arrived on friday evening. we cooked carne asada tacos for dinner, enjoyed some wine and beer then settled in for the night.
the plan: ascend pinyon ridge trail to South Mt. Hawkins road then bag all four hawkins peaks via the hawkins ridge, bag peak 8000' (aka Neight thousand), descend the pct to Mt. Islip and finally hike down big cienega trail.
we met at 6:30 am on Saturday. We started hiking along the Pinyon ridge trail then ascend the beautiiful steep Pinyon ridge. we followed a use deer path. it was very nice. a few downed trees along the way and some white thorn to get through but overall a nice ridge with awesome views.
We finally approached the South Hawkins road. With the recent storms, there was more rock falls and downed trees to climb over .
Once we reached the South Hawkins saddle, I opted out of bagging South Hawkins because I had been there before. Sean and I waited and ate half of our lunch and waited as the others continued to the first peak of the day.
by this time I was a bit tired. it started getting hot and I knew it was going to be a long trek. when the boys arrived we all ascended the Hawkins ridge trail to the PCT.
It had been a few years since I hiked this ridge and I forgot how steep it was. two miles seemed like forever with its ups and downs along the trail. Its a lovely trail with nice views but the heat was getting to me and slowed me down.
I managed to bag Sadie Hawkins. I chose not to bag Middle and Hawkins peaks. Once I reached the saddle of the PCT and Hawkins ridge I decided to rest and took a break with Uncle rico & Jeff. we waited for three of the boys to continue on to peak 8000'
[the purpose of this hike was to get Nate up to the high country. It was his first time hiking in this area.. Peak 8000' was now dubbed Neight thousand]
We continued on the PCT to Little Jimmy Spring. Jeff and Uncle Rico filled their water bottles as I waited for them. Then we continued to Windy Gap where we waited for the others. Along the Pct the views were clear. We could see the Channel Islands.
By this time everyone was spent. When the rest of the group returned everyone agreed that we would not hike up to Mt. Islip and just head down the Windy gap trail to the campground.
we found out later that getting to peak 8000' was tough for Sean, Nate & Tim. They had to descend 500 ft to the peak then ascend back up. there was lots of debris and thick white thorn along the way. so basically it was exhausting
Once at the campground, Jeff the master chef made us all grilled cheese sandwiches. This has become a tradition on our forum hikes. However, he stepped it up a notch by adding pesto and sun-dried tomatoes.
overall the total distance was 11 miles with 4340 ft of gain. but not all of us made it to all the peaks. I did about 10 miles 3000' gain
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