A few weeks ago I expanded my world a little bit and walked for a while on the Pacific Crest Trail, going to visit Pacifico. I read some reports and thought I might enjoy the shorter walk from the east side because it's a pretty long drive from home just to reach a trailhead. Anyway, I started from the parking area near Sulphur Springs and after a couple hundred yards of road walking stepped onto the PCT. This section is a very pleasant walk, especially with the cloudy skies overhead. I was looking for a gully shortcut to Pacifico rather than taking the PCT until it intersected the road, but I really didn't know which peak was Pacifico. In addition, all the relatively new growth from the fires a few years ago appeared to be buckthorn and it was very dense. I pulled out my phone and looked at the AllTrails app which showed I had already passed it, so I took what looked like a clear route up. From there I reached a false summit and then occasionally found a very faint use trail which led me to the road right at the campground sign. The summit is a bit underwhelming since it's full of trees and big rocks, although the views to the north are pretty good. I sat there for a while having a Snickers break and talked to another hiker who had walked up from Mill Creek, he brought his short wave radio up to look for a good signal. Rather than going back the way I came or taking the longer route via the road, I thought I might be able to descend a nearby ridge - it looked clear from my vantage point. It started out OK, I followed what appeared to be a use trail down the slope but it turned out to be a loser, as I soon ran into plenty of brush while going down. Since I was already committed, I had to keep going down despite plenty of scratches on my legs. I did find an old pump and some pipes running up the mountain, and finally I reached the trail near one of the springs.
Not having enough adventure already, I set my sights on a lower peak just above the trail, which also looked like an easy approach and descent. The way up was clear, the summit was pretty open but the way down was again choked off by brush. I managed to get out by clambering over quite a bit of deadfall and thereafter remained on trail until I got back to my parking spot.
I was hit by a few drops on the walk back, and it rained very hard for about 15 minutes while driving back to civilization.
I forgot to turn on tracking when I left the summit so Alltrails clocked it as 9.6 miles, I'm calling it 10 with 2100 feet of gain/loss.
Pacific Crest Trail.
Worn tree at a (currently) dry wash.
I thought that ridge with the pines was Pacifico so that's the direction I headed while looking for the mysterious gulley.
Looking up the mountainside, plenty of dead trees with thick brush at foot level.
I went up this route which was relatively easy, although it led to a false peak and a bit more scrambling and searching for a route.
Posing.
Old pump.
I planned to go up and down that little peak in the lower center. Looks clear from here!
Where am I? There was another marker with nothing that could be deciphered on the face.
Summit. I walked all around here looking for a register or benchmark, didn't find either.
