Islip Saddle to Buckhorn Camp, via Pleasant View Ridge 7/9/0

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:47 pm

What a gorgeous day for a hike! We started hiking up to Mt Williamson around 7:30am. It was cool enough for a short debate on whether to wear a fleece or not (decided on "not"). Since we had all seen the Williamson trail a few times already, we moved fast to get to the "new" section of trail. We saw three mule deer just past the summit, bounding away. After the steep descent to the first saddle north of Williamson, and a relatively painless ascent on the other side, we traversed some exceptionally beautiful ridgeline. Open pine forest, with clear skies and views to the desert - even seeing Olancha Peak in the distance! Followed by a short descent to another saddle, where we had a snack break, and looked at several game trails with deer and bighorn tracks. Continuing the roller coaster ride, we went up up up to Pallett Mtn, trying in vain not to summit, but alas, this peak is largely unavoidable, even to the most skilled NHPS non-mountaineers. More beautiful scenery, yadda yadda yadda, another very steep descent to Burkhart saddle where we briefly glanced up at Will Thrall peak and said "nah".

"Horse to the Barn" syndrome kicked in a little here - we were back on real trail, the walking was an easy gentle downhill grade, and it was getting warm, so our mph increased. The vanilla scent of Jeffery pine mixed with sage, and it wasn't too long before we hit Little Rock Creek. We took a nice break, filling up on water, relaxing in the shade, and stepping on yellow legged frogs. (They make the coolest little "POP" sound!)

As we passed by the waterfall in Cooper Canyon, we had a brief exchange of animal sounds with some unseen persons in the streambed below. Very funny... I have hiked this bit of trail many times, but it never fails to charm me. There are some HUGE trees in this area, and the shade and trickle of various springs across the trail make you forget the hostile dryness of these mountains. As we drove through the campground on our way out, we saw that someone had pasted over a Forest Service sign - where it used to say "Bear Country!" it now says "Zombie Country!".

My GPS said 9.73 miles with 3,851' gain and 4,146 loss.

Looking across ACH to the trail up to Islip:

View to the west:

Up to Mt Williamson:

Desert View:

Bear track! Nice one...

Some mountains or something, whatever:

Just below the summit of Williamson:

The trees are crying because you drive an SUV:

Cross Country doesn't get any easier than this:

Jane, Matt & Ian "near" Pallett:

Snow plant looks weird - has it gone to seed or something??

Down to Burkhart saddle:

Little Rock Creek far below:

Post by **HikeUp** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:11 pm

Way to almost not summit. Or is it not not summit. Hmm...

Never mind.

BTW, niiiiiiice pics! Are there still quite a few downed trees across the Burkhart Trail?

Ze Hiker · Post by **Ze Hiker** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:29 pm

nice hike!

sucks about the nearpeaks. did you almost just miss not summiting Williamson? that would be a hard pill to swallow.

Post by **Taco** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:04 pm

Funniest post I've read in a long time!

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:57 am

Yes - a lot of downed trees. I lost count, but Matt probably kept track of them. I assumed they were recent, because the rest of the trail is in perfect shape. There is one part just after you cross to the east side of the canyon where new looking wood barriers are installed, but the landslide they are there to shore up is continuing, and has almost completely covered the barriers in loose dirt .

We did not summit Williamson!

We are not counting Thrall as a near-peak though, because we didn't even attempt it, and were to far off. If we continued west on Pleasant View Ridge, but skipped Thrall, then it would count.

edenooch · Post by **edenooch** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:25 am

nice report. islip saddle is just a pain in the ass to drive to tho lol

Elwood · Post by **Elwood** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:21 am

That's a great trip report and beautiful photographs! Regarding those frogs, the taste great too, particularly raw. It just horrifies my vegetarian wife how many of them it takes to dress my Condor sandwiches.

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:47 am

HikeUp wrote: Are there still quite a few downed trees across the Burkhart Trail?

These are my photos, I counted about 23 -24 down trees most of which have been there about 4 years

I reported these way back then.... Kinda cheeses me off they haven't been addressed.

Guess I should stop complaining and get off my sorry butt and do something about it.

I'm gonna need a BIG saw as a couple of those trees are about 36" or more

http://picasaweb.google.com/mattmaxon20 ... 009_07_09#

We didn't Summit Pallet mountain! we just skirted it that's why I was barring the way, Cougarmagic had gone cookcoo and tried to summit but I saved her from herself! Good thing I was there

We had a very pedantic discussion about weather going to Burkhart Saddle and not going up to the listed Will Thrall Peak counted as a NHPS nonsummit, but we decided in the end it didn't count WHAAAAA I so didn't want to summit it!

Cheers
Matt

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:35 pm

Great hike, guys. That's one of my all time favs. Did you guys car shuttle back to Islip or hoof it? I assume shuttle -- the tunnels would be pretty scary.

The route I like is to start at the west Williamson trailhead, head up Williamson, PVR to Burkhart Saddle, down to Little Rock Creek, then up to Eagle's Roost, and walk the 1/2 mile or what ever it is on either the road or the PCT back to the west Williamson trailhead. Of course the stretch of trail up to Eagle's Roost is is closed.

Keep up the good work on the frog decimation. Once they're properly extinct, they can re-open the trail.

Incidentally, PVR on the other (west) side of Burkhart Saddle is a pretty neat place too, although I've only been as far west as the peak that the HPS calls "Pleasant View Ridge" on their list. Dang, I just admitted to summiting a peak on a public forum.

There goes my "member in good standing" status with the NHPS.

Well, since I've blown my cover, I guess it won't hurt to link to a "west side" (of Burkhart Saddle) TR: https://eispiraten.com/viewtopic.php?t=648 and photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/jim.barbour/ThrallPeak

HJ

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:48 pm

Hikin_Jim wrote:Great hike, guys. That's one of my all time favs. Did you guys car shuttle back to Islip or hoof it? I assume shuttle -- the tunnels would be pretty scary.

We Shuttled back

There wuz some guys doing a photo shoot of their cars

I checked my data and I measured 10.2 miles

My son Ian was hurting on the climb up outta Cooper Cyn so I sent him CougarMagic's inspirational quote from Edward Abby

He had some nice blisters

Hikin_Jim wrote: The route I like is to start at the west Williamson trailhead, head up Williamson, PVR to Burkhart Saddle, down to Little Rock Creek, then up to Eagle's Roost, and walk the 1/2 mile or what ever it is on either the road or the PCT back to the west Williamson trailhead. Of course the stretch of trail up to Eagle's Roost is is closed.

It's 9/10 of a mile from eagles roost to the west Williamson TH

And yeah it'd be nice if we could do that!

Hikin_Jim wrote:Keep up the good work on the frog decimation. Once they're properly extinct, they can re-open the trail.

We need a frog leg fry'in festival or sumthin!

Hikin_Jim wrote:Incidentally, PVR on the other (west) side of Burkhart Saddle is a pretty neat place too, although I've only been as far west as the peak that the HPS calls "Pleasant View Ridge" on their list. Dang, I just admitted to summiting a peak on a public forum. There goes my "member in good standing" status with the NHPS.

HJ

It ok Jim we all have a checkered past of summiting these things.... I too have summited (gulp) PVR AND Will Thrall

Perhaps we could start a 12 step group

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:51 pm

mattmaxon wrote:
Hikin_Jim wrote:Incidentally, PVR on the other (west) side of Burkhart Saddle is a pretty neat place too, although I've only been as far west as the peak that the HPS calls "Pleasant View Ridge" on their list. Dang, I just admitted to summiting a peak on a public forum. There goes my "member in good standing" status with the NHPS.
It ok Jim we all have a checkered past of summiting these things.... I too have summited (gulp) PVR AND Will Thrall

Perhaps we could start a 12 step group

OK, I'll start: Hi, my name is Jim, and I'm a peak-bagger. It all started with just one little peak. My life just went uphill from there ...