Started off around 7:15 am at fierce looking Skull canyon. Slow travel taking about 1:45 to get all the way down to its pretty ending. Thee obstacle in the canyon was listed as a 50ft drop, followed by a 20ft....not sure what that referred to. The ending of the canyon into Devils canyon is quite neat. Then downstream encountering a waterfall that I should have downclimbed but did 2 10ft handlines instead. A few minutes later to finally at Devils canyon falls, I was just about to jump the last 10ft into a deep pool, but decided instead to gain the ridge from there to my intended target: pk 5014 Twin Peaks West ridge.
I got to the ridge at the above the saddle between pk 6000 and another one and my plan was to sneak down into West Fork Bear Creek from there. Except the view was terrifyingly steep without ropes. I had come from peaceful rolling terrain with a few deer hopping around abruptly to brush city with steep walls everywhere. The final blow was even though I could see that I had a chance to the creek, the distance to the falls on the topo was quite far. And my primary objective being peak 5014, so I travelled on.
At pk 5014, I stopped for a bit to play in the candy land of rocks and then continued on down the ridge. The bumps along this ridge were getting to me and I knew of a point south of me that not only looked difficult, but I knew from Google that it was a significant obstacle. So I went off the ridge down a super steep hill towards Devils canyon to just below a significant canyon with bigtime drops. I walked up to see if I could get a picture, but was blocked easily by some smaller drops.
After that I went down the creek in the drainage, but closing in on Devils canyon I encountered a 100ft vertical drop...feeyuck. It was fortunately an easy bypass thanks to the Station fire and kind of a race down Devils canyon to pass the crux before rainfall...course there was a lot of water in the canyon. After the crux I settled down, and the next morning started afresh. I thought I was in the clear, but the canyon was about to run out commencing in a super long swim. A flight to higher ground revealead that I has simply missed the exit point.
From there on, it was an easy stroll to the West Fork with the sun finally coming out at the end.
West Fork via SG wilderness(&pk 5014) from ACH over 2 da
Just me and the firefighters previously..what a battle that must have been.
Yeah, I was surprised to see you! Most of that second day was drizzly drab weather...although I did test out the Olympus Stylus 6000 series "tough" camera...its still working, but sand almost cemented in the memory card/battery space and Im having trouble opening and closing that area.
pics(23 of em)...
cool waterfall in a narrow side drainage in Skulls canyon
thee obstacle(but not the only one) in Skull canyon
Cascade in Devils canyon
Looking down Devil Canyon falls(I got to the last step down below)
Looking back at Skull canyon
pk 6000whatever
SG wilderness from Twin Peaks west ridge
Looking down the ridge and pk 5014(in the reddish section)blooming with wildflowers
Towards East Twin again...the falls on the topo is just on the other side of the ridge below coming from Twin Peaks
Basically looking at the two main forks of the north/south WF Bear creek collide(where the final long push to the falls starts)
Little Mermaid peak and the ridge going down from pk 5014 to Chileno canyon(almost more elevation gain to get here than the entire peak)
Looking back(north) from just before 5014
Skull canyon/ACH again
Rock south of pk 5014...
Turn around point(with obstacle section out of view)
Going down there(photo mostly shows a side box canyon with big drops)
take what I can get as this 2 tiered waterfall just below the bigger one
canyon travel
100ft waterfall
side falls as listed in lower Devils canyon by Brennan
basically out of Devils canyon(although I didnt know it at the time)
Water backing up into Devils canyon
Spring fed waterfall along the West Fork
I didnt actually bag pk 6013...probably within a few hundred feet and because of that probably missed a West Twin shot.... but it didnt look that there was any reasonable chance at going to West Twin. The ridge with pk 6649 looked like the best one to make it. Photo of West Twin and the west ridge...