EISPIRATEN

On Wednesday, I hiked with my crazy Wednesday group. We met at Inspiration Point. Then we piled into 3 cars and caravanned to the trailhead by Lupine Campground.

The gate was open and we drove down FR 3N39.

The road condition:
-It wasn't too bad with the exception of a few rough spots.
-On a positive note, it wasn't as scary as the FR 3N31 out of Lone Pine Cyn when we did the group hike to Wright Mtn. So for the most part it was a smooth ride.
-There were alot of huge, fallen trees across the road that were recently cut to make it passable & a few that looked like they were about to fall.
-As we got closer to the trailhead there were a couple of bad sections where a car could possibly get stuck but we all made it through driving slowly.
-Halfway down the road had water running across it, probably from a spring close by.
-It was my first time on that road. It was pretty secluded and all I could think about was how screwed we'd be if we got stuck.
-Unfortunately, I did not take pics of the rough spots like I intended.

So finally we arrived after what seemed like an hour had passed before getting to our destination. We began our trek to Wild View peak first then Pine Mtn Ridge.

Incidentally, this was my second time bagging both peaks. Sean and I did them separately in 2014 & 2016 starting from a different route.

Hiking to both peaks in one day was a bit exhausting. After bagging Wild View we took the ridge route over to Pine which was new to me. The views were spectacular and the clouds were amazing.

The route to Wild View is still a bit overgrown but the route to Pine Ridge was beautiful and clear.

I was excited to find my old entries in both registers and I put the Eispiraten stickers at both summits.

Overall it was a great day! It was an interesting 8.5 mile ride just to get to the trailhead.

Stats:
8.5 miles with 1800' gain.

Thanks for the report. Starting from Lupine is pretty sweet. Was there water at the piped spring a little ways up the Fish Fork Trail?

Sean wrote: ↑Thanks for the report. Starting from Lupine is pretty sweet. Was there water at the piped spring a little ways up the Fish Fork Trail?

Yes there was. Geo drank some lol.

I hiked Wild Peak with a friend on Saturday (I actually had plans to do it before I saw this post!).

3N39 is indeed a bit rough at one point and a low clearance car would almost certainly get stuck. That said, I had driven to Lupine once before (to hike Pine Mountain Ridge) and this section was worse than it is now.

We saw one car at Lupine, which I accurately predicted. It's a great campground and I'd love to stay there when it's not hunting season.

We encountered a young rattlesnake under a bush as we left the campground. We then began our way up the old overgrown road. It's a nice gentle climb with excellent views of Blue Ridge, Vincent Gulch, and towering Baden Powell. There's a very small stream that's still running within .5 of the TH.

The trail to Wild View is fairly overgrown as Girl Hiker reported. It wasn't in issue in my pants, but my shorts-wearing buddy suffered a bit! I chuckled every time he complained.

We also lucked out with some clouds, which conveniently blocked the sun for most of the trip. We were thankful.

We almost went up the SW ridge to Pine Mountain because Wild View itself doesn't really look like a peak and you have to go down a gully to get to the peak. It's more of a bump. It's totally worth the trip though. I've never gotten that close to Baldy from the north side. It's basically front row seats to the Baldy-Iron show...

Anthony- like your friend I was wearing shorts and I didn't feel any pain until I took a shower then it stung like crazy.
Anyways, it is a very beautiful area.

Thanks for the report and photos. I've only driven to Guffy, not sure I want to chance the road to Lupine. This report got me interested in the area again. Maybe I can make it out there later this year.

tekewin wrote: ↑Thanks for the report and photos. I've only driven to Guffy, not sure I want to chance the road to Lupine. This report got me interested in the area again. Maybe I can make it out there later this year.

Your truck will definitely make it!