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Grass Mountain (Sierra Pelona range)

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2020 4:19 pm
by Anthony
My lady and I have been knocking out PCT sections over the past month. Our latest outing was to Grass Mountain in the Sierra Pelona range, just south of Elizabeth Lake.

We parked at the PCT TH on San Francisquito Canyon Road. There were about 4 cars there.

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It was chilly and looked like it was going to rain, except for a couple patches of blue. It was evident within a mile that this hike was going to offer great views up and down. The views of San Francisquito Canyon were lovely.

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But it got better. When we hit the junction with 6N05 we were surprised to see the Antelope Poppy Preserve in bloom. I had forgotten about it and didn't realize we might see it on this hike. I had never seen a bloom so big from so far away. It was surreal. (My phone camera doesn't do it justice.)

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After enjoying the bloom, we left the PCT and proceeded to the summit on 6N05. The road was in good condition.

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We took a quick and steep short cut to the summit and learned why it's called Grass Mountain.

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The summit was big and flat, but offered nice views. It looks like they're building some sort of structure up there.

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We caught another glimpse of the poppy bloom.

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We didn't see anyone on the way up, but came across three groups of people on the way down. It was a great outing.

Length. 4.7 mi
Gain: 1250 ft
Route: https://caltopo.com/m/R9FH

Re: Grass Mountain (Sierra Pelona range)

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2020 8:35 pm
by Girl Hiker
Looks like you had a great day with great views that included nice cloud formations.
I heard that there are more poppies since I was there a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately it is now closed to hikers.

Re: Grass Mountain (Sierra Pelona range)

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:28 am
by Anthony
Girl Hiker wrote: Looks like you had a great day with great views that included nice cloud formations.
I heard that there are more poppies since I was there a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately it is now closed to hikers.
I imagine the bloom will look even better in the coming week or so. A lot of the poppies we saw on Grass Mountain hadn't fully bloomed yet.

Re: Grass Mountain (Sierra Pelona range)

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 7:25 am
by JeffH
Great views up there, less traffic right now seems to make the skies a bit clearer.

“If pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of the poppies.” – John Steinbeck