Half day hike partly up the ridge. The day started off with plenty of hunters along Hwy39. I started at 7:45 am and finished at 12:30pm.
The ridge itself looks brushy, but for those parts the brush was about 2-3ft tall only....and it was pretty much easy going. There was one 60ft section of tall buckthorn that I cut into the ridgeside to get around, but the buckthorn and manzanita didnt cause any problems for long pants.
The views were nice. It had snowed the night before and eventually I landed in the snow. I turned around close to elev 6000 mainly because I knew it was about to get really steep and narrow to boot.
Heading back down, I got offtrack and then decided to head for Rockbound canyon. I ended up going down heartattack(or high blood pressure if you prefer) steep ridge and ended up at the canyon bottom around 10:30am. A short hike up to see the big drop in this canyon, but I got too lazy to get the good picture.
The canyon itself below the drop was brush free, kinda steep, but eventually water started flowing and had a bit of vegetation. Luckily I was going downhill so it wasnt a hassle.
The first view is of the rugged canyon Rockbound+1 south
straightforward route along the ridge to the South Hawkins fireroad
Valley of the moon/crystal lake area
ridge travel towards the fireroad
SHawkins
Twin Peaks and Waterman
looking at the big drop in Rockbound canyon
better vantage of it
canyon bottom looking towards the big drop...too lazy to get around this drop in front of me
Looking back in this canyon has some good views
sideways growing tree
topo
Rockbound ridge from Hwy39 11/5
There were a couple of loud booms from Crystal Lake and one from Bichota, but I wasnt much of a target....a kinda of wear orange type of day though just to be of the safer side.
Oh and there is another ridge to the fireroad ,Solider Creek...easier elev gain to boot.