Cedar Canyon to Telegraph Peak - 4/7/2013

[mcphersonm80]

Spent the night up at Cedar Glen on Friday. Water is flowing well at the stream, there is a bear, and approximately 75 million birds that serve as a highly effective alarm clock at sunrise.

Wanting to hike up to Telegraph while avoiding Icehouse Blvd, we decided to try an offtrail route that I couldn't find any info on, Cedar Canyon.



The canyon is a tributary of Icehouse Cyn that drops down from the saddle between Thunder Mountain and Telegraph Peak. Topo and satellite images didn't show any major obstructions, so we decided to give it a go.

To start, the mouth of the canyon is absolutely choked with impassable whitehtorn, so the obvious route isn't possible. You'll need to head to the eastern side of the campground and scramble up over the ridge to gain access. We used one of several available game trails.

Once over the ridge, you want to stay high on the talus slopes to avoid the remainder of the whitethorn. Footing is tricky in spots, but overall it's fairly stable and the direction you need to go is extremely obvious.



At just under 6800' the brush gives way and the best route is to leave the talus and cross to the other side of the canyon. Steep but fairly easy going here.




At about 7200' the canyon chokes you back in and you have to navigate through the remaining whitethorn; downed trees and boulders are your best friends here.

Soon, the manzanita starts to dominate. For the rest of the way, you generally want to stay left on the slopes of Thunder Mt, it's pretty thick center and right.




After 1.5 miles and about 2080' of gain, you've reached the saddle and there are plenty of options from here, as you've met the Three T's trail. We continued the additional 1.1 miles up to Telegraph, but Thunder Mt and Baldy Notch are other options. You can then either return the way you came (remember to stay high on the southside down low to avoid the whitethorn) or take Icehouse/Chapman back to camp.

Highly enjoyable, virtually untouched, and entirely non-technical. Don't go here if you're uncomfortable with routefinding, talus slopes, or scrub jays. And Leave No F***ing Trace, please.







More photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wattifoto/ ... 185418661/

[HikeUp]

Nice report on Cedar Cyn. Tim and I went down it a few years ago (TR) - basically following your exact route in reverse.

Nice pictures too!

[Uncle Rico]

Nice TR and photos. That pic of Baldy is really well done and nicely composed. I'm digging the layers of color as you move from the foreground to the sky. Top drawer.

Did you guys see the bear, here the bear, or just see evidence of it the next morning.

[mcphersonm80]

Nice report on Cedar Cyn. Tim and I went down it a few years ago (TR) - basically following your exact route in reverse.

Nice pictures too!

heh Yeah, looks pretty spot on. Cedar could provide a nice way to turn the Three T's into a loop hike (rather than a brutal out-and-back or car shuttle between Manker and IC)

Did you guys see the bear, here the bear, or just see evidence of it the next morning.

We heard it stomping around and kicking up dirt in our cooking area, and saw prints the following morning. By the time we wiggled out of our noisy sleeping bags to take a peak, it was gone. Came through 3 or 4 times throughout the night.

And like clockwork, it came through 5-10 minutes after we turned out the lights; just as they do up in Whitney Portal. They're always watching

[AW~]

So what do you think of canyoneering?

[mcphersonm80]

So what do you think of canyoneering?

I like when others do it and post pictures here, so we can all hike those canyons vicariously.

[outwhere]

So what do you think of canyoneering?

Good 1 AW!

Very very cool TR, mcphersonm80 - and yours too HikeUp - or in this case, would that be HikeDown It was fun reading how close your up and down experiences were...

Never woulda' thunk you could bust up, or down, Cedar Canyon like that... very cool.

The Chapman trail is quite nice - even though the first time I was on it was right after I sprained my ankle pretty deep near the Icehouse saddle... taught me a lesson, don't try a new route with a sprained ankle.

Thanks again for the super TRs!