The river has falls
I wanted to avoid questionable scrambles as much as possible, so at this double falls I backtracked to a bypass of the falls on the right. Above is one of the countless animal trails here
I now followed the river from a distance, on a ledge far above the water. Nice views of Occidental opened up here
And I could see more falls I would be encountering if I stayed in the drainage
This whole area was really steep. It looked like it would take work to drop back down to the river, and then lots more work to eventually get out again. The most obvious line was to climb straight up, away from the drainage, towards point 4602. More views across the river
I climbed straight up, trying to contour to the left whenever possible. Eventually I would have to cross a very insignificant gully to keep contouring, but everything was so steep, that crossing it would be an unnecessary risk
So I kept climbing up
Eventually I got all the way up on the ridge, just N of the bump N of 4602. Here this clearly becomes a ridge route. I would drop down to the saddle directly in front of me
then I'd go up the ridge, past a cliff
and then would continue to the top through thick growth
The drop to the saddle was fine. And the climb initially was fine
Then eventually it became not fine. Between ~ 5200-5400ft it's a THICK mess of brush. I did a lot of cutting, but it still sucked. Eventually you can see the bend in the Mt Wilson toll rd
Then you start seeing more cuts in the brush and lots of garbage. I found a plastic baggie with 11 quarters!
And a very alcoholic-looking can of very non-alcoholic water
And soon-enough I was at the Cosmic Cafe
The route from above:
I started near the middle of that. It looks so close!
I didn't want to face the mess of brush again, so I took the road back. A tree with a beehive in it fell onto the road
And some helpful human put up a warning for the people climbing, but not descending
