Peakbagger.com
Peak Lists	Climbers	Ranges	Geography	Help	Search	Log In

Ascent of Chuckwalla Mountain on 1997-12-28

Climber: John E Sarna

Others in Party:

my fiancee Marcia Pattee

Date:

Sunday, December 28, 1997

Ascent Type:

Successful Summit Attained

Motorized Transport to Trailhead:

4x4 Vehicle

Peak:

Chuckwalla Mountain

Location:

USA-California

Elevation:

5029 ft / 1532 m

Ascent Trip Report

Instead of following the HPS route (1/8 mile into the hike), went through a picturesque ?limestone? quarry a mile into the canyon and almost directly below the peak. We continued up the canyon to the east to approach Chuckwalla from the west ridge. It had a 200' summit which we followed motorcycle tracks over the top. We followed the standard HPS route from Chuckwalla down to the saddle between the peaks, but followed a creek further to the south of the one the HPS writeup said to follow. This was better as it followed a motorcycle track to the base of Cross, a bit further west of the peak and the HPS route, but with less of a steep scree slope to get up to the ridge that took us to the summit. We tried to follow the standard HPS route down, but probably went too far down to the saddle to the east because the motorcycle tracks went down the very steep scree before we did. The loose scree was easier going down, however, and we took a ridge route back that was as good as following the lower "HPS-suggested" road. We met an HPSer while coming down from Chuckwalla, who had just done both peaks and was coming back from Cross.

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

2300 ft / 701 m

Grade/Class:

Route Conditions: