EISPIRATEN

Spent 4 days based in Ponderosa, CA doing many smallish hikes (fire lookouts, notable sequoias), and one biggish hike: Quaker Meadow to Slate Mountain. It's mostly as described here except that the spring is dry, so I wouldn't count on that, and the best access to the peak (w/ register & marker) is to continue past the junction a short way and look for a cairn on the left. It looks questionable because there are a couple little trees close in that make it look like the trail ends, but once past the branches the route is clear.

If you try to go straight from the junction, first you walk through wild peppermint, which is nice, but then it looks like this:

IMG_0628 by moore91024, on Flickr

It was downright cold back around the north side in mid-July, so if that's your thing, there's somewhere to get it.

Nice views of the Needles and plenty more from the top:

IMG_0629 by moore91024, on Flickr

I was not familiar with this area. The view from the summit is fantastic. Thanks for posting.

Nice - I used to haunt that area, lived in Camp Nelson and Springville

http://www.tarol.com/slatemtn

Also makes for a nice bike ride.

Thanks for sharing! Love that shot of The Needles.

tarol wrote: ↑Nice - I used to haunt that area, lived in Camp Nelson and Springville

http://www.tarol.com/slatemtn

Wow! I was totally unfamiliar with that area (after 41 years in CA) until the spouse identified it for fly fishing and relatively close and inexpensive pet-friendly cabin rentals 2 years ago we stayed in Coy Flat.