Big Tenaja Peak

Hiked: 6/26/2026
Distance: 3.6 miles round trip on road and cross country
Summit Elevation: 2905'
Prominence: 776'
Elevation Gain: 920'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.7
Round trip time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Recommended water: 32 oz.
Parking/Fees: Adventure Pass at Tenaja trailhead
Difficulty: Moderate (heavy bushwhack, route finding, scramble)

Eric Su contacted me the day before to see if I was interested in climbing Big Tenaja (Peak 2905) on the east side of the Santa Ana Mountains. We agreed to meet at the Tenaja trailhead. Big Tenaja had no documented ascents in Peakbagger or Lists of John. Eric wanted to start in the dark to catch the sunrise over the marine layer. The pre-dawn coolness also reduced our chances of running into rattlesnakes. We both attributed the lack of ascents to the moat of dense brush and large boulders. We used Eric's proposed route going directly up the southwest slope. I put on my ratty hiking clothes saved just for such occasions and left the OC at 3:00 AM in order to meet at our 4:30 AM start. The marine layer was thick on Tenaja Road, slowing the final drive to 10mph. Darkness and fog combined to reduce my line of sight to about 15'. We walked about half a mile down Tenaja Road before ducking through a fence and starting the bushwhack. The brush was light at first with some open areas, then heavy brush and trees towered overhead. Eric led the way, navigating by GPS in the general direction of the summit. I followed with lightweight Fisker loppers, cutting branches to ease the ascent and leaving markers for the return trip. Half way up, we started hitting large granite boulders. Most were class 2-3, some class 4. I routed around class 4 with one exception: a large boulder/tree move where Eric pulled me up. As dawn seeped into the forest, we put headlamps away. With a couple hundred vert to go, I slowed down, but we were through the worst of the brush. There was a chance the summit boulder was going to be class 5, but we found it was a bulky, 20' class 2 slab. Still, I had to make use of a small manzanita tree to get onto the slab. On top, we were on one of several islands above the clouds. After photos, we started down, trying to follow our ascent path. Eric had an uncanny knack for route finding, while I needed to rely on the GPS since it all looked different to me. We got down safely with a few scratches for souvenirs and without seeing another person. It was a wild adventure, and one I would never have attempted on my own.

Summit block

Descending back into the soup

Big Tenaja

Dunderberg Peak

Hiked: 6/20/2026
Distance: 5.6 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 12363'
Prominence: 1330'
Elevation Gain: 3155'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.5
Round trip time: 6 hours 30 minutes
Recommended water: 80 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Virginia Lakes trailhead
Difficulty: Strenuous

On our second hiking day in the northern Sierra, we aimed for something bigger. Dunderberg Peak (SPS #152) was a local 12er. It's high enough to dominate the view south from Bridgeport. We were in no rush to start and arrived at the Virginia Lakes trailhead around 8:30 AM. It was cool and sunny, great weather for the steep climb to Dunderberg. There were two popular routes. The route from the east goes over the East summit. It is longer with more gain, but less steep. The route I chose was the SE ridge from Virginia Lakes going by Moat Lake. That route was shorter, but steeper, with loose, basketball sized talus. We didn't know what we were getting into. We took the trail for about a mile, went by Blue Lake, then followed a good use trail to Moat Lake. We were greeted by swarms of gnats and had to wave them off as we passed by. From the end of the lake, our plan was to climb the talus to the SE ridge. From our perspective, we took what looked like the least steep angle up. We gained about 440' before Leisa wisely decided it was too dangerous. Every rock had to be tested, most were loose. Leisa called them wobbly little liars. We descended in parallel to avoid knocking rocks on each other. Back at Moat Lake, Leisa opted to continue on trail to the deeper lakes and I, foolishly, decided to continue up (with her OK).

Dunderberg from the trailhead

Blue Lake

Moat Lake

Starting up

Where we turned around
On the way down, I spotted a use trail a little further east and headed for it. When I got there, I discovered a dirt and gravel trail that was too steep to ascend. It was literally, one step forward, one step back. I had move back onto the talus to make upward progress. Just before the ridge, there were some pine trees that I leveraged. I had hope the ridge proper would be better packed and easier. But no, it was the same loose talus all the way to the top. The ridge offered great views of Gilman Lake and East Lake to the north. The final mile gained 1800'. Every step had to be tested. A short 100' section of the ridge had a class 3 rock band that gave some relief from the talus. I took frequent breaks to keep my heart rate in line and progress was slow. It was both soul and quad crushing. After reaching the false summit, I found a use trail where the rocks had been pressed down. It was only a 100' gain from there. The summit had an ammo box with the SPS register. The views were powerful in all directions. I completed my summit rituals quickly, including sending a Garmin mini text to Leisa, then started down. It was every bit as slow and painful going down. I held onto the pines at the saddle and plunge stepped the scree I couldn't use going up. The one mile round trip from Moat Lake took 3 hours. The trail descent went quickly. At 3:00 PM, Leisa had been waiting for me and was getting concerned. She drove a mile away from the trailhead to get cell reception. She got my Garmin text, and replied, but I was not expecting it and didn't notice. I arrived back at the trailhead at 3:10 PM and found her car gone. After searching the lot twice, I realized she was really gone. I thought maybe she had visited another area not far away and started walking down the road. Before I was off the dirt road, I saw her drive up. We exchanged stories to sort out the confusion, but neither of us were in a great mood. We drove back to Bridgeport and got large soft serves at Jolly Kone. I was in a much better mood after. This was a one and Dunderberg.

Leisa shot this from Moat Lake

Lakes to northeast from the ridge

Ugh

Approaching the false summit

Summit ahead

Looking southwest

East summit and Mono Lake

Descent hell

Barney Lake

Hiked: 6/19/2026
Distance: 8.6 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 8258' (at the lake)
Elevation Gain: 1250'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.0
Round trip time: 4 hours
Recommended water: 48 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Twin Lakes trailhead
Difficulty: Easy

Leisa and I spent a few days in the Bridgeport, CA area. It's a small town on the 395 north of Mammoth. Our first hike was to Barney Lake starting at upper Twin Lake. This was in the Hoover Wilderness of the Toiyabe National Forest. There was a sprawling campground of RVs that we had to navigate before reaching the official trailhead. The trail went through several large meadows and we had half a dozen stream crossings. It looked like prime bear country, but we didn't see one. Gain was gradual and the first half of the trail was shaded with large pines. Open areas were covered in low scrub. The basin was surrounded by large peaks, many still hanging on to snow sheets. We reached Barney Lake in about 4 miles. The scenery was nice and the water was cold. Several Mono County workers were taking a break there before continuing up the trail for maintenance. We also spotted a few fishermen standing knee deep in the water casting about for fish. After a short break, we headed back and had lunch at the Village Cafe where we parked. The menu was great and the food was better. Accoding to the menu, the cafe will cook any fish you catch in the Twin Lakes. Well worth a visit, even if you are not hiking there.

Barney Lake

Telescope Peak, Rogers Peak, and Bennett Peak

Desert Peaks Section Emblem Peak
Hiked: 6/9/2026
Distance: 13.6 miles round trip on dirt road, trail, and cross country
Summit Elevation: 11004' (Telescope), 9989' (Rogers), 9982' (Bennett)
Prominence: 6210' (Telescope)
Elevation Gain: 4175'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 3.3
Round trip time: 8 hours
Recommended water: 128 oz.
Parking/Fees: National Parks Fee or Pass at Mahogany Flat Campground
Difficulty: Strenuous

I woke up in Mahogany Flat at sunrise and got prepped. It was cool and sunny, a good omen. Early June is probably the sweet spot for weather on Telescope (DPS #16). Telescope is the high point in Death Valley and also an Ultra with 6210' of prominence. I decided to tag the sub-peaks of Rogers and Bennett on the way up. Instead of taking the trail from camp, I took the service road that led to Rogers Peak. It was about 2 miles with the switchbacks. Rogers had what looked like a Doppler radar tower with two massive solar arrays. There were a couple of other towers on top, but my cell service was mostly non-existent. I saw the trail a few hundred feet below as it curved from the east side of Rogers around the west side of Bennett Peak. The road ended at Rogers, so I dropped through open country with only low scrub in my way and intersected the trail. I followed the trail less than a mile before I left it again to head up to Bennett. It was easy open country. I walked through a stand of trees, then to the top of Bennett. I had hiked around 4 miles at this point, but there was nothing of note on Bennett. I had clear views of Mount Langley and Mount Whitney, still snow dappled about 80 miles away. Telescope loomed large and implied more work was ahead than behind.

Telescope from Highway 178

Tower and solar arrays on Rogers Peak

Bennett and Telescope from Rogers

Bennett Peak summit
I descended cross country from Bennett to reconnect with the trail. A few bristle cone pines were growing on the upper slopes. Only tiny patches of snow remained on the north side, none around the trail. The ascent at the end was a series of switchbacks. The slope was steep and I could imagine long slides as a serious risk in winter. Like Wildrose, the true summit wasn't visible until I was on the main plateau with an easy walk to the finish. There were three ammo boxes, one with the official NPS register. After signing, I took a long break to enjoy the sights. It was an easy cruise down and I enjoyed the blooming wild flowers. I met three separate parties on their way up, all of whom had driven up that day. The rest of the descent was uneventful. Back at the truck, I packed up and drove home, missing the worst of the afternoon traffic.

Eastern Sierra on the horizon

Looking south along the Panamint range